<<Print>>The heading of today’s piece was inspired by a spectacle I witnessed in a village in the Northern Region last week.
I saw a very thin child who was obviously malnourished. He also had a protruded belly and a skin which could pass for a sack. Even without any medical examination, one could easily tell that he was suffering from Kwashiorkor.
Did I hear you ask what Kwashiorkor is? It is a dietary protein deficiency disease, seen predominantly in poverty-stricken areas of the developing world.
It usually leads to retarded growth, changes in hair and skin pigmentation, anemia, loss of appetite, among others.
The name is derived from the Ga language, translated as “the displaced child’s visible condition.”
In many ways, the country’s electoral register can be likened to Kwashiorkor. Even without any thorough examination, one can clearly tell that the register has a bloated tummy, which is disproportionate to its body size. In plain words, it is very obvious that the register is bloated.
It is therefore pleasant news to hear that the Osono party has done some work to prove what we’ve all suspected all along. The revelation by the Osono team, led by Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has made the deficiencies in the electoral register more obvious than before. The reality of a much compromised register has finally dawned on me and my compatriots.
The revelation that over 76,000 names on our register could also be found in the Togolese voters’ register is as revealing as it is alarming. If only 10 percent of work on the Togolese register could reveal over 76,000 names, I shudder to imagine the total number of Togolese on our voters’ register when the exercise is completed.
As expected, the propagandists and the babies with sharp teeth have, without any evidence, rubbished Bawumia’s claim.
They postulate the feeble argument that persons whose names happened to be in both the Ghanaian and Togolese registers are only enjoying the privilege of dual citizenship. An avowed propagandist, who is currently an MP and a minister of state, shamelessly averred that the over 76,000 Togolese on the Ghanaian register is just a drop in the ocean. But what he does not understand is the fact that it is the little drops that make a mighty ocean.
Characteristic of the Zu-za party, they’ve resorted to personality attacks, instead of responding to the issues raised. General Ntomntom is on record to have referred to Bawumia as a comedian.
The perfect gentleman that he is, Dr Bawumia has refused to allow himself to be provoked by such comments. He has held his peace because he knows that silence is golden.
Indeed, between Dr Bawumia and General Ntomntom, we know the one who wears female fur coats to official functions, thereby providing comic relief to his compatriots. Between the two, we do know the one whose name inspires hope and respect. We also know the one whose words stink more than faecal matter.
Soon after the revelation by Dr Bawumia, Koku, aka the Bull, was also heard on air vomiting very stinky words. I wouldn’t have had a problem with his stinky words if he had dealt with the issue and not resorted to character assassination. He literally referred to Bawumia as zombie, who did not have a mind of his own.
The world is an interesting place to live in. It even becomes more interesting when you have unadulterated criminals parading as saints and calling others crooks. Isn’t it laughable to see an over-used pot calling a fairly used kettle black?
If anyone should call Bawumia names, it certainly must not be the Bull. We were all in this country when Asem Dake, aka the Limping Man, was arrested in 2012. The Bull came out lowing that Asem Dake had implicated some Osono officials in the saga of 77 missing parcels of cocaine. Latter events proved that Asem Dake did not make any such claim. We were all in this country when he behaved like a demigod at the presidency during the reign of the late Agya Atta. We all saw it when Koku made an ass of himself by firing a non-existent Ashanti Regional ECG Director after the infamous floodlights fiasco at the Kumasi Sports Stadium. The Bull should please stop lowing because the discordant sound isn’t pleasant to the ears at all.
I do understand that he wants to regain some credibility and appreciation from the presidency. But does he have to ride on the back of insults and mendacious stories to achieve that?
It is, however, refreshing that the Electoral Commission (EC) has taken a different posture from that of those standing under the eagle-headed Umbrella.
The EC is giving the political parties and civil society organizations the opportunity to express their views on the Kwashiorkor register. The parties should grab the opportunity and voice out now, or forever hold their peace.
As for me, I would continue to wonder why Zu-za officials and their surrogates continue to allow their selfish interest to override their sense of patriotism. Failure to cure the Kwashiorkor register is definitely a recipe for chaos. Can the propagandists not see this clearly written on the wall?
See you next week for another interesting konkonsa, Deo volente!