Finding Equilibrium

I long to see when the man in the mirror stays when I leave

That epic moment when I sit across my bed watching me sleep

With a sophisticated HD gadget all ready to record me snore in 3D

Where my actions will be half as good as my intentions

I took the world being a stage too literal and now I’m juggling roles…

My dreams making me wonder endlessly while I wander about

In pursuit of answers to my many unanswered questions

But these farewells to my welfare will only make me come undone

So I’m taking a bow even before the curtain is lowered ‘cos I Can

 

When I ever stop having these nightmarish dreams in broad day light…

I will explore and exploit all the seeming possibilities

Rule my destiny and put behind me all the daunting limitations

And to revel in my unique abilities - devoid of imitations

The only sure way to dampen my unquenchable agitations

 

Then I will guide and guard steadfastly against my new equilibrium

 

 

                                                                                                                     

 

 

We must find the missing baby!

 Story so far…

An expectant 25year old Suweiba Abdul Mumin who resides in Aboabo, a suburb in the Ashanti Region with her Husband after what seems to be more than nine months went to the Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) to deliver her baby only to deliver a still baby.

According to Nurses who aided her to deliver, Suweiba was informed about her baby’s death and was subsequently given the baby to identify its sex and to affirm its death to which she duly thumb -printed according to normal practice.

The baby was then wrapped away in a box with other still born babies after which she was dismissed to go home and later come back to the morgue to collect the dead body for burial. The family arrived afterwards only to find out that there was no baby either dead or alive and that was when the family of the sorrowful Suweiba and authorities of KATH realized that the baby and two other babies were not taken to the morgue which attracted a demonstration from an irate youth from the Aboabo Zongo in solidarity with Suweiba. 

According to Sources, a new male orderly only identified as Mormen, who is in the grips of the Police, took the baby away. Meanwhile, Kwame Frimpong, a Public Relations Officer of the Hospital, says orderlies are only supposed to be cleaning the wards and not disposing off babies or conveying them to the morgue. 

In the wake of the demonstration which resulted in a doctor and several other nurses being assaulted, the Ministry of Health has come out to issue an ultimatum for the hospital to produce the babies which has been condemned by the Ghana Medical Association.

CONSPIRACY THEORIES

According to informed sources I intimated with from the Hospital, when babies are born, they are placed on their mothers’ stomach for affirmation of its sex and state of health and if found to be alive, are placed in a box and similarly when babies die, they are tagged with the name of their mothers and placed into a bin to be taken away by the morgue men for identification and collection afterwards. 

Deductively, the morgue men went skiing in Alaska and left no other than the new male orderly at
post to man duties and when the much touted unkempt and drunken orderly was confronted as to where Suweiba’s baby was, he pointed out that he placed the box of baby in an incinerator to be burnt. But when they went to the incinerator, there was no charred baby which is a cause to worry because burnt bodies do not dissipate into thin air.

MATTERS ARISING

What is the state of security in the Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital such that no trace of the incident was captured on camera systems or by Eye-Witnesses? 

Where were the nurses who were supposed to be on duty and why would someone allow the orderly to pick the box of baby if that was not part of his job description?

Is there a breakdown in the structure of the Teaching Hospital which would be a faux pas for such an essential service provider considering the fact that a life saving profession such as theirs should be mindful of mistakes because of how fatal it can get when lives are involved.

If there was no charred body in the incinerator then chances are that the purported still baby has been taken away but how did that happen?

All odds may be for Mormen the orderly, but he couldn’t possibly walk into the ward where the box of baby was placed, whisk it past the nurses and the many activities that go on therein to successfully take the baby out of the hospital’s premises without being found out. Methinks so many people are involved.

If the spate of baby loss is to go by, then chances are that there is a baby stealing syndicate who only deny mothers with propensity to thumbprint their babies and this must not be tolerated. It discriminates against illiterate folks and considering the number of illiterate kinsmen that abounds, we have to gravely frown against it.

Has the Ghana Medical Association come out to condemn the Ministry of health for its 14days ultimatum directive for the Teaching Hospital to produce the baby simply because casualty befalls every work? 

People die every day without their bodies being found out so what is the big deal about the loss of a stillborn? 

Big deal is, there are modalities per the policies governing the entire working unit and in the foregoing where three babies are missing thus denying families of their joy of parenthood and the privilege of welcoming new members into their fold, thorough and independent investigations should be commissioned to get to the root of this gaffe.

It should beat your mind why state institutions commissioned to take care of people’s needs of which they implored to be employed takes things for granted as though they are doing us a favor. This is the time for every onlooker to get involved to drive this message home to everyone out there that it is time to do the right things right or be sanctioned.

And since it has become our call to watch each other’s back in the absence of these politically incorrect Human Rights Activists and the adhoc movements who like to tag themselves as Friends of this and that, we all have to with one accord sympathize with Suweiba and family because WE MUST FIND THE BABY!

And this is a call to all parents out there who knows the joy of parenthood and Suweiba’s shoe size even without wearing it and the rest of us who are yet to have babies. Let us all get involved!

Disclaimer: Images may not be the true representation of the Nurses involved in the story.

Follow the writer on twitter @vilejah

The strange bedfellows; Love and Lust

We make so much noise about love and hardly talk about lust and that is a fact! We relegate lust to the background at the expense of love; meanwhile the latter is just a medium through which we subtly or consciously express our lust.

We like to lie to ourselves to deepen the mystery simply because it makes us feel good about ourselves. It is even assuring to think of ourselves as important in other people’s lives by continually reminding ourselves that they love us when we don’t even know what their definition of what love really is. We don’t know what people mean by love because love is intangible and relative according to each other’s experiences and expectations but we all can at least define lust and get it right. For instance, most relationships that first went through the bedroom before ending up in marriage had a lusting factor attributed to them. That is not love, it was lust expressed through love and other attachment deficiencies…

We consciously or unconsciously lust with so many people without an iota of love. That intense feeling we conceive when we see and feel attracted to people from the opposite sex. The aura and the attraction of their alluring persona which activates our pervasive minds to quickly or slowly undress and have sex with them in different ways; ways we cannot even make manifest even if we are given a comfortable turf to make it happen.

Society kind of abhors those who explicitly talks about sex and even label them as perverts while dwelling on love because we as a people without a doubt feels comfortable talking about the things we don’t understand and can actually speak of. 

How do you love someone and still cheat on them whether it only entailed flirts, kissing and sex itself? How then do people agree to derive or give sexual favors and still claim, they don’t love them or are just friends with benefits? Again, how does too much or lack of sex constraints a relationship that is built on love and I have heard people praise pink lips unend and all these do not qualify as love in my opinion. I have heard folks say and do all kinds of things that set your mind thinking what really the deal is?

At this juncture, I think it is even safe to say love is just an idea because we only have an idea of what it is or should be while lust is the real deal because certainly, a sample of five people defining love will result in five different definitions whereas same cannot be said for lust simply because the latter is factual and precise. 

Consequently, most people have indulged in sex without openly discussing it for once except being equipped with all the hazy and wrong notions about what love is, which eventually lands them in rock-strewn arenas - getting both wrong. 

My bother however is why we like to relegate the pervasive and fundamental ideas that wholly make us while cloaking ourselves with ideas that are not sustainable and substantial to say the least and where do we draw the fine line between love and lust? Thus far, if we all cannot have one simple definition for what love is or should be just like lust, then no one has the moral rights to actually advise or coax another to love their way.

And just so you know, what people mean when they express their love for you is “aside everything you know and think about love, can we have sex?” and this subtle means of expressing our lustful desire is not going to stop anytime soon until we as a society have eroded the ambiguous usage of the term love and fine-tune the role lust plays in these love-lust dichotomy.  

Follow the writer on Twitter @vilejah

 

The Regressives

I see a melee of regressives
hurrying back into the future
boasting and priding in adhoc features
with no direction nor perfect pictures
A cue signifying their illusion is real

The simple and good; their last resorts
The bad and the complex; their ideal slots
Reverence for the superficial; their delight
Their purpose; fizzled, blurred and hazy
With no desire to nurture their sixth senses

A legion of leaders without willing followers
Goons who only wage war for the sake of peace
From their gated abodes, they protest with ease
Terrified, as they stare at the petrified rebels
heckling free men in shackles...

I am not leaving because i stopped living
Neither will i stop because i stopped moving
I am rewriting the scenes to avert the common sins
To bring to the fore, the damage and the carnage
Until everyone is freed from their raged anger

For their respite, they will need expressive love
To break their silence in the face of freedom of speech
To make the simple and good; their ideal slots
The complex and bad; their last resorts
And Get back to the basics to become progressives

Burying the Ghanaian in Peace!

Komla Dumor aka the Boss Player

It has been five days since Ghana; my beloved Country was thrown into a state of mourning.  Komla Afeke Dumor - touted as one of the Ace-Journalists to ever walk this part of the earth has passed on, into the yonder and the gripping shock is yet to free some of us from our inactive state, to probably continue from where we left off.

Tributes from sitting and past Presidents, notable and unknown persons from every nook and cranny have trickled in, amidst suggestions of all kinds for the man who could neither consent to nor disagree with them. But, from all indications available on social media, there is no disputing that, the man lived par excellence; a beacon for Africa and the world as a whole.

Even though I cannot say for a fact, if these suggestions are from authoritative sources such as a family spokesperson or from the Presidency, but, they have given me much to reflect on. Firstly, how every group or persons are trying to associate with the once British Broadcasting Corporation Broadcaster, despite, he was a peoples’ person. Secondly, the good-hearted people who are proposing that a fund is set for the upkeep of his Children or nuclear family and thirdly, those proposing that he is given a befitting state burial.

Apart from the clamouring from the general public, the Ghana Journalist Association has officially come out to propose a befitting state burial for the Boss Player and an established fund to cater for his survivors and the first question I found myself asking absentmindedly was “why?”

As a nation, I think this is another opportune time to reflect on our values and what should be held in high esteem. Do we have a policy which is known to all sundry as to who qualifies for a state burial and whose surviving family should benefit from such funds if any exists at all?

Does working for a leading international broadcasting Corporation or other multinational companies of that comparative stature qualifies one for such benefits? Is the benefit only limited to only the top echelon of the political circle? How long should one work in such capacities to be honored with such benefits or just getting there is enough? Exactly, where do we cut the fine line to avoid this habit of talking and denigrating the efforts of people when they are dead and gone?

This is where we are: deliberating on what to do with the mortal remains of Komla Dumor and how to manage his lots when we should be pre-occupied with what actually made him a bright shining star in a dark world and the journey thus far.

Mr. Komla Dumor interacting with Ex-US President, Bill Clinton

Ghana, like any other Country is made of different ethnic groups and by extension, different cultural practices which is usually binding on the individual, but I still believe we as a people can come to a consensus to have common grounds and say, when matters of this nature arises. The policy makers have to be circumspect and proactive in projecting their foresight even before we are confronted with the imminent situations.

Can we propose for the Government to take over funerals in this Country just as it wades in to seemingly alleviate aspects of our lives such as the National health Insurance scheme and other instituted social programs to take care of its citizenry or leave it as it were, where some people conveniently erect billboards for their departed?

How about the Government subsidizing funeral costs of Citizens or scheming funeral plans in tiers, so you and I will know our fate even before we decide to die? 

I know that, the aforementioned questions have cost implications and may further dig a hole in the state coffers, not to talk about how governance will be worsened with the incidence of skyrocketing tax falling on the individual, but all I am trying to say is we need a plan. 

There must be a plan!

And in the wake of Government taking over by subsidizing or organizing free burial for its citizens, how do we handle the agitations from family and friends who would be denied the opportunity to organize upscale funerals for their loved and departed ones, especially if they made more money in their lifetime?

There would also be cultural insurgents and gatekeepers who would be denied the chance to bury their royalties according to accepted norms, not to talk about the businessmen who would be denied revenue from privately organizing funeral for families but somehow, there must be some kind of uniformity.

We cannot continue to characterize the death of notable people who have contributed immensely on individual and national scales with such uproar and non-uniformity, because the least we could do is to allow them to rest peacefully.

To this end, I can only express my condolences to the bereaved family and close friends of Komla Dumor, who would definitely feel the loss on a very personal level.

R.I.P. Komla Afeke Dumor!

Fare thee well 

Xede nyuie!

  

The Storyteller

Things have never really been the same again. He went up North and she went down South. According to her, he has lost it. He has lost what she wants; the very thing that energizes her and brings her alive. She doesn't remember when they last had any quality time in a world where everything was quantified.

He was jarred and getting lost in his world; dealing with his devils. He was up against everything, except himself. He hasn't lost the magic that fixates her and hasn't lost the charm befitting a Prince, only, no one had told her that reality is harsh. She has shut her eyes to the occurrences around her and given up on life. However, she clung and became friends with hope; an attribute she needed so badly in that dire moment.

Hope will come around anytime, even uninvited. Hope tells her it was going to be alright. It also tells her to take it easy and hang in there. Lastly, hope assured her that, her man has not lost the magic of loving her the way she wanted, neither has he lost the art of telling her stories. Even though, she didn't believe, she smiled at the insight.

The insight energized her and brought back fond memories, so she reached out for her backpack and stuffed it with a Walkman, a pen and a paper, a couple of assorted fruit bonbons from the dining table  and her phone she had switched off all day. She was headed for their favorite spot at the beach to have a quiet time. For a change, she was going to do what she hasn't done before. She wants her man, and she is going to do everything, maybe, just something to have him.

She is going to try her hands at penning down her feelings in simple terms. She is no award winning writer. She is just a lover who wants things better than they were.

Just before she set out to write a sestet for him, she felt some eyes boring into her. She frantically looked around, but saw nothing, so she began writing.

My bony ebony
If only I could see u 
I would not be this blue
And we might just sail through 
just as wishes will not be horses 
I can never get over your kisses

As soon as she dotted the last sentence, the apparent feeling manifested. He has come looking for her, after calling her phone all day. He hugged her from behind and a combination of fear and a clout of mixed feelings of whether to be indifferent or hug back came to the fore. But before she could actually think, her body, spirit and soul has taken over reasoning, and she hugged back. He then pulled a mail envelope from the back pocket of his branded Akademiks denim Jeans, while the moment was still tensed up and he gently shoved it into her already opened hand.  "Here", and he started to walk away.

She quickly opened the envelope and shakily removed the pad  but it was tightly folded. She unfold,ed the first one and it was blank. Second one, and it was the same. These, coupled with the fact that the distance between them was widening was not amusing, she was becoming apprehensive. The suspense heightened till the fifth, which was coincidentally the last one and this had something scribbled on it.

I haven't lost my story telling abilities to u and I'm still your man. i will forever be your Prince Charming, and I want you to now and always be mine. Call me when you are ready and let's make up. Come see me and let's change the world!

And now, with her lit eyes, she didn't even know if she should just jolly after him or sit back and refine her poem for him.

2013 Facebook Awards

Dear Friends,

I have always wanted to present to you some 'friends' on my timeline who do more than just posting statuses or keeping up appearances. These personalities are more than just another 'man' in their chosen endeavors and I must say are very outstanding in what they do, and this has nothing to do with their shortfalls and successes outside Facebook.

Unequivocally, we all stand out once in a while but these fine brains whether latently or manifestly, are bound to draw you in consistently to at least, observe their opinionated stance on their perception of the world.

 Their uniqueness; borne out of the depth of their expressive thoughts and the tenacity that characterizes their projected ideas, thoughts and overwhelming persona is something you cannot refuse to be adamant about or overlook. I can only say that, their potentials, if harnessed well can help their immediate environs and Ghana as a whole out of its stalled quagmire. Simply, these are fine brains everyone should have as a friend on their timeline so as to have a peek on their walls from time to time.

Without much ado, it is time to present to you the exhaustive list of Fb personalities for the year 2013 under review:

WRITERS

Qouphy Appiah Obirikorang (satire, fiction, creative, non-fiction)

Nana Awere Damoah (satire, fiction, character sketches, non-fiction, news articles)

Kwame Gyan (editorials, opinions, non-fiction, complaints)

Nana Tsiwah Theophilus ( Transformational, Opinions, non-fiction)

Jude Edze Davids (Abstract, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, Anecdotes, character sketches)

Kojo Akoto Boateng (non-fiction, opinions)

Bright Simons (opinions, editorials, transformational, non-fiction)

Efo Dela (character sketches, poetry, comic strips, non-fiction

Kola nut (travelogues, non-fiction)

Zulkiffe Bare (humour, jokes, comic)

Gid Is (humour, jokes, comic)

Abubakar Ibrahim (news articles, opinions, reports, complaints)

Selorm Branttie (opinions, travelogues, transformational, complaints)

Jose-Marie katende (Anecdotes, fiction, non-fiction, satire, creative)

Ayimadu Theduke (creative, non-fiction)

Kofi Yankey (animal fiction, non-fiction)

Chris Worla Essikpe (complaints, opinions, non-fictions)

Andre Jnr (humour, jokes, comic)

Kofi Gbedemah humour, jokes, comic)

Kwabena Opoku -Agyeman (news articles, opinions, non-fiction)

Yvonne Amenuvor (opinions, non-fiction)

Ann-platinum (opinions, non-fiction)

Patriarch George (transformational, opinions, non-fiction)

Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia (poetry, non-fiction)

Maame AB (opinions, complaints, transformational, editorials, non-fiction)

Musah Mustapha (transformational, fiction, non-fiction)

Godfred Kofi Ofori (opinions, non-fiction)

Abdul hanan-confidence  (non-fiction, fiction

Benjamin Joe Danso (non-fiction, news articles)

Qwarme Erzuah (news articles)

Precious kweku Obeng (non-fiction, news articles)

Selasi Kuwornu (opinions, non-fiction)

Kwabena Is-Onbreak (non-fiction, poetry)

Samuel k. Obour (reports, news articles)

Auntie Adjeley (reports, news articles)

Bernadette Araba adjei (non-fiction)

Chinda ajebota (humor, jokes, comic)

Abaare Cletus (news articles, reports)

Michael Bokor (non-fiction, news articles, editorials)

Kwaku sonny (poetry, non-fiction)

Poetra Ama Asantewaa (Poetry)

Selikem Geni(satire, fiction)

Emeka Awere (non-fiction, poetry)

Manasseh Awuni Azure (news articles, editorials, reports, non-fiction)        

SPORTS (Tit-bits)

Manuel Castro

Manucho Maghandi

Seth Asiedu

Nii Aryee Qwaqwalanya

Maame Acey yamoah

George Sam

Isaac asempah

Nana hemaa osihene adiepena

Emmanuel nixon eshun

CONSCIOUSNESS

daBiggest Boss

Meester Sheriee

Shiela Dzifa Dorkenoo

Tlorm beEnie

Turkson richardson

Edem koku wotordzor

Ebenezer Mario gbormittah

Elorm c. Ahadzi

EVANGELISM

Stedem kwame ampeh

kobby ray

cornelius

larry martei

hiram elzerah Emmanuel

kingsley St John Enninful

bernadette araba adjei

Samuel dake

Seth senanu  kpodo

POLITICS

samuel fahren otoo

frank mandela bawumia

dela Coffie

kwesi Dawood

sam George

kofi Goka

kwame Gyan

PUBLICITY

Prez Al-Haj De Bunk

Kojo Akoto Boateng

Abubakar Ibrahim

kwame Gyan

Dan Ash

Nii adjieteh - socialGH

Jonas nyabor

Elorm beenie

Kennedy kenddiluv koffie

Abdullai isshak

s. gameli hamelo

PHOTOGRAPHY

Edem Asamany

Makafui Kpodo

UNASSUMING

Jonathan agyeman

Yaw duose

Prosper afuti

Esenam allen

Centy cathares

kwame Kekeli Bokpe

Francis Bokpe

RISING ICONS

Ike wan (fashion)

kofi Baldwin (knitting)

kush Elikem dotty (music)

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Awura Abena Agyeman (fashion)

Empror’gyau (telecommunications)

Delasi Fafali Kpodo (clothing and textiles)

EmperorTonyi Senayah (footwears)

Owura Owoahene Acheampong

In the end, only three groups of people would be looked out for; those who make things happen, those who look on while they happen and those who come asking, "what the fuck went on". by all means, remember to be part of one. Thanks

Ps: criteria for the winners remains my sole prerogative :p