I heard Jerry Rawlings spoke about last week Dagbang after having lost his voice with the lie detector since the NDC came to power in 2009.For that reason I am giving brethren a scene from GHANAS ROBOTS,part two of ANYINSI POLITICS(POLITICS OF DECEIT). Forgive the bad grammar because its work in progress. SCENE EIGHT A week later. The place is JOHN’S barber shop. JACK and ERASMUS arrive in JACK’s car. Already JOHN and SAMSON and some of their friends are having a meal together. SAMSON: [Laughs at JACK and ERASMUS] when will we also lay our hands on a steering wheel? JOHN: May be when your party comes to power next time you should concentrate on making a life for yourself instead of running from one radio station to the other. SAMPSON: [Makes space on the bench for ERASMUS]. John, it’s not as straight forward as you see it. My own experience has shown me that all your efforts will amount to nothing if you don’t have a god-father. ERASMUS: [Sits between SAMSON and JOHN] talking about political god-fathers, we saw Hon. George in town. He is under a lot of criticism because he has not made efforts to groom and empower young people. JACK: Those are common comments of his detractors, which every politician has. Some of us see him as an icon, an inspiration, in fact the centre of the political gravity here. SAMSON: [Sneering at JACK].centre of political gravity indeed! ERASMUS: Come on Jack. I wonder the source of this praise-singing. I think it’s needless, giving Honorable George is, and even more surprising is the fact that it is coming from you. JOHN: [Washing his hands]. Hon. George stands tall among politicians in our part of the country today. Every young politician today looks up to him. SAMSON: [Excited] point of correction. I don’t look up to him. JACK: [Scoffs] you are not a politician. There is a difference between a politician and a serial caller. You need to gather some clouds. SAMSON: Which you have gathered to earn yourself a car, I guess…. [He begins laughing at JACK teasingly.] JACK: Come on Samson, forget about this car and concentrate on the substance of the matter. The fact is that you are not ripe yet. Worst of all Hon. George has more young people who want to aspire to be like him than disgruntled young men engaging in self-dignifying tactics. ERASMUS: Jack, this truck load in defense of Honorable George, who has suffered the worst criticism among politicians here? But your conduct reminds me of who we are. We love heroes, so we make them. We love public figures, so we carve them out of nothing. We love to celebrate them even when they fail us. JACK: Eras, you are taking this too far. I get the sense that you have some personal issues with Hon. George! ERASMUS: You are damn right, Jack. It’s personal, and the irony is that those who are supposed to help solve our problems are simply part of the problems. Look around and you will find that our land is strewed with the Hon Georges. I don’t see icons and legends, I see dead weights. I see local champions whose dreams and aspirations are as vacant as those they are supposed to head. We make them heroes, and they turn their backs on us. We identify with their dreams and shower them with our loyalty. They lose their shine at some point and fall into oblivion. Then they re-incarnate into our gods of worship and our effigies of choice…. Hon. George and Hon. James and several others belong to a lost era. In the specific case of Hon. James, he was part of the Northern Region Development Authority under the military regime. He and his men collapsed it and run into exile. Gracious God! I cannot believe he returned home and has become a member of parliament thrice! JOHN: Thank God he was kicked out on the forth attempt. Many of our party people did not wish him victory in that election, and that for me was indicting enough. He had the audacity to accuse his constitutions of betrayal. SAMSON: Talking about betrayal, I see Hon. George as the worst offender. He embarks on political adventurism only to come home and displaces the sitting MP in the party primary. He wins the election on the wings of new promises for a fresh start only to resign because he wants an international position. JACK: Samson, no one has sought your opinions in passing judgment on Hon. George. In any case, your hatred for him runs deeper than the ocean. We all know it’s all about the chieftaincy issues. SAMSON: [Angrily] there you go again with your pettiness. I am sure if your limping logic on this matter is anything to go by, you are also refusing to admit his failings for the same reason. Of course, I did not vote for him, and never will I ever imagine such anything. JACK: So leave him be! ERASMUS: [Laughing] to be fair to the issue, Hon. George has indeed betrayed his constituents. He fought tooth and nail to secure the seat only to resign just three months after being sworn in. JACK: He made a choice to contest, and he again chose to resign. In any case, he did so for something greater, and anyone of you would have done the same! As far as V.P.P. supporters are concerned he is still a politician in good standing! ERASMUS: Jack, your definition of a politician in good standing definitely excludes honesty, sacrifice and public-spiritedness, all three of which Hon. George lacked by what he did. So I disagree strongly with you. How insulting to say he resigned for something greater? There is nothing greater and more fulfilling than when people in their thousands collectively agree to hand over their destiny in the hands of a one man. JACK: You can scream as much as you can. The constituents are not complaining. ERASMUS: Who said the people are not complaining? They complained and cried out loudly in the by-election that followed by voting for the S.D.P candidate. JACK: I would rather see it as an indictment on the V.P.P. candidate who was even the incumbent Hon. George beat in the primary to represent the V.P.P in that election. SAMSON: [Shakes his head] interesting! I see it differently. ERASMUS: Of course, only time can prove this in its entirety because that gentle man stood and won the seat earlier. Beyond the betrayal, I am convinced that the people decided to punish the V.P.P for Hon. George’s sins. You came out winning a seat in a keenly contested election which is even being challenged in court, and all you do is to subject the people to another ordeal of a by-election? SAMSON: Exactly, that’s the million dollar question! I know the M.P. Hon. George displaced at the primaries is not politically savvy and does not also have party communications defending him, but their loss to the S.D.P. candidate does not vindicate him. The V.P.P has always taken their voters for granted to the extent that they have often boasted that even if they put a goat in party colours the people will vote for it. JOHN: [Excited]. and now they lost with a human being. That only indicts the ex-MP rather than Hon. George except that you have something personal against him. ERASMUS: John, I don’t know the source of this idea that people have something personal against Hon. George. Even party members, including Jack, have chastised him at one point or another. [He laughs at JACK.]Except that of late Jack, for reasons known to him, has become one of his ardent defenders. SAMSON: You know there is always politics in politics. Besides, personal interest is at the heart of the game. JACK: [Laughing]. they say only a fool does not change his mind, and I am not a fool. Political winds always change, and human beings are objects of that change. [He looks at SAMSON with his eyes wide open and blinks at some point while smiling.] I am sure if I hadn’t blinked you would have called me a robot, but I did; I am human with a heart and mind that changes! ERASMUS: [Smiling] see who is talking about robots. You are robots so long as you see nothing good in what your political opponents say or do and lack the courage to criticize your own or admit your faults…simplicita! JACK: Eras, you don’t expect me to put stock in what you think or say about us, do you? You see us as robots, but I see you as a bigger robot. You stand firmly for a party that has not tasted political power for nearly five decades and yet call us robots. At least we disagree with each other based on the relevance of our impact and whose policy is more superior. So we can’t be reduced to robots. [He breaks into laughter and everybody else joins him.] SAMSON: [Still laughing].I don’t know whether Jack wanted to obliterate the least hope Eras has left in the S.D.P or humiliate him; what is clear is the shame of it…..Hahaha, case is over, settled, done! ERASMUS: [Trying hard to smile]. pillow cases join forces over embargo pylons! Samson, I know a matter like this makes you close your ranks as usual, because everyone wants to beat the big guy, which is the S.D.P and its track record. And now the fuss of Jack about how long S.D.P has not been in power. The S.D.P and its supporters must not be indicted at all for not being in power, for that would mean kicking a man already on the floor; it’s most unfair. The debate on accountability is not about who has failed to attain political power but who has it, and what they have to show for it. What I even find shocking is you Jack, who until just eight years ago, was a sworn S.D.P supporter. SAMSON: [Animated]. he joined the V.P.P to seek justice, and now I guess he will have to come back. JACK: [Raising brows]. What is that supposed to mean, Samson? SAMSON: Please, don’t make spot, and don’t make fire! Did that jump at you? [He laughs.] I am always the thrifty one, and I store up for the rainy day. You told me minutes ago that I hate Hon George for chieftaincy reasons. JOHN: [Emerging from his shop]. we don’t want any chieftaincy matters here! ERASMUS: John, wait a minute. Since when did that issue become irrelevant? I wouldn’t hesitate making it an irrelevant issue at the risk of sounding politically incorrect in your eyes. Where is the justice you promised? As far as I know there are now two views on whether justice would be delivered in those murders. First, is the irony of the political class,whom the masses count on, but who have given up on the matter. The second group is the masses who are still hopeful. SAMSON: I am told Hon. James and others tell individual supporters who visit them to concentrate on making their lives better and stop flogging a dead horse! [He looks at JACK who seems absent-minded]. JOHN: [Angrily]. Samson what kind of lies are these? JACK: [Shaking his head] they call it pitting brother against brother! ERASMUS: Jack, tell us the truth then. I’ve also met people who have experienced what Samson just intimated. It’s the same old trick of politicians telling the masses one thing and holding a different view. That’s cruel! But sometimes people fall victims to a delirium that make them believe anything. [He laughs at JOHN.] While in opposition you raised the case for justice to an art form, and now you flame out of your shop to burn a note of a caution. [At this point, they are beginning to attract people, mostly passersby]. JACK: I don’t know why Erasmus is making this a big issue. Efforts are being made behind the scenes, and it is not your call to make as to what is being done. Besides you are not in authority. Government made a pledge to the people. Besides, crime does not expire! ERASMUS: Is it not true that some of your so-called big shots promised to resolve the matter and bring the offenders to book in the first hundred days in office? SAMSON: A clear case of fantasy and reality colliding. It turned out that justice could not come in handy as pledged because the court room isn’t a place for naked vengeance and vigilantism. Certainly no judge in good standing will convict people on any circumstantial issues [They all watch as JACK towards walks across the road his car]. Justice can often turn out to be a harsh mistress, huh? JOHN: I don’t think it makes any sense for the investigation team to go on telling people what progress they have made. I really don’t understand why people are knitting all manner of lies in this regard. ERASMUS: [Shuffling his feet into his shoes].John I don’t know why some of you have insisted on becoming cheap volunteers of such a farce. All the people arrested so far have been freed for want of evidence and prosecution. The V.P.P guys either lied deliberately about finding the murderers or that they are simply incompetent, either of which is damning for their moral and integrity…..I met an expert recently who said that in crime investigation, the first forty-eight hours is a period within which the evidence can be degraded and suspects perfect their alibis. SAMSON: I beg to differ on this one, Eras. I am sure if there were willingness, something substantial could have been done, after all investigations do not expire. ERASMUS: Samson, remember this was a case involving the loss of human lives in violence. Investigations most definitely depend on exhibits and witnesses. What’s worst is the fact that the whole incident has politics washing through it such that everything about it became tribal as usual between the V.P.P and the P.D.P hence the absence of continuity…What a cheap way to kill evidence! JOHN: [Shaking his head]. I don’t get this, witnesses still appeared in court. ERASMUS: [Nodding his head]. of course there were witnesses. But you will agree with me that they are not machines; they are humans whose memories can suffer degradation from sickness and age. Scanning the proceedings that went on in court, there is ample evidence to show that there were gaps in the testimonies of witnesses. While one can blame it on poor legal advice, it may also be due to the fact that time had caused changes in people’s perception of what happened, or that they were psychologically fed-up with the matter. JOHN [desperately] so it’s all over? SAMSON: “If you told me the duck was an oboe, I would have told you where the diamonds are” Peter and the Wolf. ERASMUS: [Surprised]. Meaning what? SAMSON: [Waves his hand] never mind, just a pointless quote. But the truth is that the lack of it has brought us this far. After all the mess we’ve caused ourselves and our land, the issues still stand out. Part of the truth is that if we had concentrated less on vengeance, most of the outstanding issues would have been ironed out by now. Out fits of anger can often make us lose sight of the larger picture. JOHN: [In a fit of rage]. I’ve not heard this kind of nonsense in a long time. What is making it worse is that it is coming from you Samson who claim you are educated. [He looks ferociously at ERASMUS who now wipes dust off his shoes]. SAMSON: [Tries to laugh]. John, you don’t have to get angry over this. I can read between the lines. So yes, I am educated. In any case, is it not the case that the educated class is always at the forth-front of this ethnic and chieftaincy entrepreneurship? ERASMUS: [In a low tone]. Guys lower your tones. I agree that even at its most decorous and solemn the law still has its limits, and there is no doubt that this was on stark display. As to whether people were vindictive, I am afraid it was below the belt, Samson. As much as we think that we have evolved, the desire to hit back is only primal…..A man one said that laws are made with the hope that majority will obey, and with the expectation that few will disobey. If we have made any progress as humans it’s because we have made lairs and established systems to handle our right to hit back…. And that was what they did, Samson, they went to court. SAMSON: [Calmly]. I have no problem with that except when people seize every opportunity to vilify others and accuse them falsely. And you had a justice minister lying publicly that a judge sitting on the matter had taken bribe and people believe him because that’s convenient. ERASMUS: [Smiling] come on Samson, don’t get petty! The shouting matches are part of process of our evolution; at least no one suffers a bodily harm. As much as it has its negative consequences generally, on the specific issue of a court process people can always be vindicated. Even the law has its own way of handling offenders. Nevertheless, there seem to be a growing trend in this country where people simply slander others publicly through the media with ease. This practice has found space in our body politic because people know the issue will simply die off after a day or two, and no one will hold offenders to account……Business as usual! JOHN: Okay, they say the law is the law. People will not hit back because the law will protect them. But what if the law fails you, like in this case? ERASMUS: Of course, I think the worst tragedy and betrayal to a man is when the law he trusts fails him. That’s even bad enough for the entre society because chances are that people would resort to vigilantism to settle scores they feel the law has failed to settle. This is a recipe for chaos. They say justice is a harsh mistress and that’s when it does not give you the desired results. But I also see justice as a noble beast, because as much as it can give you all you need, it can also deny you all you need, and that depends solely on your case. We can’t risk a situation where there is complete loss of confidence in our justice system. Of course, judges are not machines. They have hearts just like us, and they have emotions and prejudices too. But they are professionals too, and they are fully aware what the implications are if they are seen not to be discharging their duties impartially. They don’t only discharge justice, but they must be seen to be doing so. SAMSON: The other side of it is that citizens have a duty to approach the court rooms with equity. And never forget the roles and duties of lawyers too. ERASMUS: [Laughing]. I concede. [He stands up and walks across the road to JACK, who is still waiting for him in the car]. [Work in progress]. GOD BLESS DAGBANG,GOD BLESS GHANA!
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 15:48:34 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015