Why Ankobeahene’s picture never features in the campaign

  At my age and disposition, I should be leading a quiet and contented life, after years of classroom adventures. As a matter of fact, when I read the other day that Mr. Ibrahim Kwame Gyasi had put his pen away forever, and ended his romance with his Monday column, I felt envious.  I retired […]

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At my age and disposition, I should be leading a quiet and contented life, after years of classroom adventures. As a matter of fact, when I read the other day that Mr. Ibrahim Kwame Gyasi had put his pen away forever, and ended his romance with his Monday column, I felt envious.  I retired from the hustle and bustle of classroom activities more than two decades ago.

I have been rocking in the old sofa and thinking about when and how the other foot would join the one that is already in the grave. As a matter of fact, I always dread a phone call from the General Manager of The Chronicle, who would not allow the old and tired brain to lie fallow.

I have tried very hard to avoid the General Manager’s calls, but when activities are limited to catching the sight of the once vibrant nurse, who is now a piece of the sitting room furniture, there is very space to manouvre, which is why this column has been sporadic in its appearance.

The other day, when two of my sons, both grown up, with their families arrived at the old house by the seaside, they nearly raised the roof with laughter. Paa Kwesi and Paa Ekow have a lot in common, though the pursuit of academic laurels took different paths. Paa Kwesi is now a Civil Engineer with one of the assemblies. Paa Ekow, on the other hand, is a Banker.

They have never ceased to amaze.  When the two broached an issue with an Ankobeahene, their mother quickly jumped to the defence of her nephew, who is the current Ankobeahene of Ammisano in the Ekumfi District.

Trust the two boys to make hay even when the sun is down in the clouds. They subjected their mother to become an object of laugher, and milked every bit of the occasion.  It was at that juncture that Paa Kwesi put the old lady’s mind at rest. The discussion had absolutely nothing to do with a royal household, he asserted. The surname though, has quite a bit to do with the confluence of that river which gives Mankessim its distinctive local character, and incidentally, not far from the famous market centre.

Now that the old lady was at peace with herself, the topic was wide open for discussion, encompassing the promise on the campaign trail to answer one of by one, the many riddles posed by that running mate, whose analyses of the state economy is undermining all the supposed good works of Oga Kwatakwata, and all the apparatchiks that are supposed to get the party going.

So far, so good, in the sense that no one has asked Ankobeahene about when and how is going to answer to those riddles. One thing is certain, the riddles are multiplying in their numbers.  There are those who swear that there is an unwritten contract, which answers for why Ankobeahene’s pictures do not feature on every single poster of Oga Kwatakwata at all joints in towns and villages dotted around the entity the British once christened the Gold Coast.

It is still a closely held secret. After failing to feature in matters of substance, Ankobeahene apparently decided to excuse himself from the next ballot. When he said that he has had enough of the humiliation, the rumour mill at the Jubilee House was kept busy. Like the Akans would tell you, ‘Asemno Ato Ngo Mu.’ Oga was pleased that the man, who made no addition nor subtracted nothing from the party’s campaign, was asking to be excused.

Oga himself had been thinking hard to come up with the excuse to rid his campaign of the mundane one-time lecturer. It was when everything appeared smooth-sailing that the concept of a campaign without the Ankobeahene hit a snag.

A ballot without Ankobeahene was likely to throw the whole exercise out of gear, the three wise-men of the party advised. If you see Oga Kwatakwata on his own, dreaming of two thousands votes in the land of gold, while Ankobeahene rummage through the market, at the other side of the river, and failing to lift the head and interact with the market queens, there is your answer.

It is only a contract of convenience that still keeps Ankobeahene in the race. That is why you may never encounter a poster with the picture of the one-time lecturer anywhere. At Amisano in the Ekumfi District, the river enters the sea, via a confluence. Ankobeahene’s effigy will never appear on the poster of Oga, simply because they have nothing in common, save, perhaps, in the outcome of the vote.

 

 

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