Walk Away From Foolishness

Several years ago I met a European girl right here in Ghana. This was whiles I was still a student in Cape Coast. She was tall and attractive. Honestly, I no longer recall her name. She told me that she was very adventurous. I told her I was a maverick. We paired for an adventure. First fact is that I was not the first 'local guy' she had met and taken as her boy friend. Even though she was a foreign volunteer teacher in a local nursery school, you could describe her as one of those sex tourists. She first met a 'London burger' who returned to Ghana on holiday. This guy seemingly 'spoilt' her with all the good things in town at all the good joints and hangouts. He paid all the bills - and he did with alacrity. Their affair lasted a couple of months until the 'London Burger's' wife - who by the way was back in England and the main source of the burger's money and power - got informed about the affair. She threatened to leave the burger. It became scandalous. The 'London Burger' had to advice himself quickly. He fled. This is where I got into the picture. I inherited a 'brand new second hand' European girl from the burger. But that is not all that I inherited. I also inherited the burger's burdens. My European girl friend had acquired not only new tastes but also new spending habits. She had obtained a relief from the 'cost sharing' culture of Europe among men and their women through the 'London Burger'. And it was easy for her to mistake me for the burger. As a student at the time who didn't have a golden spoon in my mouth, I was almost always broke. My wallet was constantly lean. Sometimes I went without a wallet for lack of money to keep in it. Yet, I wanted adventure - money or no money. We started it quiet nicely. It was no love affair although we shared the benefits of lovers. It was adventure designed from the onset. We went to many places. I was the natural tour guide. To my dismay, I was also the sole financier of our adventure. Can you imagine a man without a wallet sponsoring an adventure with a European girl with a combination of European and African tastes? you have to be creative. And well I did it - but not for long. I was constantly now more broke than ever. I lost priorities. I spent school bills money with her. Unconsciously, I was trying to measure up the the burger's standard - naively deceiving and ridiculing my self in the process. When I was completely without money, I had to go into 'by force' solitude. She always wanted to go out and enjoy like she used to have with the burger. One day I had a rude awakening from my adventure. We went out. We chilled very well. We indeed had a lot of fun that night. I mean outdoor fun. We went deep into the night. Finally, we went to her trotro station where she will pick a ride home. One good thing about that girl - she always took trotro which cost less. She got a ride and left for her house. I stood there all alone drunk and weak. I still had a working mind though. After more than five minutes of searching my pockets, I was faced with a reality - I had no more money to transport myself back to school. Indeed, I had no money anywhere. I was completely and shamefully bankrupt. I could not walk because it wasn't a walking distance. I had to devise a plan B. I went on the road but could not find a trotro. I could not take a taxi from the road side either since I could not afford it. I got an idea. I went to the taxi station where there are many taxis in a queue for passengers. There was one taxi with a sign 'ready going'. There was no passenger in it so I made myself the first. I sat in the front seat whiles the driver kept on with his noisy advertising for three more passengers. He kept saying 'last person....last person' though he needed three more passengers. Whiles he was at it, I put my plan to work. The driver didn't hide his coins displayed in a tray close to the gear lever. I found enough coins. I picked out exactly the amount that the taxi driver will demand from me as cost of transport. I then closed my palms tightly and waited. In a jiffy, three more people joined me in the taxi. The driver got in quickly and ready to move. But before he will get to his ignition, I was already handing my coins over to him. He smiled gladly at the alacrity with which I was willing to pay even before take off. What he didn't know was that I was paying him with his own money. I was getting a free ride on his blind side. I smiled back at his naivety as he received 'my coins'. Did I face moral dilemma? absolutely not. I had no time for that at that moment. I was faced with the question of prudence not morality. I woke up the following morning full of emptiness and the truth staring at me. I concluded that this whole adventure was utter folly. The adventure was too costly for me. I couldn't afford it anymore - unless I was prepared to become a petty thieve. I was not confused - not even for a second. I had to walk away from it - walk away from foolishness. If you don't have money, you don't have it. Don't pretend you do - not with a woman.'' culled from the book - PANAFEST IN THE DUNGEONS - An experience of a natural mystic: A narrative by SaCut Amenga- Etego (coming soon to your book shelves)

Telling our side of the story - My second political attempt

The first time I run for political office, I lost the ballot completely albeit, I enjoyed a good measure of fame. It was student politics in 2005 when I run for sports and Entertainment secretary. That campaign was run haphazardly. With some creativity, I raised some little funds which barely covered the cost of feeding my three - man campaign team. Nevertheless, we did it. I particularly enjoyed the manifesto reading in front of large crowds of students. The grand entry into the arena. And the accompanying appellations from my ashanti friend and class mate Tiwaa Opoku Ware. She added some poise to the entry with her surprise act which differentiated me from the rest of the candidates. I wore a black jacket and tie - first time in school. I became a spectacle for the many student fans who showed me love - but not with their votes. They called me SaCut 'TheGeneral'... I also remember the deep and affectionate hug I received from miss Sefakor Vowotor - my super star campus 'girl friend' that never was. She was impressed beyond the point that she could not hide her feelings from her friends when I met them in the crowds after the speech. She hugged me so closely. But that is all I got. All that deluded me into thinking I was going to win. I lost. And when I lost, I got a hair shave, an extreme make - over, to disguise myself. I was completely stupefied. When my dean of students met me the morning after the declaration of results, he was surprised to see me smiling - and he said it, that I was such a 'cheerful looser'. Yes, I am unlike some other politicians we know in Ghana. He was happy to have such a good sports man as a student of his. Well that was over seven (7) years ago and it marked the beginning of my political adventurism. Since then I have supported other people's candidature for political office including some of my best friends. I even supported and actively campaigned for the first female candidate in the presidential primaries of my political party. I was my candidate's official polling agent at congress. I have decided to run for political office - again. This time, it is national politics. This time, I have experience. The ruling NDC is going to congress in November to elect new national executive officers who will form a committee to run the political party for the next four (4) years. I have seen a weak link in the current national executive structure of the party. It is the propaganda secretariat. The current secretary in charge of Propaganda is Richard Quashiga who is currently preoccupied with parliamentary duties. But even before then, he has been a pale shadow of his predecessor Fiifi Kwetey who is my all time best propaganda secretary of the NDC in the time of opposition. Richard Quashiga has simply been a failure in his attempt 'to tell our side of the story' to the people. He has been constantly reactive to issues that emanate from the opposition. He eventually lost control to the government communications team which has since taken over and are 'attempting' to 'tell our side of the story' to the people. I believe that this very crucial branch of the party structure must be rescued and the much needed propaganda WAR properly and strategically waged. It is a very crucial psychological warfare because it is the means by which political parties win or loose the hearts and minds of the people to their side. I can't imagine anybody in my league within the NDC doing it better as a secretary of propaganda than myself. This is the bases of my ambition. So: I am going to offer myself to be elected by the NDC delegates when nominations are opened officially. There are two positions here. The secretary and his deputy. As a strategic move, I am running for deputy propaganda secretary. In four years from now, God willing, I would've been totally prepared to take on the full Job. I have revealed my ambition to a few friends and close allies. I have also mentioned it on radio a couple of times. Recently, some daily news papers put out a story about prospective candidates in which included my name. All these little pieces of publicity put together seem to have communicated sufficiently the intention of my candidacy - and I think my rivals are unsettled. I was sitting in the studio the other day readying for that weekly radio interview that I have agreed to grant to Bobiyie Ansah on agoo 103.5 fm. Whiles I was setting up my tools, an old friend of mine Peter Boamah Otokunor walked into the studio. Apparently he was just driving by the station and decided to come up and greet - according to him. After greeting he said to me ' I hear you are planning to contest me'. Whiles he talked, he was smiling with it. He appeared to have a 'sense of entitlement' to a certain position I want to contest. 'What is your name', I asked him with a stern look, also smiling. He was amazed by my question, knowing that I know his name too well. 'You mean you don't know my name'? He asked me. I think he was now confused - for a moment. 'Are you called propaganda secretary? or deputy propaganda secretary?', I asked him. He laughed. He told me he run for the post of deputy propaganda secretary the last time and lost to the incumbent, and now, naturally, he wants to go back for it. But now he is hearing about my candidature and welcomes it because, according to him, 'it will make the race exciting'. Of course I bring excitement. But not only that, I bring competence, practical experience and acumen. I laughed off his bluff and suggested to him to perish his ambitions immediately to avoid being mashed up by me in the elections. He laughed it off - of course! He walked out of the studio not long after that with food for thought. So: it will seem to me that my intentions have been sufficiently communicated and the battle lines are being drawn for the start of the PROPAGANDA WAR! I will soon put together my campaign team so I welcome all volunteers on board to help present 'our own side of the argument'. SaCut 'commandante' Amenga - Etego - Ghost Writer, broadcaster, multi - media journalist and politician

The Ultimate Price - a Koforidua Flower

It was something we looked up to. We were young and daring. Adventure was always on my mind. The first going was on an excursion with many other students to the Akosombo Dam. It was my first time in that part of Ghana. I was by then undergoing practical training in school radio whiles attempting to study to become an accounting technician. At last I mastered radio. Accounting technician, I did not become. This was in Kumasi, Ghana's second largest city. Being on school radio makes one popular among students, and the surrounding communities. My radio show was usually between 5PM - 7PM on Saturdays. It was a once a week show. I called it ''General@ the controls''! And I played dance hall reggae and spoke 'corrupted English'. The students loved it. It was during this period that I met my long time friend and brother Cassius 'King' Owusu It was he who taught me that all I needed to speak 'patois' was corrupting my English language. This was after EDEM, final year student programmes manager, under whose tutelage I was undergoing my radio training, handed to me his slot to sit-in in his absence. It was a music/talk show. And I enjoyed the experience of excitement at the time. Bobby was my class mate and friend. We both wanted to become 'accounting technicians'. We were also eating mates, though I hated his eating habit. He would usually start with the meat. Not only that, he took a different bite of every piece of meat in the soup. The first day we had a meal together, I confronted him right in the middle of the eating. I told him to take it easy. He did not. After a couple of weeks of adopting to Bobby, he became my friend. I chose him as my friend because he was a neat guy. He didn't argue much intellectually or politically or philosophically. He was not judgmental and shared a couple habits. His interest was entertainment and girls. He was a simple guy. Although he wasn't a rich student, he appeared as one, with his neat and fashionable dressing. Women were always attracted to him, sadly, he didn't know how to coax them. He either misunderstood them, or misinterpreted them. He was a Fante boy but who was born and lived with his parents in Tema. I had one problem with him; when ever you asked him where he comes from, he will say he comes from Tema. Unlike me who will say I come from Kandiga, 18 km east of Navrongo. I suggested to him to to be himself. but he was adamant. Anyways, we rolled together. We got a guided tour of the DAM that provides over 50% of our energy requirements as a nation. We asked questions. And we said good bye and headed to the Akosombo Hotel were the action was to take place. There was a large swimming pool. Some other accounting and banking students from Koforidua were coming to mix and socialize with us. We got excited when we heard this. We hoped for more 'Koforidua flowers' in the crowd. I was particularly looking for a rose flower. In the end, I got an Anita flower. I don't know if it was because of my swimming skills in the pool. Or was it because I was walking with the handsome Bobby. Perhaps, it was my dancing skills though the last time I checked, only one person has ever said I can dance well. Anita chose me. May be because she noticed I was famous among the crowd. She was one of the Koforidua girls. She came into our bus with many other students from Koforidua. They wanted a short ride back to their campus, from where we will proceed to Kumasi. Even though there was no space by me, Anita still came and tried to push me from my seat. I looked at her fair face and slender figure. I obliged. Next thing she was asking everything about me. I gave her a few correct answers. And I 'packaged' for her the rest of the information she wanted to know. She was smiling. She had just met a half - Ghanaian, half - Jamaican. An exotic guy with a 'patois' accent. School radio star. All I did was to ''corrupt'' my English to assume my character. I found out from my experience that many Ghanaian girls interestingly wants a guy remotely exotic. So if you really want a pretty Ghanaian girl, put on your exotic self. By the way my parents are both proud Ghanaians. It was just my own 'acquired identity' as a life skill. And it always worked. The bus ride to her campus was short but I got her number. She had a mobile phone at that time when many of my peers didn't own one. I hadn't even dreamed of owning a mobile phone. There were telephone booths everywhere in town, on campus etc. etc. One only needed to buy a telephone card to communicate. Whiles I was saying goodbye to the Anita Flower, Bobby was hugging Tilly. He told me later that he had managed to con her and got her number. In that case, We both went to Kumasi with some Flowers from Koforidua. What are we going to do with them? It was our puzzle to answer. I kept in touch with my Anita flower from Koforidua. Actually, she hailed from Cape Coast and lived in Accra with her parents. She was only attending school in Koforidua. I constantly telephoned her from the booth. We talked and she told me how she was boasting to all her friends about her new 'Jamaican boy friend.' She was completely obsessed. After a couple of months, when we had received our student loan, and were sufficiently rich, we decided to return the flowers to Koforidua. Bobby and I planned the trip tactically. We wanted to make such a big impression on these girls so that we could claim the 'ultimate price' before we return. First of all, as exotic as we wanted to portray - or at least, I wanted to portray - we had to show that we were not poor guys - even if we were. ATM BANKING was the BUZZWORD at the time. It was new in town and it was prestigious to operate an account with an ATM card. It was enough to get you a beautiful girl friend for a short while - even when the account actually has no credit balance. So having assured ourselves that the both Koforidua flowers were anxious to see us again, and hopefully bond with us, we set a date for departure on that adventure. Rather not so strategically, we decided not to carry cash with us on the journey from Kumasi to Koforidua. We wanted the girls to know about our 'ATM status'. We wanted them to be there whiles we withdrew our cash to dramatize the point. And we took this major decision without knowing - and just assuming - that there is an ATM machine in the Koforidua branch of the Barclays bank. We didn't even care to inquire from our hosts. We were so sure because we assumed that that town must be as commercial as the city of Kumasi. How naive we were. We left in the morning on a crowded bus. We looked forward with excitement to meet our flowers. I wanted to smell mine properly and appreciate it. My Anita flower was more than eager to experience her exotic new breed. Everything went pretty well until we arrived in Koforidua that late afternoon. It was the beginning of our adventure proper. To our utter amazement, the Barclays bank in this whole town of beautiful flowers did not operate an ATM machine. The banking hall had just been closed with an unyielding security man in a tattered uniform making sure we didn't get near. What a horror story. We were now standing in the town, so near to our flowers, yet, faced a dilemma. We couldn't let them know about our situation. That will spoil the plan. So plan A had failed brutally. We had to operate plan B. The nearest town that may offer a solution was a town called Suhum, we found out after some inquiries from some ignoramuses around whose advise only misled us through out. We had just a few cedis in our pockets combined. We were so surely misled into believing that Suhum will offer a solution, we decided to rent a taxi with the rest of the money to take us through a guess of 18 km of red, bumpy feeder road to that town. When we finally arrived, having paid off the taxi driver, we were told that that bank did not even operate, or exist, if you like, in that town, let alone an ATM machine. It was now 5PM and we hadn't arrived in Koforidua yet. We had no money except a few coins. We had had neither water nor food. Luckily for us, as we didn't own mobile phones at that time, we could not be reached by our hosts flowers who were prepared and anxiously waiting for us. We also could not even afford to communicate with them. Even if we could afford, we will not until the right time. Next stop was Nsawam. Here, the bank also did not operate an ATM machine even though it existed. It was now a completely disastrous day. We were now standing at Nsawam at 7 pm, having set out in the morning from kumasi to visit our flowers in Koforidua. We were yet to arrive - and we had no way of arriving soon. We now had to decide. Bobby brought a brilliant idea. He said we are close to Accra. Let's take a trotro to Tema station. I know a branch there with an ATM. He was so sure. When we got to the Tema station, it was 9 PM. It was a long ride in traffic. We got our cash finally in our hands. And we were still on our way to Koforidua. It was too late to arrive that night. The journey from Kumasi to Koforidua had taken us more than 24 hrs. We were now much closer to Bobby's 'home town' - Tema. I suggested we go visit his family and pass the night. He agreed but he needed a decoy to cover our real adventure story. After much brainstorming we came out with a tale that we had come to Tema on a school excursion bus to visit the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR). That some how, we went about touring and eventually missed our return bus. It was an acceptable story for his parents to welcome us home. It was too late when we arrived so nobody asked us about food. Early the following morning, I gave Anita a call from the phone booth at the Koforidua lorry park in Tema. I expressed my regret that I failed to turn up the previous day as promised. I told her We had to 'run a few thins'..' in Accra first but I was now on my way with my friend Bobby. She was excited. She shouted and called out my name on the phone. Some how, my name was the most exotic thing to her. We finally arrived to rousing welcome - at least for me. Anita was jumping all over me. She took me round to show off to all her friends. She kept touching my bushy hair. And she kept saying 'this is my Jamaican boy friend...this is my Jamaican boy friend...' Bobby's Tilly Flower was 'still coming' after more than three hours of arrival that Saturday morning. It was curious considering that Bobby had assured me that she was equally eager about his visit. So far, she hadn't demonstrated eagerness. My Anita hadn't only demonstrated, she was practically dramatizing her eagerness in front of all of us. We were eventually invited for lunch. It was to take place in a certain hostel where we would finally meet Bobby's Anita. We arrived. There was a crowd which included other guys. It was introduction time. Tilly introduced herself and introduced a certain guy in the crowd as her boy friend. Bobby's eyes were wide open. He was shocked. As if to equalize it, Anita introduced me '' This is SaCut, my Jamaican boy friend. He is a school radio star and he speaks 'patois'.'' I now had the easiest task of 'corrupting' my English to demonstrate my exotic nature. I was good at it, and I enjoyed doing it. We enjoyed their food as well as their drinks. Bobby had started getting real. Whiles I was acting as a non - alcoholic drinker, he on the other hand, drunk the liqueur unashamedly. As if he wanted to get drunk and lose control. He may have started regretting for the journey after his 'girl friend' introduced to us her boy friend. Later that evening, we went out for drinks and meat and ice cream. At that time, 'fried rice' was very fashionable and we had our own share of the fashion. Regrettably, we could not prove our ATM point which we set out from the onset to do - the same reason that we spent over 24hrs making that long journey. Anyways, that was no longer necessary for the plan. All my plans were on course so far. I worried less about the games between Bobby and his Tilly flower. That was their own cup of tea. Of course, I sympathized with Bobby but he was responsible for misreading and misinterpreting the signals from the girl. He had to take responsibility for his poor judgment. We planned to party through the night but Tilly suddenly wanted to go home and see her mother. She promised to return to see Bobby. She left. I told Bobby to give up. He said yes, but he still nursed hopes. We eventually returned to the Hostel where we were to stay the night. It was a time many students were at home with only a few professional students still in school. There was one empty room with two double beds. I now had the onerous task of managing a situation where my friend Bobby had no other place to sleep except in the same room with me, and an eagerly awaiting Anita flower who wanted to bond with - but in private. It was such a dilemma. There was only one option - to convince Anita that my friend Bobby will sleep and slumber and will not even notice us. It took some time to convince her, but she succumbed eventually. I had a 'special agreement' with Bobby. I told him to do well to sleep, probably start snoring as soon as he can pretend. He promised on his honor, with his hand on his heart, that he will not give Anita any reason to escape my grib. He told me that he wanted me to 'pay his debt' for him since it was almost certain that he had hit a hard rock with his Koforidua exploit. We went to bed with our rubbers - of course. Anita and I slept in the first thirty minutes when Bobby was preparing to 'pretend to sleep' but we kept awake for the rest of the night. We were playing. And she loved playing with me. We even did run together but not with our bare foot. We run with the rubbers on our feet. We also talked. Bobby had had enough of our all night play. Whiles, we played, Bobby chose to wake up and urinate. He however staggered as though he was sleep - walking. We halted until he came back and pretended to be sleeping. To put it simply, the night was blissful. I woke up smiling broadly, having risen to the occasion and claimed my title to the regret and annoyance of my friend Bobby. I got the price. He didn't. Anita's face glowed in the morning. Before we left later that afternoon, I promised Bobby - but not on my honor - that I will 'package' the narration such that I will edit out the part of the story that says that he missed the price, but not always. That part of the story hinges on his honor - he claimed. He said he was jealous of me but understood fully that it was not my fault that he missed the price. He told me that he had at least 'enjoyed watching us play during the night'. He couldn't keep his promise to remain sleeping during our play. I currently don't know the whereabouts of either Bobby my friend and old school mate nor Anita my Koforidua Flower. My meeting with Anita was the second and last time. Interestingly, we had no mutual friends. As I had no mobile phone on which to be reached, and could not constantly keep in touch from the phone booth, I put her out of my mind. That Flower is now a souvenir in my mind. - extracted from the book 'PANAFEST IN THE DUNGEONS - an experience of a natural mystic by SaCut Amenga - Etego.

TODAY, I AM 36

Yes, I am 36. And yes, I have little means. But I know the ends. I mean, I know exactly what I want from life. I am not confused - not even for a second. I am working at getting it and I have health and talent with God as my guide to do so. Everybody has been through a unique life experience. The difference here however is that I am one of those keen observers of one’s own life experience. I am a student of myself. I engage in self study and self education. I am a forever student of life. I don’t know how come, but I guess that’s why I am a writer. I am able to recollect and narrate the fine details of every practical experience that I go through in life. If you sit down with me for a drink, I can narrate the details, even the dialogue of the moment in twenty years to come with clarity. Reminiscing for me is a hobby and photography a passion – I like capturing the moment and locking it up in my sub – conscious mind. My philosophy? I am an extreme liberal on social affairs. I am mostly misunderstood not only by those who remotely know me but also by those who have been intimate with me. I am a student of goal setting. I don’t subscribe to using every ways and any means to achieve my goals. I believe in the ‘right means’- if there is anything like that. I am a student of great people. I want to be great with my works and that’s why I study great people. I am a believer in myself as an image of God the creator. I try to create every day. I have come to know that integrity, honesty and truth coupled with a positive and progressive attitude towards humanity will always bring a man honors and glory at the end. I thrive towards it. I have embraced it. In tandem, the greatest virtue for me is self – restraint which comes from conquering oneself. Controlling what one’s body desires, one’s mind under his control, taming the tongue, assuming calmness from lack of temper, focusing on the good with the eyes on the price, shaking off the canal knowledge. This is a great moral dilemma for me. I strive every day to achieve the virtue of self – restraint. As for justice, and the prudence of it, I am still contemplating it. I know how much injustice pays on the real side of the world. At 36 I am only realizing the truths of life. I am ready to shake off the escapades of youth, focusing on the end goals. I am consecratedly committed to my plans. And here, I have learned from great guys that one’s plans must always come in duplicates if they are to succeed. Always have plan A –Z. Whenever plan A is about to fail, apply plan B and when plan B is about to fail, apply plan C. etc etc. A man with just a plan A is a man without a plan for plan A is almost always 99.5 % guaranteed to fail. And a man without a plan has nothing to achieve. Since it is pretty obvious that one cannot achieve any goal in the real world without allies (people who share common interests and values and philosophies etc etc.), I am building alliances towards the attainment of the goals on my mind. And in making allies, I am willing to dine with the devil, not to become the devil or his advocate but as a means to study his ways and devise tactics to conquer him. But I believe sincerely that, of all the allies I need for the attainment of my goals, and the good life, my woman – I mean the one – is the most important to me. Everyone else come second. I have been accused of being egocentric by some of the closest people to me. If that were true - and I don't know if it is - but I take criticism from those who love me as truth - at 36, I am ready to lose my ego. It is not worth it. When I was growing up in KANDIGA, they used to say if God is the King, then, everything you want, you will get it. Gracefully, God is the King. Which means whatever I can behold is mine. I behold my greatest heart desires!!! I thank God for my life and the life of all the people who have affected my life one way or the other. May God accept the meditations of our hearts and the positive words of our mouths flowing from positive thoughts. Amen!!!

Defaming Our political Leaders with False images – And with Aid of Technology

Our body politic in recent times seems to have reached a new crescendo. It is a stage that cannot be reasonably considered as an advanced stage in our politicking. Indeed, it has been debasing – to say the least. At best, we can say that, we have reached a point of lazy politicking with the aid of computer applications and the easy access to available new social media– taking advantage of the ignorance of the masses to spread falsehood. People now have no need to investigate issues or even be interested in it. No gate keeping mechanisms before going to the media simply because people have access to personal space and networks of friends, acquaintances, family etc on new social media - facebook, twitter, whatsAPP etc. etc. and can publish instantly with viral and maximum effect. Our politics has now been reduced to defaming our leaders very cheaply by use of false images. It has become a competition among young political activists with access to social media tools. Everybody is now a specialized propagandist with no regard for decent political discourse but an insatiable quest to defame the opponent without apology – and by any means necessary. The latest method is with pictures. As they say, one picture speaks a thousand words. With the aid of Photoshop – a computer application that is capable of manipulating pictures and altering images - some uncouth and desperate elements within the political group (NPP) have gone ballistic – almost acidic with false images of our President, thereby misleading the majority of our people who do not appreciate information technology. There are also ramifications for our international image as a nation etc. Since then, similar characters within the ruling NDC or in support of it have retaliated in equal viral and acidic measure. With this APP, anyone’s head in a digital photograph can be replaced within seconds with another’s or any other image thereby maliciously creating false images to further create false impressions and notions. In the past week, the victim has been our president H.E John Dramani Mahama. A member of the opposition NPP Michael Omarie Wadie led a social media assault on his image when he 'photoshoped' our president into a porn star. It is such a disgusting image which caught some of us completely stupefied. This distasteful image went viral around the world via social media to be viewed by an under - estimated twenty (20) million people in less than two (2) days. If you think that creating and distributing this false image of our president around the world was condemnable, hear something else. The creators of this new trend have been on the defense. They are irrevocably committed to their course of action. And they argue, that yes, they created and/or distributed the false images. And yes, it was in retaliation for similar false images that had been created of ‘their leader’ Nana Akufo Addo in the past. Isn’t this amazing? Last time I checked we had only one leader of Ghana – and that is H.E President J.D. Mahama. So: now you know the people behind this latest defamation agenda - Some disgruntled NPP elements hell bent on sabotaging and undermining the government of President John Mahama. Michael Omarie Wadie who has been running away from responsibility is an acquaintance of mine. He wants everybody to believe that elements within the NDC party could be spreading the false images of the president. I dismiss that assertion as a discredited divide and rule tactic. We in the NDC can bitterly disagree but with don’t employ such debasing tactics against ourselves. Nobody will buy it. However, I strongly and personally think Michael Wadie has demonstrated a low opinion of himself with what he did to our president including his attempt to justify his action. He and his friends obviously and falsely believe that Nana Akufo Addo is at par with our President. They know that they cannot deal with the issues, and so have resorted to defamation. The NPP is losing credibility in the SC every day. They now want to drag all of us into the doldrums. They are fully engaged in equalization though there is nothing to equalize. Power can only be compared to itself. President John Mahama is wielding ultimate or if you like sovereign power in the nation – state of Ghana. Any other person or supporters of such persons attempting to equalize the president’s power can only be considered subversive. And subversive elements should be treated as such. There is rumors of a recent arrest of Omarie Wadie by the security agencies, I don’t know if for subversion or for defamation - or perhaps just interrogation and debriefing. If we are going to arrest and treat Omarie Wadie like John Kumah, Kennedy Agyapong, Owusu Bempah and so on, then better we allow him to remain in obscurity rather than giving him that self - promotion – which is really what I think my friend Omarie Wadie is looking for. We must not fall for the bait but go for the kill. I am for open and consistent divergence in opinions with our leaders. But some of us cannot endorse this abhorrent and progressively destructive use of computer applications to defame our leaders. I consider it an insult to the intelligence of Ghanaians who unsuspectingly see these images on the front pages of our news papers and consider them to be true and are completely shortchanged in the event. I agree that elsewhere in the great democracies of America, computer APPS have been used to manipulate President Barack Obama’s images into Osama Bin – Lardin and so on. Creating caricatures of our leaders for the purpose of humor and political propaganda is a more acceptable category. To be just, I have seen in the past where some other unknown or unnamed people have used similar computer applications and created false images of opposition leader Nana Akuffo Addo where a roll of marijuana is transposed on his lips to try to dramatize and add effects to the rumors that he may be a user of that narcotic. Some news papers have carried these images on their front and back pages in the past unashamedly. Social media has been virally replete with such and such completely false images. Let truth be told. But is this a good reason to falsely portray our president as a porn star or someone engaged in office romantic escapades? Does Nana Akufo Addo represent Ghana as a sovereign state on the world stage? Absolutely not! And this is the reason why anybody comparing and trying to equalize Nana Addo with President Mahama is foolhardily mistaken. Notwithstanding, we must collectively condemn the use of the false images for political purposes whether it affects President Mahama or Nana Akufo Addo. Equalization will not move us forward as a nation as two wrongs don’t make a right. To be just again – arresting those who have openly admitted to creating/or distributing the latest false image of the President will be such a majestic egalitarianism of the law. If the law must be just, it must apply to all without discrimination. Besides, arrests without sufficient evidence to prosecute those involved, in my books, will only create heroes out of their folly. If there is evidence to prosecute in court, so be it. Let’s set an example in our quest to arrest this horrible behavior. Amenga –Etego ‘Commandante’ SaCut – the writer is a multi – media journalist, broadcaster, political activist & ghost writer.