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The Prophet part 10
Antubam held the needle firmly, his body almost shaking with excitement. After all the suspense, Betty was going to be under his control.
He would conquer that beautiful, intransigent girl once and for all. And after marrying her, he would take her sister, Mary, and her friend, Suzzie, as second and third wives. And of course, he would continue to enjoy his regular supply of women from among the church members. Wow!
“You can see her, can’t you?” the old, little fetish priestess asked him.
“No, not yet,” Antubam replied, his gaze fixed on the two mirrors.
“Keep looking,” the Okomfo said. “She is bound to show up.”
Then something happened, suddenly. A sound like a big windstorm engulfed the shrine, and descended with great power. Vvvrrrrrooooooom! It quenched the fire, and sent the three of them crashing onto the floor.
Surprisingly, the shrine stayed completely dry. For several minutes they lay on the floor, very weak, their heads almost splitting with pain. Finally they managed to sit up.
“I told you, Antubam,” the Okomfo said, “not to fight with those people. They are far greater than us. We don’t fight that book, and I always tell my clients not to even mention it, if they can. But you insist on confronting that woman whose head is permanently stuck in it.
Now, leave this shrine immediately, and come back in three days to perform purification rites to pacify Nana Kofi Broni. You have been ungrateful to him, after all those women he has given you. Now, leave.” He rose up to go, but the old woman raised her hand.
“Just a minute. He cannot leave without pacifying Nana Kweefi, the ruler of the mirrors. Nana wanted to help him, but his abnormal lust for women prevented this from happening. Now, follow me to my shrine, and I will enjoy your body for a couple of hours. That is your punishment.”
Antubam stared at her, disbelief and revulsion boldly written on his face.
“You dare reject me? Do you want to lose your manhood by noon today?”
Antubam shook his head and followed her. In twenty minutes they were there. She brought out a bottle from a big gourd, gulped down a good part of its contents and passed it on to him. Antubam took it, greatly relieved for alcoholic assistance in performing a very unattractive assignment. He did what he had to do and, still drunk, he scrambled to his car and took off.
He parked his car, and called out to his houseboy as he rushed to the shower.
“Bring me a new pair of shorts, and get my food ready. And put the whisky and a glass on the table.” There was no response. After several minutes’ attempt at wiping away the morning’s ordeal, he wore his trousers again and headed for the bedroom.
But just when he opened the door, two big arms grabbed him and pinned him against the wall, and another hand gave him a hefty slap. A man seated on the sofa nodded in approval and pointed at Antubam.
“Now listen, you interfering idiot. I came to give you some friendly advice. You should have known that somebody has been to Nana Broni ahead of you, and come to me for approval and advice. But you have just gone ahead to mobilise people, and now you are going on radio. From today, you are going to keep within the limits I set for you.
You will make sure you don’t approach my market. I have been in the business way ahead of you. I am known in Europe and America, and I have done wonders for many Ghanaians, Africans and even white people all over the world. I am far ahead of you, and you will operate in the areas I set for you. If you don’t do that, I will cut you down. You are easy meat for me. Is that clear?”
“But who are you?” Antubam asked, and received another hefty slap. He realised that he had to do something quickly before they did something terrible to him. He remembered the stick. With great difficulty, he released his right hand, reached into his pocket and grabbed the stick. With a sudden gush of power, he pushed his two attackers and sent them crashing onto the floor.
“I see the other man said. ‘You have received some protection. Get up, boys and let’s go. This idiot wants a fight. We’ll give him a good one. Get ready, Antubam. I will show you why they call me Gidigidi,” As they went away, Antubam shouted after them.
“You took me unawares, but listen, I will give you the bloodiest nose you have ever received in your life. Trust me. All three of you are just muscles and fat, no brains. If you have a quarrel, why don’t you go and settle it with Nana Broni?” As they drove off, Priscilla entered the house, her arms outstretched.
“Sweetheart, have you missed me?”
“I have learnt from experience that whenever you say words like that, my pocket is in for some serious trouble. But you are right, I have missed you. Why don’t we?”
“No problem. I will give you a good time. Your pocket must also remember to give me a good time.”
Mary picked up the phone. It was Suzzie.
“Why, Suzzie, can’t you sleep?”
“I slept very well, actually. I called to tell you that we must make a clean break with the past, and with Antubam, and stick with Betty. I thought about this whole Antubam episode last night, and I realize we were heading for trouble. I am sorry that I brought you into it.”
“Don’t be silly, Suzzie. We were desiring to do something productive with our lives. Nobody was prepared to give us any free assistance. But I also realize that we should have gone to God in humility and not get involved with that fraud. Betty brought us to our senses, just in time.”
“Now Mary, let’s hand it all over to the Lord, as ask Him to help us out. Is Betty up yet?”
“She is. We were just about to start praying. Why don’t you join us?”
“I’m on my way.”
By Ekow de Heer
THE typical itinerant salesman in Sikaman is a herbalist. He is normally a slim macho with the capacity to perambulate the expanse of area covering the triangle of Accra-Tema-Ashiaman. In short, he can walk a total of 60 miles a day, marketing a product that cures every disease, including poverty. 
The door-to-door herbal pharmacist advertises his product by word of mouth. He has nothing to do with the Food and Drugs Board (FDB). After all, his concoctions do not feature on FM stations.
Those herbalists who cannot walk to propagate the herbal gospel, liaise with drivers of mass transportation and their mates. They are, therefore, given the chance to sell their products on Benz buses that ply the routes.
Normally, the herbalist starts his sales message with a prayer and Bible study. He asks the passengers to bow down their heads in supplication to God the father, the son, the Holy Spirit.
When a herbalist asks the passengers to close their eyes and bow their heads, Moslems on board naturally feel offended. They feel that the herbalist has no right to assume that every passenger is a Christian. They think such an assumption is an affront to Islam.
So a Moslem on board will raise the hand for a point of order. He’ll remind the herbalist that it would be in his own interest to mind his language.
“Be careful the way you address people in a public place. Not every person here is a Christian,” he’d state assertively.
Of course, the herbalist will promptly ignore him, but would all the same “watch” his tongue. Who knows whether or not the Moslem brother is inspired by Quoranic zeal to defend the tenets of Islam to the hilt?
When he starts saying, “Wallahi!” and “Inshallah!” it could be the beginning of proclaiming Islam as supreme, a point which must be driven home with talibanic precision.
So the herbalist must tread carefully lest he steps on fire.
The herbalist could even add a measure of mirth to it all, by announcing that Christians on board today have very interesting company on the journey, but that should not detract from the business of the day.
The Moslem brother will weigh the words carefully and offer a wry smile.
He must be careful the occasion does not degenerate into the use of semantics and proverbial oration to deride his conviction that public utterances must be mindful of religious sensibilities. He has made his point very clear and expects that it is taken in good faith in the interest of a peaceful journey.
The herbalist will now open the New Testament and preach salvation, stating clearly that salvation can come only through Jesus Christ and NOBODY else.
The Moslem brother will now start twitching his moustache. The visible and almost revolutionary reflexes of his upper lip can be an indication that sentiments have begun superseding reason, and the outcome could well be tragic now shift uneasily in his seat.
The time has come for him to also express his right to the religion of his fore-bears. He’ll put his hand into his pocket and rise to his feet. The time has indeed come!
This article was first published on Saturday, September 9, 2006
When the cause of a particular problem like sickness, disease, sudden illness, a social issue etc. are not known, it stands to reason that resolving it becomes a huge challenge.
Citizens would understand the government when public announcements are made to the effect that government is trying to find a solution to the issue, even though it is taking a while for it to be resolved because citizens are rational beings.
On the other hand, if the solution to a particular issue is known to everybody but the government for whatever reason, is dragging its feet in resolving it, citizens become frustrated and begin to lose trust in their leaders.
One such issue is the heavy traffic along a section of the Kasoa – Odokor road. A short stretch of bad road between the traffic light at the Weija Government Hospital and the entrance to the entrance of the overhead that leads to the N1, is the cause of the problem but nothing is being done about it, day after day, week after week, month after month. Thus is clearly unacceptable.
Another issue that requires urgent attention is the lack of pavements along a lot of streets in parts of the various Municipal Assemblies. Exercise is a prerequisite for long life and healthy living and for those of us who it has become a way of life, this issue of people putting up structures right to the edge of the drains beside the roads, are making life difficult for us.
We are compelled to walk along the roads, putting our lives at serious risk. Pedestrians should never be compelled to compete with vehicles on our streets and roads. Roads and streets are made for vehicles and pavements are made for pedestrians. That is the norm. Any attempt to normalise a situation where pedestrians are mingling with vehicles is insanity.
It is the road regulations that makes it so and therefore district or municipal assemblies are to take responsibility and ensure that spaces for pavements are not encroached upon. Citizens have rights that must be protected by their leaders and making pavements available to pedestrians, is one of them.
When we hear of teachers having sex with students, it appears it is something recent. It is not a new phenomenon. It has been there since Adam. Perhaps this issue is getting much attention due to the proliferation of social media. It was an open secret in times past when Teachers were in relationships with female students and some married them immediately after completion of school.
Some teachers were also known to be having unholy interactions with female pupils but due to the times that these acts occurred, human rights issues and the awareness around it, allowed such unscrupulous teachers to get away with their crimes.
Now we are in a different era and so a Headmaster is now in hot waters. He is alleged to have raped about 19 female students and as usual, some officials tried to cover it up and are also in hot waters and their actions or inactions in the matter are under investigation.
Why the man has been allowed to roam freely without being arrested is simply mind boggling. It appears that the law applies differently, depending on who you are. This issue came to public attention sometime in August this year, yet the police had not arrested or invited this man for question regarding the rape allegation.
It has come out that he is a Constituency Secretary of the ruling party and the question in the public domain is that, is it because he is a political figure that is why he is still walking around without questioning? I believe in the rule of law so let us hold our breadth and let the proper thing be done.
The police must however be seen to be active in this matter. God bless.
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