The Saga of a Political Guru- chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

Ananse did his job with utmost dexterity and won the admiration of both local and national executives of his party. However, when he expressed interest in contesting the parliamentary election on the ticket of the NUP, few people gave him a dog’s chance, because there were more reputable and well-liked members who had also expressed interest. They were the incumbent MP for the area, Honourable Professor Kofi Oduro-Adjei, who was also the Minister for Social Welfare, Mr. John Aryee and Mr. Kojo Edem, both of whom were business tycoons at Mayera.

That notwithstanding, Kweku Ananse was not deterred from pursuing his dream of becoming the MP for the area. He spent much time in solitude, thinking of and strategising how he could defeat his opponents at the primary election.

He had a daunting task, since he had no money to influence the delegates who would be voting to elect the constituency’s parliamentary candidate; a normal practice at the Mayera constituency.

Ananse’s greatest headache was how to defeat the incumbent MP, Honourable Professor Oduro-Adjei. He first thought of killing him through hired assassins. However, the plan was not an easy one given the tight security offered to Ministers of State. Assassinating the Honourable Minister in that circumstance, would require the services of top class assassins who would certainly demand a high fee for the job. Something Ananse could not afford.

Secondly, if the plan backfires, and he is found out, he could be jailed for life, scuttling his ultimate dream of becoming an MP for Mayera.

Eventually, he had a change of mind, and decided to use more subtle means. Kweku began an intensive investigation into the private life of Professor Oduro-Adjei, ostensibly to vilify and expose him to public ridicule.

First, Ananse tried to look out for the Achilles’ heel of the Honourable Minister and found out that he was a womanizer.

Armed with this information, he travelled to towns and villages where the professor had lived previously. And it turned out that the Minister put a woman in the family way many years ago when he was doing his national service at Nayiri, one of the remotest villages in the northern region of Sikaman, and abandoned her.

The woman later gave birth to a baby boy, but could not take good care of him because she was poor. As a result, the boy, Baba Bukari, grew up to become a social misfit.

After listening to the woman’s story, Ananse shed crocodile tears in solidarity with her. He asked her whether she knew where her ex-lover was, and she answered in the negative. She must be right, judging from the remote and deprived nature of Nayiri, it would be difficult for her to know that the father of her son had become a Minister of State.

Ananse wiped some tears from his eyes with his handkerchief and asked, “Auntie Mamuna, are you sure about all that you’ve told me? Do you have any proof to support your allegation?”

“Masa,” she said, “I swear! I’m not lying; just wait and I go show you something.” Ananse smacked his lips and wrung his hands in anticipation. Mamuna rushed to her hut and began digging through her bags for some documental evidence. In a little while, she came out running towards Ananse with two very old photographs. The first was a picture of her son who looked very much like Professor Oduro-Adjei.

In the second photograph, Professor Oduro-Adjei was in a compromising position with Mamuna and even though the picture portrayed the two to be very young, their identities were unmistakable.

Kweku Ananse took the pictures from Mamuna and gave a fiendish smile. He gave her some money for her upkeep and promised he was going to search for her former lover. He assured her he would return the pictures after he had completed his assignment.

“One more thing, Auntie Mamuna,” Ananse said, “where’s Baba Bukari?”

“Ibi long time since I see him. About two years ago, somebody told me say he see him at Sodom and eeh – eeh something,” replied Mamuna. “Sodom and Gomorrah,” corrected Ananse.

He bid Mamuna good-bye and started his journey down the south in a joyous mood, believing he had some weapons in his hands.

It was about a month to the primary election of the Mayera Constituency of the NUP and all the parliamentary aspirants, excluding Ananse, who had filed their nominations, were busily canvassing for votes, and also doing ‘moneytics’ by dishing out money, mobile phones, bicycles, et cetera to voters to win their support. All this while, Kweku Ananse was missing in action and many wondered whether he was serious at all.

Finding Baba was not easy; Ananse scoured the length and breadth of Sodom and Gomorrah without setting eyes on him. The people of the area were tight lipped; no one was prepared to divulge any information to Kweku Ananse, something very common in crime-prone communities.

Ananse thought fast and came up with a plan. Walking a little further down the repellently filthy suburb, he saw a boy roaming about, and wanting to establish rapport, gave him one Sikaman shilling to buy an Olonka of gari. The boy smiled and took the money from Ananse and left. Ananse waited and waited for hours on end, but the boy did not return. It was getting to dusk, and it became obvious that the boy had absconded with the money, so Ananse went home disappointed.

That night, Kweku Ananse did not sleep a wink, many plans crossed his mind and at 4.00 a.m., he woke up and told Asor to find him a Bible. “Eih Kweku, since when did you become a Christian?” asked Asor, “or is this part of your numerous tricks?”

“Woman, get me a Bible and stop talking,” Ananse growled at his wife. Asor obeyed her husband’s instructions and began searching for a Bible. After some minutes of searching, she found a dust-laden Bible on top of an old cupboard. She took a rag, cleaned it and handed it over to Kweku Ananse. “Asor, I’m going out, I’ll see you later in the day.” He said and went out of the room.

With the Bible tucked under his armpit, Ananse walked to the lorry park and took a Sodom and Gomorrah bound trotro. It was about 4.30 a.m., and the usual heavy vehicular traffic from Mayera to Sodom and Gomorrah was missing, and so, it did not take him too long to get to his destination.

Source: Anthony Obeng Afrane, General Secretary of the Ghana Association of Writers