Dissecting SONA 2020

Posted by By Akogun Akomolafe at 5 March, at 07 : 08 AM Print

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My Books on Amazon

1. Africa: it shall be well: https://tinyurl.com/sn64ocd
2. Africa: Destroyed by the gods: https://tinyurl.com/vglfk7w
3. 18 African Fables & Moonlight Stories: https://tinyurl.com/s7qrp4p

Try and get your copy. And, please, help me share the links.

Kind regards,

Femi Akomolafe

 

Dissecting SONA 2020

(a polemical satire by Femi Akomolafe)

 

[Dedication: I dedicate this article to Ghana’s indefatigable Auditor-General (Mr. Daniel Yaw Domelevo for the tremendous courage he continues to display in exposing the rot in the system.

Sir, you appear to be the only man of integrity left standing in the republic, please accept this as a token of my esteem.

 

Hello. Hello…

Hello.

Hello. Is that Femi?

Yes, it is Femi. What I can do for you, please?

Hello. Can you hear me?

There’s no need to shout, I can hear you.

Good morning. I listened to you on your radio programme this morning. Look, although I am a member of the NPP, I try my best not to be partisan when discussing national issues. However, I think that you were not fair to the president in your submissions today. Your presentation was biased. Totally biased. It was not like you. You pretended to be a CPP sympathizer, but I think that you are a true NDC. You have been bought. You have been compromised.

Please, try to simmer down. With whom am I speaking, to begin with?

Sorry, my name is Yao Frimpong. I am an Executive of the NPP in Amsterdam Oost. Look, your presentation this morning was the worst I ever hear from you. Almost every other analyst agreed that this year’s SONA was the best ever. It was robust. It was comprehensive. It was all-encompassing and it touches all the right bases. But you alone, rather glibly, dismissed it as a waste of time. Why?

Thank you, Mr. Frimpong. I am sorry that you felt that way, but please, did you listen to the entire programme…

Yes, I did. I heard you say that it was a terrible waste of time.

If only you will stop interrupting me and let me finish with my sentences…

I am prepared to listen, but why did you think that it was a waste of time. Did you not know that it was a constitutional requirement for presidents to render periodic accounts to the parliament? Answer me.

Mr. Frimpong, I think that part of our problem is that we continue to consider constitutions as one sacred and sacrosanct laws of nature and not merely social constructs by mere mortals. You live in this country, the Netherlands, how many times do you see the Dutch Prime Minister waste time in giving long-winded speeches which are mere rehash of what he has been saying over the years? And why does the whole country have to grind to a halt to discuss a president’s speech What exactly is new in the whole address? What did Mr. President tell us that we have not heard before…?

Stop there. Because the Dutch PM does not do it does not mean that our president shouldn’t. The Dutch constitution did not mandate the PM to do it; ours is a constitutional requirement.

There we go again with constitutional requirement…

And what do you have against our constitution?

I have problems with a constitution that allows our rulers to waste our time in unproductive ventures like giving hackneyed speeches, which do nothing to solve the basic problems that confront ordinary people…

Stop there, my friend. You see how biased you are. If you had listened or read the speech, you would have realised that the president meticulously renders a clean and accurate account of every vital part of the national affairs.

Sorry to disappoint, but I read and reread the speech. That’s why I find it a total waste of time. Actually, I think the president’s men ill-served him by making him read such a piece of junk…

You! How dare you! How dare you called the president speech a piece of junk! You didn’t read about the achievements mentioned…

I am sorry to interrupt, but which achievements do you talk about?

Let me read you a portion of the speech, Mr. Cynical: “… Now, that is progress, and it did not just happen, it took hard work, commitment and the provision of infrastructure. In fulfillment of our manifesto commitment of “toilets for all”, we have built 13,800 toilets, which is largely responsible for this development. Mr. Speaker, we have not stopped building toilets, we will build more. Read more: https://yen.com.gh/147969-sona-2o2o-find-full-address-nana-addos-message.html.  Don’t you see some solid achievements there, ehn?

Good grief, Mr. Frimpong, are you really for real? You live in the Netherlands and you did not consider it an insult to your intelligence that our president is counting the building of toilets among achievements? This is 2020, Mr. Frimpong – a good sixty-three after our ostensible independence! Please, please, this is the type of thing that should make our blood boil with outrage.

Are you suggesting that the government should not do something about people using public space as latrines?

I suggest no such thing. We need to ask ourselves how, after all these years of independence, we still have houses without indoor toilets in our country. We should ask ourselves why our compatriots have kitchens but not toilets in their homes in this age. That is the question we should be asking ourselves. People should not be allowed to build houses without toilets. Governments should not be wasting resources on building toilets. Why is that a difficult thing to do?

And you don’t appear to appreciate the president’s mention of the Year of Return initiative which has brought tremendous positive recognition to the country, plus the over a billion dollars in tourism.

Sorry to disappoint you, but I think that the Year of Return thing was one overblown PR gimmick. The tourists came alright. They spent a billion or so alright. But did we ask ourselves how much of that is retained in the country? We should stop beating drums and dancing when foreigners bring in money and spend it on mostly foreign-owned businesses. That is just by the way. My main beef is with the part where the president’s speech-writers inserted ignoble lies like telling us that efforts are being devoted to fighting the menace of Galamsey. How on earth can someone made the president of the republic tell a pathetic lie like: “Mr Speaker, the mention of Operation Vanguard would seem to be the appropriate time to deal with the subject of galamsey, the popular name that has been coined for illegal mining. When we came into office in January 2017, galamsey activities were rampant in many parts of our country. Our lands, forests, and river bodies were being systematically degraded and polluted without any care. And this had been the case for several years. Indeed, the previous government had given up the fight against galamsey. We determined that this was an intolerable situation, and we owed it to generations yet unborn, to tackle the problem and save our environment?”

And was that a lie?

If you have visited Ghana in recent times you will know how pathetically absurd that statement truly is. Not only is Galamsey booming, but the excavators seized from illegal operators have also magically vanished from government custody. Many top party and government officials alleged to be involved in the illegal mining activities are still at their posts. Who bewitched us? And why should we be applauding when we heard our leader tell us that: “Mr. Speaker, all our best-laid plans for industrialization would come to naught unless we have a reliable and reasonably priced energy source. It probably says something about the progress we have made that, in discussing the state of our nation, it takes a while even to get into our power supply matters. It gives me great pleasure to be able to say that we have overcome the DUMSOR menace?” Mr. Frimpong, to be honest with you, I am troubled that the president’s advisers and speech-writers have such scanty regard for their principal that they did not think it unwise not to insert outright lies into the speeches they prepare for him. At the same time the president was boasting about taming Dumsor, a large swathe of the country was in darkness. Ask citizens in Kasoa or in Tema. My concern here is that incompetent appointees are tainting and cheapening the presidency by making the president give terminologically-inexactitudes speeches. The Presidency is a hallowed institution of the state and it should always be treated with reverence by those privileged to work there. Our presidents should not surround himself with lazybones who are too lazy to do a thorough job required by that high office. Let us contrast how our president appears to revel in reading factually-incorrect speeches with how the president of Rwanda dealt with officials caught telling lies. He simply sacks them. Let me read you a quote: “The head of state had asked her to test all leaders for the virus ahead of a National Leadership Retreat and in response, Gashumba said her docket had 3,500 kits and to use 400 of them would deplete the number of kits in the country, Nairobi News reported. Later, Kagame came to learn that there was an acute shortage of the kits since the available ones could only serve 95 people and the 3,500 kits she had told him about was just a lie. “We found out that we had kits for only 95 people and not 3,500 and when I asked her about this, she started giving out excuses. You leaders, you cannot even speak the truth; how do you expect to solve problems?” Kagame questioned other ministers in the retreat. For your information, Mr. Frimpong, that was not the first time that the Rwandan leader will do so. Listen to this: “Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame today sacked the country’s Health Minister Dr Agnès Binagwaho, whose five-year term has been ridden with scandals. Social media users woke up to the news of the sacking of the minister, some tweeting ‘finally’, as the firing letter signed by the Prime Minister made rounds. In accordance with the Constitution as amended to date, specifically article 116, President Paul Kagame has removed from cabinet Dr Agnès Binagwaho,” the short statement signed by Prime Minister Anastase Murekezi reads.” http://universalhealth2030.org/2016/07/13/rwanda-president-kagame-sacks-health-minister-corruption/

And did you also find fault with the president’s assertion about the positive outlook of the economy when he said: “No wonder Bloomberg, the reputable global financial media house, earlier this week, highlighted Ghana as the top candidate for an economic leap in Africa. This expression of confidence is important because it will lead to enhanced investments in our economy and the accompanying greater numbers of jobs?”

I can only answer you with a quote by the late Professor Adebayo Adedeji: “Any economy that marginalizes people is doomed to failure. It is time that we stop applauding our leaders for reeling out meaningless statistics, most of them self-generated, and force them to address the absence of basic amenities for our people. Instead of telling us what Bloomberg is saying about our economy, our president should tell us why some Ghanaians still share drinking waterholes with cattle. Instead of reeling out fanciful figures about inflation and whatnots, our presidents should be asked to stop his mile-long motorcade, wind down his car’s windows and tell us why, if our economy is booming, so many of our people are eking out a miserable existence as hawkers and beggars in the hot sun on the streets of our major cities and towns. Those are the type of things we should ask those that lead us to address. Do you know something, Mr. Frimpong?

And what should I know?

I no longer blame those who are misruling us…

Whom do you blame, then?

I blame us, the citizens. Do you know about Stockholm Syndrome?

No. What’s that?

Let me quote from Wikipedia: “Stockholm syndrome is a condition in which hostages develop a psychological alliance with their captors during captivity. Emotional bonds may be formed, between captor and captives, during intimate time together, but these are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims.” I think that psychologists need to come up with a new term to describe us as Stockholm Syndrome did not do adequate justice to what is afflicting us. Just look at us, it appears that the more our misrulers in Africa debase us, the more tenacious we become in defending them. How do we explain the situation where we have a highly educated and well-traveled and well-exposed man like yourself waxing lyrical over a useless address by a president? Just look at the amount of time and energy and resources we expend daily in discussing issues relating to our elite who are but a tiny minority? We do not engage in meaningful discussions about social or economic development, all we do is engage in endless debates over political nonsensical.

 

About the Author

Femi Akomolafe, a passionate Pan-Africanist, was one of the PCs Pioneers and ran a Computer Consultancy firm in Amsterdam, the Netherlands for several years, where he also set up the first African Bulletin Board System (BBS), the precursor to the Internet. He also established the first Black Newspaper, The African, in the country.

Femi has been very active in the Pan African Movement since the early 1990s.

A columnist for ModernGhana and a Correspondent for the London-based New African magazine, Femi lives in both Europe and Africa and writes regularly on Africa-related issues for various newspapers and magazines.

Femi was the producer of the FOCUS ON AFRICANS TV Interview programme for the MultiTV Station.

He was also the Man and Machine Coordinator at Alaye Dot Biz Limited, a Kasoa-based Multimedia organization that specializes in Audio and Video Production. He loves to shoot and edit video documentaries.

He is currently engaged in vegetable farming.

 

His highly-acclaimed books (“Africa: Destroyed by the gods,” “Africa: It shall be well,” “18 African Fables & Moonlight Stories” and “Ghana: Basic Facts + More”) are available for sales at the following bookshops/offices:

1. Freedom Bookshop, near Apollo Theatre, Accra.
2. WEB Dubois Pan-African Centre, Accra
3. Ghana Writers Association office, PAWA House, Roman Ridge, Accra.

Where to buy them online:

On Lulu Books:

18 African Fables & Moonlight Stories https://goo.gl/Skohtn

Ghana: Basic Facts + More: https://goo.gl/73ni99

Africa: Destroyed by the gods: https://goo.gl/HHmFfr

Africa: It shall be well: https://goo.gl/KIMcIm

 

Africa: it shall be well

on Kindle books: https://www.createspace.com/4820404

on Amazon books: http://goo.gl/QeFxbl

on Lulu Books: https://goo.gl/SQeoKD

Africa: Destroyed by the gods

on Kindle books: https://www.createspace.com/4811974

 

18 African Fables & Short Stories: https://goo.gl/s9tWAf

on Amazon books: http://goo.gl/1z97ND

on Lulu Books: http://goo.gl/KIMcIm

My Lulu Books page: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/FemiAkomolafe

 

Get free promotional materials here:

1. Africa: it shall be well: http://alaye.biz/africa-it-shall-be-well-introduction-in-pdf/

A FREE Chapter of ‘Africa: It shall be well’ can be downloaded here: http://alaye.biz/africa-it-shall-be-well-a-free-chapter/

1. Africa: Destroyed by the gods (How religiosity destroyed Africa) http://alaye.biz/africa-destroyed-by-the-gods-introduction/

A FREE Chapter of ‘Africa: Destroyed by the gods’ can be downloaded here: http://alaye.biz/africa-destroyed-by-the-gods-free-chapter/

Read a review here

 

Contact Femi:

Femi’s Blog: www.alaye.biz/category/blog
Website: www.alaye.biz
Femi on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/author/femiakomolafe
Femi Akomolafe’s Lulu Books page: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/FemiAkomolafe
Twitter: www.twitter.com/ekitiparapo
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/Femi Alaye;
Gmail+: https://plus.google.com/112798710915807967908;
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/femiakomolafe;
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/fakomolafe
Email: fakomolafe@gmail.com
Profile on New African magazine: http://newafricanmagazine.com/tag/femi-akomolafe/

Kindly help me share the books’ links with your friends and, grin, please purchase your copies.

Comradely,

Femi Akomolafe

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