Disqualified – Part 2

After leaving the Sampson’s house, Kakraba picked up his phone and called Paa John, his buddy since senior high school.                                                                                                             

‘Hey Kaks’, ‘Charlie what’s up. So how did it go with Eunice’s dad?’                                                                          

 ‘Just as we thought, my brother. He asked me to sit down and interrogated me about my parents, my job, and even asked about my financial position. Charley, this Sampson family is so arrogant’.                                                                                                                                        ‘

So what did you tell him?’                                                                                                           ‘Nothing. Basically I mentioned my job with Development Partners, and my entry into the property business, but I told him that I had just started in what is certainly a high risk business which requires big capital, and that I hadn’t quite reached financial stability.

And he made it clear that being a former diplomat and due to his high social position, he would only entertain people of good financial standing around his children. In other words, I can come around the house as a friend, but certainly not as a potential suitor. He flatly disqualified me’.                                                                                                                            ‘Unbelievable. So will you continue to bring them all those goodies from the north?’                   

‘You know the goats, guinea fowls and foodstuffs I’ve been sending to you for distribution are very cheap up north, and I often visit the market centres where the big trucks are stationed, so it’s no big deal. Indeed, these days I don’t need to go to the market at all. I send MoMo to a guy at the market, and he buys them and pays a truck driver to deliver them to you, which you deliver to your mom, my home and Eunice’s home.

And as you know, the delivery to my home is intended for my sisters, for their restaurant. So let Mr Sampson and his folks enjoy my kindness for a little longer. Very soon I will vanish from their sights’.  ‘What do you mean? Have you decided to leave Eunice?’

‘After the stories you have been telling me, do you want me to keep hanging on? I will stop by her place every now and then, maybe even take her and her two fellow terrorists to lunch or to jam, but I am easing myself out of her life. Her dad just gave me the perfect excuse’.

‘Actually, Kaks, Patricia and Amanda are quite harmless, if you ignore their pretenses about being among the most beautiful and best dressed ladies in Accra. All three are good looking, but they are certainly not among the prettiest. And their claim to be well dressed is absolutely crazy. But the dangerous person is Asantewa.

 She’s the one pumping evil ideas into their minds. I wonder why three graduate girls sit down for a little witch like Asantewa to manipulate them. She has been in this business for some time, fixing rich and prominent people with girls and cashing in. We can call her a pimp’. 

‘Paa John, many of her clients are not really rich or prominent, just greedy guys without self-confidence who pay for the connection with pretty, inexperienced girls. Eunice and her two friends are gullible, because I learnt that Asantewa is fixing them with a group of guys who talk a lot, but don’t even have decent businesses going’.                                                                                               

‘Let’s forget about these small mind girls and discuss something serious. How is business?’

‘Everything is fine up north. There are five sites in the Northern Region, after which I will tackle five each in Western North and Eastern Region. My work mainly involves supervising contractors, ensuring that they use the required materials and deliver to standard. I keep in regular touch with them, and help them to realize that mobilizing the right materials in good time saves them a lot of money.

This has gone down well. And I have an application which enables the funders to go online and see the actual progress of work. I try to be on site at crucial times, and they can always reach me when I’m down south. About the same thing is happening in Accra. We are working on ten buildings along two streets in Adabraka.

Lawyer Mills has been very helpful. The families know him very well, so they accepted the terms we offered. We offered them resettlement at Mensah Krom, and generous spending cash. They will get the final instalment when we complete the sale.

I have paid all the contractors, and made a big payment for the land after Nsawam. When I get full payment for the Adabraka project, I will concentrate on Nsawam, big time. I’ve reached agreement with the chief and his elders. I am building a decent school block and palace with community centre, then I will go on to the residential buildings. Two hundred houses’.                                                                                       

‘Kakraba, you are simply unbelievable. You just don’t give up. And Eunice doesn’t know who you are?’                                                                                                                                           ‘Not at all. Basically she sees me as regular guy with some extra change in his pocket, able to afford good entertainment. She wants a very rich guy who will spoil her, take her to Dubai and London every now and then. She doesn’t know that a good number of those guys are criminals’.                                                                                                                                       

‘But she’s quite a well-mannered girl, and good looking. And she seems to like you a lot. So why don’t you have patience with her, and try to win her to your way of life?’                                   

‘Paa John, you know I don’t really have the time. Eunice has two problems. She learnt snobbishness and arrogance from her parents, so it will not be easy. Moreover, together with her three friends they live in a world of their own. Very soon they will crash down to reality. So let me concentrate on my work. Hopefully I will soon meet a beautiful girl who will love me for who I naturally am.