We all have wishes, don’t we? As a growing child in Nima, my main wish was to get the opportunity to travel to Obroniland to seek greener pastures. Two decades on, that wish has been thrown into the waste bin of history. My main wish now is to climb the highest academic ladder possible. But it will continue to be a wish until I take steps to make it a reality.
President Ogwanfunu is one person whose wish is no longer secret. His main wish is to have a second bite at the presidential cherry. And that wish can be actualized if he and his party folks throw much mud at Nana Dee’s government and make it look bad in the eyes of the electorate.
Trust me when I say they are doing a very good work in that regard. No day passes without one hearing them scream about one issue or another. Whether real or perceived, they say anything wrong in the country is the fault of the Nana Dee government. As I mentioned last week, even their inability to perform their conjugal obligations is blamed on poor Bawumia and his party folks.
It was therefore no surprise when President Ogwanfunu was recently heard screaming, “The driest Christmas is here oo.” As expected, many of his party folks have joined him in singing the chorus. Call it a wish, expectation or prediction and you will not be far from right. One thing is clear: A very bad Christmas for our kith and kin will paint a gloomy picture of the economy, thereby improving President Ogwanfunu’s chances in the upcoming 2020 polls.
I do not celebrate Christmas because I’m not a Christian. But I do live in the country and can feel the pinch of hardship or relief government policies may provide.
I’ve experienced Christmas in the country for the past two decades and I can say the driest of them all was under the reign of President Ogwanfunu. No Christmas could be drier than spending Christmas festivities in total darkness and being roasted by sweltering heat. No Christmas festivities could be worse than in an economy that has been reduced to a meatless bone. There couldn’t be a more distressing Christmas than being accused of engaging in ‘useless lamentations’, after being compelled to endure a ‘dumsor’ Christmas.
I fully agree with President Nana Dee that my compatriots and I now have more cowries in our pockets than under the reign of President Ogwanfunu. I laugh anytime I hear people say the Free SHS policy has not put cowries in our pockets. Anyone with that view is either naive or deliberately ignoring the obvious.
I’m not an economist and do not pretend to be one. But my little O’ level economics tells me the opportunity cost of not implementing the Free SHS policy is that parents would be paying more than they are doing today. So it makes sense to say the policy has saved parents an average of GH¢ 1,700 per term.
For sure, such parents cannot claim to have the driest Christmas ever. More so, if the parent has more than one child enjoying the policy. So President Ogwanfunu’s ill wish will remain a wish.
Do not get me wrong, Abusuapanin. Life in Asomdwekrom is not a bed of roses. There is no doubt that my compatriots and I have to go through a lot of hustle and bustle to make ends meet. Indeed, we would have wished for a better Christmas.
But the bitter truth is that it is a much better Christmas than the ‘dumsor’ one we experienced under President Ogwanfunu. Zu-za members will be deluding themselves if they still think we have short memories.
President Ogwanfunu has the right to proclaim this year’s Christmas as the driest. But so do we have the right to let the world know that we will not allow an unrepentant harlot to teach us morality. Truly, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride!
The constant pointing of fingers at opponents by Mr Ogwanfunu does not change the fact that he is corruptible and incompetent. It rather amplifies John Mark Green’s saying that, “The self-righteous scream judgment against others to hide the noise of skeletons dancing in their own closets”. I rest my case!
Merry Christmas to my brethren, even if it is a dry one. And see you next week for another interesting konkonsa, Deo volente!
From Agya Kwaku Ogboro