A man who was larger than life? A man whose rule of law saw changes in Ghana that till now no other president has been able to replicate?
This has nothing to do with politics before some people come to chew me. This has to do with the kind of rule I witnessed when I was little. Yes, we lived in fear but it was fear that ensured we did the right thing.
90s kids don’t know how it feels to walk on clean streets swept by those living there instead of waiting for Zoomlion even if it takes them months to come and sweep.
They didn’t experience how every Saturday, I repeat every Saturday, people cleaned their gutters and weeded their environments. There was no heap of rubbish anywhere. No matter the distance to the community rubbish dump, you’d walk and throw your rubbish there. No one threw rubbish into gutters or drains because you’d be caught and dealt with by the Tankass (town council health inspectors).
Traders were scared to inflate food prices because in the days of kalabule, those who hiked prices were lashed severely. Others killed. If COVID had spread then, nobody would have dreamt of inflating the prices of common gari. Who born you? Aren’t you scared?
Government officials worked. I mean worked instead of sleeping or gossiping in the office. You were scared to get your conduct at your workplace reported to higher authorities.
For years under him food was cheap, the towns were clean and people were each other’s keepers.
Corruption was scarce for a long time. Heck, he bought a jacuzzi and Ghanaians queried him so he had to explain why he bought. Tell me, which African president can be queried on his choice of bathware?
Now, well…the evidence is clear in news reports daily.
I’ll miss him. I know millions of others will miss him too. Rest in power JJ aka Junior Jesus aka Booom!
