CULTURAL NEWS

Wednesday, March 7, 2007.

Happy Birthday, Ghana

 
Reflections of a Native Son
E. Y. OBIMPE

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GHANA,
 And the voice of God was heard in the land,
“I am God your Lord,
Who brought you from the shackles of colonialism?
You shall have Freedom and Justice; I give you men and women of great wisdom,
And full of strength.
I also give you land.
Fertile lands from coast to Sahel.
Cocoa and timber shall abound in your land.
Gold and diamonds shall adorn your coast.
I give you streams and rivers, And I give you dominion over all these things.
You shall be called Ghana”.
And God left.
And it was 9 years, And the voice of God was heard
All the way from the Flagstaff House
“Ghana where are you”?
“Somewhere near the house of Broadcasting”.
Ghana answered and said

“The man you gave me to lead me Built for me a motorway
He also built a ‘job’ called 600
He built me a place of learning In the plush forest of Kumasi
Then he built for me a powerhouse which I call Akosombo
But God, you see, The man imprisoned me ‘by heart’.
God, I suspect he even made for himself Another God
I know you are a jealous God, And you would be annoyed when you come
So I sacked him”.

And God said
“Ghana, you are my beloved Country
I am well pleased with you
I will send you a liberator
The one who will liberate you From the prison cells”
And God said
“Let there be a Liberator
And let him form a Council
And let the Council be National”
And there arose a National Liberation Council To rule over Ghana.

 And God left
And it was 3 years
And near the Osu Castle The voice of God was heard

“Ghana where are you”?

And Ghana answered and said
“I am careful this time God I did not sack the Liberator
But he decided to leave, All by himself.
In fact he preferred Akyiase Jungle
To the long winding English, Spoken by the law-law people.
So God, he handed over to… to… to…
To the Best University Student in Africa

And God said
“That is very good, Busia is my special graduate
I prepared him with spices from the East, He is a democrat
With democracy in his blood
Let him rule over you”.
 

And God left
And it was 4 years.
And the voice of god was again heard

“Ghana where are you”?

And Ghana answered and said
“You see God,
The Democratic Democrat was too slow for me.
He talked slowly and walked slowly.
God, you know 90% of my people, Are all illiterates,
But the Busia man, He speaks ‘book-long’ English
You see God, I sacked him.
I want somebody who can walk fast, and can carry a gun
And a walking stick in one hand
Above all God, I want a redeemer.

And God said
I want a redeemer.
And God said
“Before you asked, I had given
There shall be redeemer.  He shall be called Ignatius
Who will ignite all your dead batteries
He shall also form a Council, Which shall be National”
And there came into being
A National Redemption Council
 

And God left
And it was 9 years
And the voice of God was hear

“Ghana, where are you”?

And Ghana answered and said
“The Ignatius man Ignited “Operation Feed Yourself”,
He gave me lots of food, And I ate very well
He then built me a Stadia, In all my Regions.
I played football all day, And forgot about my farms
I got hungry and cried.
But the Ignatius man did not mind me He told me he was now supreme.
And true, true, God,
He formed for himself, A Supreme Military Council.
God, I know you are, The only one who is Supreme
And I did not want, To get you annoyed
So I cloned the man and got Akuffo,
I wanted him to come and help the Akuffo”
 

But he did not
He rather made a photocopy
Of Supreme Military Council I
And got 2 copies
He then named the second copy Supreme Military Council II.
“God”, I am tired of this Supreme I, Supreme II
Please send me Jesus Himself, To rule over me”

And God said
“Jesus I sent you
Some 2000 years ago, And you killed him
However, a Son will not ask for bread, And the father will give him stones
I will send you
The junior brother of Jesus.
He shall be known as Junior Jesus
He shall be baptized for 3 months
With a revolutionary baptism, He shall come with a gun
And kill all your ‘enemies’
He shall carry a broom in his hands, And sweep the gutters of
Nima, Tema, Ashaiman, Ashongman and Osu-man
Junior Jesus shall then leave, To the wilderness to be tempted.
18 months shall he be tempted, By a Hilla shall rule over you for 18 months
He cannot however, heal your wounds
He shall be called, The Hilla who cannot heal.
And so Junior Jesus shall return
And when God finished speaking these words, Concerning Ghana.

 
He left.

 
And it happens
That all that God spoke, Concerning Ghana came to pass.
Junior Jesus came, and Ghana called him J.J.
He’ defended’ Ghana for 11 years, And formed a Defence Council
Which he named Provisional.
He built a motor road form somewhere
All the way to Kumasi.
He built another road from somewhere
All the way to Takoradi.
He then cut into pieces, one big place of learning
And this he sprinkled all across
The Northern zone, the far east and the far west.
And he asked the pieces to develop.
This he called, University of Development Studies
The J.J. man did not go back to School
But some people said he was a doctor
And the J.J. man told himself
“I am now a doctor
I shall now put on suit and shoe
I shall also change my defence
And make it Democracy
I shall tell Ghana
“This is good for you, So thumbprint”.

 
And it came to pass
That Ghana thumb-printed.
And roofed it with an umbrella
But some bad boys under the umbrella
Threw stones and arrows through it
And created holes in it.
The umbrella leaked badly.
And Ghana got wet when it rained
And Ghana said to himself.
“I want something from the rain.
So Ghana went for the elephant hide
And made for himself.
A “Kukrudu”
Kukrudu then sat on the cedi
And the Cedis refused to be inflated

 
And Kukrudu smiled and said
“I am Kukrudu the elephant
The one who sat on the cedi
And the cedis cannot be inflated
There shall be no inflation in the land”.
 

And there arose a man, From the forest Regions.
Who was called “The Gentle Giant”
He climbed onto the elephant
And criss-crossed Tetteh Quarshie Circles
And created many paths, And called the paths interchange
And Ayisoba came out with a song
“The thing you do, it is so fine”
But God, the elephant is kicking backwards.
And Ghana is saying “I don’t like kick-backs.

More so God,
The elephant is old, But has not babies I can also ride
I am also a ‘person’
I want baby elephant to ride
But I shall not make noise yet, It is my birthday.
And I don’t want to spoil the day”.
And the voice of god was heard again,

“How old are you Ghana?

And Ghana answered.

“I am 50 years old”

“Oh 50”! said God

“you should have been riding horses not elephants
You should have been taking 3 round meals
And not 2 square one.
I gave you Aveyime Rice Fields, But you said you like
Beriberi infested Thai and American Rice
I gave you Fufu and Akple
You said you like, High blood pressure fried rice
I gave you timber
You sold all, And said you like Plastic T & J.
But all is not lost Ghana
I recorded some of your achievements, In the great book
You produce the show boy of Africa,
You then produced K Annan
The ‘Peace Man’ of the world
You gave the world fine Cocoa, And your chocolate is A-One.
There is no war in your land,
You talk and talk, But you don’t fight
You are not like some of your brothers
You are still my beloved Son
Let the Giant man ride the elephant Till 2008
I shall return at the end of the rains
And if you have no baby elephants to ride
I shall advise you.

 
And God Left.

And there arose a prophet in the land, Who looked through the past and the future
And joined both to the present.
 

He then prophesied and said,
“At thirty, man suspects himself a fool.
Knows it at forty and reforms his plan;

At Fifty, chides his infamous delay,
Pushes his prudent purpose to resolve”.
As for me,
I am not a prophet nor a prophet’s son
But what I have I will give to you
Let the world hear me when I say

Happy Birthday Ghana!!!.

 
*Source:

Daily Graphic   -    Wednesday, March 7, 2007                        Pages:  15 & 33