President Akufo-Addo

My Ga folks rounded off their annual Homowo festivities only recently. Homowo, in Ga, means ‘hooting at hunger. Having migrated from Ile-Ife in southwestern Nigeria and landed on the shores of their current abode, they planted corn, but had to endure hunger and starvation to await the time of harvest.

When they had a bumper harvest, it was then time to ‘hoot at hunger’. It was natural so to do. Therefore, Homowo has come to stay as a reminder of that epoch in their history.

I was involved with stage performances in secondary school, first as a chorister and again as an actor. I became a public speaker subsequently. I have come to learn that it is utterly important to know your audience and plan your delivery accordingly. It is also important to take the existing climate and factor that in.

So, it is vital to mount a stage, say the right thing at the right time. If you fail in this, your audience will boo you, hoot at you or clap you off the stage. This is what I call Gbomowo in Ga. Hooting at a person.  

Just a couple of weeks ago, President Akufo-Addo was booed at the Independent Square where he carried his “Fellow Ghanaians…” thing to an   African youth jamboree at that venue. Not in the mood for any “Fellow Ghanaians,” the youth were seen in a viral video booing the President.

I do not blame the organisers of the event, because how were they to know how participants would react to the Head of State? I blame the handlers of my President for not reading the climate of  the youth. They were out to enjoy music and dance their hearts out, nothing more. Situate that with the trending frustration in the country over our economic hardship.

Put me in the shoes of a presidential handler. If the President had to be there, my strong advice would be that the President would mount the stage and begin to dance or boogie with the crowd. The youth would naturally respond in like manner, then would be minded to listen to Nana when he took the microphone. It is as simple as that, and none would be wiser.

The President is known to be a good dancer. He has been photographed dancing on stage and other events many times. Where I blame him also is that he did not read the mood right. Many politicians are smart enough to quickly read the mood at any event and change their script to suit the climate or put a prepared text aside and speak extemporaneously.

Personally, I felt embarrassed to see people boo a Head of State. Never have I seen this in Ghana. Unlike those who were quick to condemn the youth for their action, I would rather tread cautiously. But government commentators accusing the opposition of orchestrating the booing is as infantile as it is unconscionable.

No one can pretend to not know Ghanaians are frustrated over economic hardships  in the country. Can we pretend that Ghanaians are not discerning enough to pit campaign promises against delivery? When people’s hopes are raised through the roof, what will their expectations be? Let us soberly avert our minds to the above questions.

Now, back to my Gbomowo. What happened at the Independence Square is a foretaste of things to come if no concrete action is taken to reverse the economic downturn.

The government must explain to the hungry and frustrated Ghanaian why we are in this in spite of shouting from the rooftops that they  “have the men.” The COVID-19 and Ukraine mantra is clear. Even the World Bank and the IMF are saying the same thing. What the government must address is how other economies are faring better than us in the face of COVID and Ukraine.

In the absence of this, Gbomowo awaits our politicians when they mount political campaigns when that time comes. Everything our Members of Parliament do is under scrutiny and Ghanaians are waiting for them.

As I started drafting this write-up, videos flew in from Kumasi where traders were clearly seen hooting at the President an his 50-plus vehicular convoy. One fellow could be heard to have counted as many as 55 vehicles in the convoy. That our President would still travel this large in the face of high fuel prices and the frustrating situation in the nation defies understanding.

I can see through my crystal ball what our next political campaigns will be like. Gbomowo will, in all likelihood, be a part of our political campaign culture.

Situate this on the President brazenly stating that he cared less if people decided to vote the NDC into power in the next election. What does this statement do to people his party might field in the next election? How do we reconcile this with the man who, in seeking our votes, said, “Mo nsɔ me hwe?” This is clearly a slap in the face of the very people who voted him President. Not long after, the people of Akyem Akroso also hooted at the President’s convoy.

I have heard some commentators, in their condemnation of the youth booing our President, say that it is against our culture to boo adults. Be that as it may, who has given vent to so-called child-right groups that have made it near impossible to discipline children? Punishments that straightened our lives as we grew up have become human rights issues, to the extent that our children are more protected than their parents.

The children believe they have a right to do whatever pleases them and grow with that mindset into adulthood. What is the end result?

Not too long ago, one group of senior high school students or another was in the news for vandalising school property. Some even set school buildings on fire. Then the very parents who should not discipline their children are asked to bear the cost of this vandalism.

Should there be a national discourse on how we whip our children in line? Even teachers are not allowed to punish recalcitrant or incorrigible pupils appropriately. The cumulative effect is the lawlessness we see in the land. One can imagine a country being governed by these ‘protected’ children after they have grown into adults and politicians.

In the difficult days of the Acheampong era in the late seventies, when Ghanaians had to queue for every conceivable item christened “Essential Commodities,” our citizens did not feel as helpless as they are today.  Even during the very early days of the 31st December Revolution, there was famine in Ghana. The rains had failed and crops withered. People’s collarbones jutted out of their skins and was christened “Rawlings Chain”, yet there was no despondency as there is today. What has gone wrong?

Instead of acting to save the situation, our politicians are playing politics with our very lives, putting every single issue in the laboratory of partisan politics. If the electorate offended you by giving you their votes, be prepared to be booed after they have learnt their lesson.

In my last meeting with the late Major Courage Kwashigah at the Beverly Hill Restaurant at Asylum Down before his death, he told me he feared Ghanaians might make a mistake and fight for independence all over again. I  cannot give details here because he is not alive to confirm or deny what we discussed. How right was he…?

Gbomowo will be the new political phenomenon if things do not turn around for the better. Mark my word.

Writer’s email address: akofa45@yahoo.com

By Dr. Akofa K. Segbefia