Re: “Busia’s Daughter’s Open Petition To President Kufour"

This Kafkaesque tragedy, illustrates perfectly, and neatly sums up, all that is wrong with Ghanaian society, today: the unfortunate fact that we allow ourselves to be governed largely by ruthless men and women, who are completely amoral - and are untrustworthy individuals in their own private lives: Yet, as a people, close our eyes to that unsavoury and intolerable situation.

Why, then, dear reader, as a consequence, will endemic corruption not thrive, in such a nation-state - one full of such moral cowards? Should we then be surprised that we have evolved into a society in which people prosper only if they close their eyes to the ills of society?

Where are the many well-heeled middle class women’s-advocacy activists, who have prospered so mightily, over the years, from the zillions of dollars in grants, which they have made from the growth industry that speaking up publicly, on behalf of the millions of miserable, desperately poor and abused women in Ghana (whom they actually do so little for in reality!), represents, when the are needed most - in this particular case, in that of the blatant abuse of the human rights, of a hard-working and patriotic Ghanaian woman, like Nana Frema Busia?

Have they nearly all not ran for cover, thus far, in this shabby affair? Why, are they not aware that clever dictators have, over the years, labeled the most prominent dissidents in their nations’ as “mad” - in order to rid themselves of such persistent ‘nuisances’ and make them irrelevant politically through that clever ruse?

Did Stalin not fill whole Gulags with such poor souls during his tyranny? Have we become a Stalinist state too - in addition to the monstrosity of our graduating into a kleptocratic oligarchy of the very worst sort, under our “Hypocrite-In-Chief”?

Yes, sycophancy has become an effective means to an end, today, in our homeland Ghana - used by countless numbers of "My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong" myrmidon-types, throughout our country, to feather their own nests: at society’s expense.

Should there be any surprise, then, that today vast tracts of publicly-owned land that ought to revert to their original owners, as first-option buyers (if the purpose for which those lands were originally acquired by the state no longer hold good) now end up being acquired by the very people entrusted with those selfsame parcels of land: who are supposed to be good and honest stewards of our nation's assets?

Unlike most Ghanaian journalists, I had the misfortune of growing up in homes that were often visited by some of the major political figures of the immediate post-Nkrumah era regimes. Thus, I often overheard dinner table conversations and telephone conversations involving some of the major figures of history from that era - and also often had access to, and read, many secret cabinet files: as a precocious young teenager, with a keen interest in the current affairs of that time.

I was often appalled by the amoral ways of many of those individuals - and even at that tender age, lost my respect for them: because of the many shocking things I often overheard. It is because of the many outrageous and unsavoury things I often overhead during that period of my life that I grew up with such a loathing for elitism, tribalism and politics that lacks principle.

Ghana's tragedy, is that at precisely the point when our nation had the unique opportunity to set new and higher standards of morality in our public life, we had the misfortune of electing a regime that in reality was dominated by a few incredibly ruthless and morally depraved individuals, well-versed in the art and science of hypocrisy, who had an iron grip on the political party coming to power, in January 2001.

Good God, dear reader, how prescient Dr Asemfofro, who was beaten thoroughly (after the event, i.e.!) for daring to ask publicly, at that infamous Sunyani press conference, if the president's conscience was clear: as far as the issue of corruption was concerned. He did predict just this sort of end for President Kufuor's regime, if indeed it was corrupt, did he not? Pity.

The idea that a decent and sane woman like Nana Frema Busia, who is brave and principled enough to stand up to some of the most powerful individuals in our country (who are also amoral and ruthless enough to want her dead, ideally, but content to label a sane and highly intelligent woman, mad, to achieve the same end), should be so completely at the mercy of her tormentors, is intolerable to honest and decent Ghanaians who are independent-minded patriots, who love mother Ghana.

How can it be that these morally cowardly individuals, who really ought to apologize to her and to do right by her, can put this brave and principled young woman through such a torturous experience - merely so that the faces of such despicable men and women: who, when it comes down to it, are actually nothing more than a gang of common criminals lucky enough to have been given the opportunity to govern a nation like ours, will be saved - and their evil deeds covered up successfully?

Is it any wonder, then, that these disreputable incompetents have, over the eight years they have been in power, worked so hard to appropriate the wealth of the country that Ghanaians entrusted to them in December 2000, with such impunity?

The real tragedy for our country is that Nana Frema Busia's torturers might successfully lie and trick their way back to power, yet again - and continue worshiping at the "cult-of-the-mediocre" with even more fervour: to the detriment of our dear nation Ghana and its much-abused people. Pity.

Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: enti yeawiaye paa, enia? Asem ebaba debi ankasa! May God bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always. Long live freedom! Long live Ghana!