FELIX NATALIS MAHMOUD JAJAH!

 Contrary to John Mahama’s assertion that Ghanaians suffer from amnesia, I have a serious photographic memory. And I am a human testimony to Ben Carson’s often used statement that “the brain acquires everything that we encounter.” My brain captures  things I pass through and encounter unwaveringly like the anchor in the hymn that is prophesied to “hold in the storms of life when the clouds unfold their wings of strife”. Like the Facebook button ‘see friendship’ that shows the interactions between two friends, I want to recount some of the moments I shared with you not forgetting the  impact they made  in my nascent life. 

A very powerful book every person alive should read

1.     One of the days I will never forget is 17^th May, 2007. That is the day together with seven school mates of mine, I was locked up in the Adabaraka police cells for a crime I never committed but decided to shield the culprit. We spent 24 hours and some minutes in that inhumane condition before we were released from custody. But the memory of that day pales in memory of the day I met you in August of the same year. We met on an excursion bus enroute to Elmina Castle via Kakum National Reserve. There was a quiz on the bus which I won. However, there was a question no one was able to answer and you were called in to help. That was how you introduced me to Helen Keller.

2.     You introduced me to AVERT Youth Foundation and I will forever be grateful for that. 

   AVERT Youth Foundation is a community-based, youth-led, non-religious, non-sectarian, non-political organization that gave the youth the chance to impact their community. Under your abled leadership, AVERT was awarded by the National Youth Authority in 2005 as the best Youth organization in Ghana. I learnt many things. How to work at a committee level, how to introduce a concept to people, how to lead people. I had the chance to meet Bernard Avle of Citi fm and Daniel Kokrokoo of Dafoko concepts in 2008, I met the women from Abantu for Development, and I met workers of Ghana Aids Commission through the numerous AIDS Candlelight Memorials we used to organize. I miss those candles. I learnt leadership also from the numerous Leadership Workshops we organized.  I am not a leader but almost everywhere I find myself, I end up being the leader because of the leadership qualities imbued in me at AVERT. I was a Science student when I joined AVERT. However, I could tell a good Financial statement and Budget statement from a bad one due to those moments at AVERT when a Financial secretary is grilled anytime he presents them. Thank you for introducing me to AVERT YOUTH FOUNDATION.

3.     One thing I will forever be grateful for is the  books you introduced me to. My mum introduced me to reading. From nursery, I was an avid reader. However, you revolutionized my readings by introducing me to books that blow the mind.  Long Walk to Freedom, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Malcolm X: The Life of Reinvention, A biography of Mandela, Letters from Prison edited by  Mac Maharaj, From Third World to First World, Think Big, The Power of Focus, The Magic of Thinking Big, Awaking the Giant within, Goals, 21 irrefutable laws of leadership, Seven Habits of Highly successful people, The Eighth Habit, Who moved my cheese?, Seeking Gaddafi, Soccernomics, Mandela’s way, Everyday Greatness, The Entrepreneur, The Art of War, 48 Laws of Power etc are some of the books you introduced me to. Most you gave me and I got my own copies later. Most could not be secured in our reading-deficient land.  The books I will be super-grateful for are The Greatness Guide 1 and 2. 

     

They really opened my eyes to life and made me realize there’s more to life than just existing.

4.     Through you, I knew Yussif Jajah. The man who helped restore my Academic life. I will forever be grateful and will forever support him in his endeavors.

5.     I can’t exhaust all the encounters. Forgive me for the day you witnessed a verbal fight I had with a very stubborn woman in Nima. That was on the 29^th of November, 2014. I still criticize myself for making you see me in that state. Only once you criticized me and you immediately followed it up with praise. The day I was in goal post for AVERT and conceded a goal I should not have at Al-Waleed. I later came on to strike.  You told me “ Maazi, you made them score us but you have done well.”  I happily laughed after that… hahahhahaaa.

Happy earthday boss! You are one in a million. You are a sun that never sets. If others are jewels, you are a treasure!  May Allah grant you more life and prosperity to positively influence more lives on earth.

 Felix Natalis  Abu Saamankusei!

THE CHANGE FOR THE ZONGO YOUTH LAUNCH AND THE MALCONDUCT OF OUR POLITICIANS

Last week Friday, a historic event took place at the Nima-Maamobi community library. The historicity of the event lies in the fact that a youth-engineered initiative was launched to prevent the youth of Zongo from becoming victims of the criticisms they have always leveled against their elderly folks. The youth have always lamented the fact that our elders did not do enough to place us on a very good footing in the national development agenda.  The Change for Zongo Youth was officially launched. It was well-attended considering the fact that our people have still not woken up from their long sleep and deep slumber. 

On Facebook, I uploaded a picture we took there and wrote “And we helped launch the Change for Zongo Youth today. Interestingly, I did not see any Zongo Politician around. Why? Because they have not the Zongo at heart. I know it’s going to be difficult to believe that. If it’s not a vote-garnering programme, they send an ‘ignorant’ representative or do not come at all. We are surely rising up. The youth are becoming wiser by the day. We are (as the Rastas say) “reading between the lines and wise”. One Reggae musician I love is Everton Blender. He sings powerfully and his messages are geared towards the upliftment of the ghetto. In his Ghetto People song, he tells wicked politicians “they are losing the fact that we are humans who one day will not take it anymore.”    

With my bosses and fellow progressives at the launch.

Heaven came tumbling down on earth as the fanatics of one political party started raining an avalanche of attacks and responses on me. One boss of mine wrote “forget the politician. Be the change you seek”. This generated ten more comments from the banter that ensued between us. One of my responses was “when it is credit-worthy, you want us to mention the politician. When it comes to his dereliction of duty, you tell us “be the change you seek.” Sia!”       Follow it here

The statement that generated the fury in me and interestingly was the most response is “did you invite them”? This statement had me thinking whether those who asked that had sands in their brains.

Politicians are fed, clothed and sometimes sheltered with the tax-payers money. The tax payer is the common taxi or trotro driver, wakye seller, farmer, market women, fisherman and a lot other commoners that are considered part of the flotsam and jetsam of the society. With this in mind, one expects the politician to have extreme interest in what will develop the citizenry which will in the long way develop the country. After all, a developed citizenry ensures a developed country. However, we do not see that in our Zongos. All we see in the politician is his interest in what will increase his votes or where he could garner for more votes.

In 2014, I was invited to be a quiz master of a quiz contest organized among eight basic schools in Nima. The almost two-month long contest was an eye-opening experience for me. The organizers of the programme were youth who had then completed their high school education. Though they were young, they realized that you do not have to be old to be an agent of change. One author stated “if you think you are too small to be an agent of change, try going to bed with a mosquito.” So with their scanty resources, these youth organized this event. For two months, the eight schools battled it out in brains and wit and sheer tenacity. It was the first of its nature in our community. It should have been an annual community event where we will have the reigning school of the year. 

The final day of the quiz won by St. Kizito RC School of Nima. 

This will help  whip up the learning spirit and a spirit of seriousness in our young ones in a community where everything shows that the future is bleak.

A birthday party of a teenager at the Nima social center where weed was smoked by youth with wanton abandon and 10 -12 year olds almost stripping in the wee hours of the night. 

The contest proved that learning could be enjoying and intensely competitive. This should have been wholly embraced by politicians who are supposed to be unwavering agents of positive change. Interestingly it was not so. 

Having an intercourse of minds to come up with an answer to a question

Before the organizers started, they sent letters of invitation and for support to all Assembly men, Members of Parliament (both Ayawaso East and North) and all those who matter in our community. No politician gave any form of support nor  showed his face for the eight weeks save the erstwhile Assembly member for Nima-East electoral area, Hon.Shareau Tajudeen who only  came on the final day. And even with that, he came in very late.  When the organizers took the letter to Hon.Dr.Mustapha Ahmed, he told them it was not within his domain and that the youth should rather go the Ayawaso-East Member of Parliament. At that point in time, he was a Minister of State in charge of  Developmental Authorities at the Presidency. (I wonder what Development is).

The Change for Zongo Youth that got launched last week Friday is a month-long celebration of the Zongo youth. 

The Zongo has always been the victim of discriminatory reportage. Negative stories have almost always been told about it the even the inhabitants have tend to accept the fact that they have no good to give. This partly has culminated in serious inferiority complex which makes Zongo people think everything must be done for them. The politicians have also exploited this to the apogee. In his well-written piece, The Trouble with our Zongo Communities in Ghana, Mahmoud Jajah wrote, “I think the trouble with our Zongo communities is the very nature or structure of the Zongo communities. What exactly do I mean by this? When a group of people live together and try to behave or in fact behave as if they’re different from the rest, in terms of how they live their lives and go about their activities, it sends a wrong or better put mixed signals to the rest of us. I’m not suggesting that Muslims should live like Christians. My point is Muslims in Ghana in particular have not done a good job in integrating into the Ghanaian society very well. We may have been living peacefully with non-Muslims. However, we shouldn’t see ourselves as the underdogs and the minority that needs to be helped out from our current situations. We’ve got to live as Ghanaians who have the full and equal right just like any other Ghanaian! When there are troubles or violence in non-Zongo communities, the media reports it as an isolated incident from that community and not a peculiarity to the community. It is about time; therefore, we stopped seeing ourselves as marginalized and the underdogs. Yes Muslims are in the minority in Ghana. But Ghana is a secular State which technically doesn’t care about what religion one belongs to. We are Ghanaians and we should behave as such!” Solid!

Ever wondered why the National Democratic Congress has Zongo Caucus and not any other people’s caucus?  Ever wondered why the New Patriotic Party keep promising without end the establishment of a Zongo Development fund and not any other people’s development fund? The Zongo Caucus of the NDC has been very important and instrumental in one sole ‘good’. And that is its expertise in facilitating the sharing of rice and sugar to hoodwink our people for votes. I harbor a strong feeling that the Zongo Development fund of the NPP also is just an attempt to win us over and nothing else.

 It is therefore worth-embracing to have the youth rising up to tell the Zongo story in a positive way. This, however humble, will inspire our people to wake up and work towards securing a reputable status in this country. It should be embraced by all with the politician leading the charge. Our politicians are either ignorant of the situation we find ourselves in or just want to maintain the status quo which ensures milk in their tea.

A cross-section of the Zongorians who graced the occasion.

 To tell us to invite politicians to noble and development-driven programmes such as these before they come is just like telling us to beg a husband to perform his conjugal duties. The event was graced by Oguchuku Nweke, Iddris Sajjad Toppoh and Balla Maikankan. One personality whose presence illuminated the whole programme was Mariska Araba Taylor of the Ghana Association of Writers. Her speech when she donated books to the cause was soul-permeating. She stated that we must write our own stories and codify it for posterity to learn about our struggle. Interestingly, she is not even from our Zongos but as a progressive-minded person, she came around to grace the occasion.

Mariska donating books to the cause

In the run-up to the intra-party primaries of the various political parties in the Ayawaso East and North constituencies, we saw politicians running helter-skelter to almost all events in town uninvited. Suddenly, we saw them during our marriages, donating and pledging freebies. We saw them at almost all funerals in town. Generators were dashed out to Police stations and interestingly to mosques as if they were prayer mats. One of our strong youth died (Muhammad Chankpan, may his soul rest in peace) and his internment took about four hours to and fro the burial grounds, we saw a Member of Parliament with us unhindered and unperturbed throughout the proceedings. The most shocking of all was the appearance of politicians on stage at the immediate past Sallahfest on the Prince Al-Waleed Highway.  We all saw what happened, and it should be a lesson to all and remind us that “we are human, who one day will not take it anymore.”          All these visits and donations ended immediately after the primaries. So to tell us to invite our politicians to programmes that will push the community forward before they come is to me a statement borne out of a shallow-thinking mind.

The Change for Zongo Youth initiative is not political. It is certainly not sectarian. It is also not for a specific group of people in the Zongo. It is for all. It is for a people awakening, arising and understanding that it has been too long in ‘slavery”.

Inusah Mohammed

NB: The Writer is a Youth-Activist and a Student of Knowledge.

okoromaazi@gmail.com

CONGRATULATIONS ELEPHANTLY, MUBARAK IDDRISU

I like stories. Stories that uplift. Stories that give hope and stories that make you optimistic even in the eye of an overwhelming storm. Stories that leave you spellbound due to the grip they hold you with. Stories that leave you awestruck with a compelling force that makes you put down a book you are reading, laughing alone and wondering how the mind of the author could conjure that.
The importance of a story can never be overemphasized. How a story is told could always shape the perception of a people about a subject. It could make an angel look a devil. The converse also holds.

In one of his novels, Anthills of the Savannah, Chinua Achebe poignantly captures the need for the telling of the struggle and also the redemptive power of a good story with a fable. I capture it here unedited.                                                         

“The leopard had been looking for the tortoise and hadn’t found him for a long time. On this day, on a lonely road, he suddenly chanced upon Tortoise, and so he said, “Aha! At last, I’ve caught you. Now get ready to die.” Tortoise of course knew that the game was up and so he said, “Okay, but can I ask you a favor?” and Leopard said, “Well, why not?” Tortoise said, “Before you kill me, could you give me a few moments just to reflect on things?” Leopard thought about it — he wasn’t very bright — and he said, “Well, I don’t see anything wrong with that. You can have a little time.” And so Tortoise, instead of standing still and thinking, began to do something very strange: he began to scratch the soil all around him and throw sand around in all directions. Leopard was mystified by this. He said, “What are you doing? Why are you doing that?” Tortoise said: “I’m doing this because when I’m dead, I want anybody who passes by this place to stop and say, ‘Two people struggled here. A man met his match here.”

Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie underscores that in her speech “The Danger of a Single story.” She stated, “Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity.”

That explains why my Arabic teacher will not show much vehemence in scolding me when I give a divided attention during an Arabic grammar class as he will do when we are treating Arabic literature. He knew where my interest strongly lies. And that also explains why I love to read more memoirs, biographies and autobiographies. And that seriously explains why as a Christian, I loved the Old Testament more than the New Testament. The Old Testament contains the Pentateuch (first five book of Moses), the history books that tell us the story of the Israelites “from their conquest of Canaan to their defeat and exile in Babylon”, the books of the Prophets of the Bible and other books. As a Muslim also, I love and listen to Chapter 12 being recited more than all other of the 114 chapters of the Quran because it gives us the complete inspirational and motivational story of Yusuf (Joseph in the Bible) at a go unlike others that are given in parts. 

In 2010, I did my Industrial Attachment at Iran Clinic as a student of Accra Polytechnic studying Science Laboratory Technology.  I spent almost the entire duration of my internship reading. The book I was reading then was The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley. Anyone that reads that book for the first time will attest to the gripping effect of the book. One gets gripped like the dreaded Morbus Comitialis of Julius Caesar. 

Over the years, I have encountered many stories. The story of my father which seriously manifests the never-ending re-invention of a man till his death. The stories of friends and family which give you the real life testament of the things you read in books from the figment of someone’s imagination. The stories I got from the books that I have read which bring me to the realization that “there is nothing new under the sun” and “whatever things common to man that man has done, man can do.” The story of Malcolm X which epitomizes the fact that “how one lives his or her life today stands as a testament to one’s forever after”. The story of Kwame Nkrumah which captures well the Arab poet’s assertion that some dead people are really alive due to their works and others too though alive,  are really dead.  The story of Mubarak Iddrisu which emphasizes the fact that “there is not a situation that is not transformable”.

   

Mubarak Iddrisu is the guy in the orange apparel.

Last two years, I told you the story of a young man who lifted himself from the muck and mire of hopelessness to a life of repute and honor. I recounted to you the story of a young man who realized he had a natural predilection towards learning and nurturing of mind that he lost to life of debauchery and depravity. I narrated to you how he realized his incontinence and therefore went back to pick up the life of honor he lost. He is now a student of the University of Cape Coast. 
     Follow that story here

I never told you how he suddenly grew to become an astute and profound thinker. I never told you how he has transformed into a vociferous reader. Once upon a time, I gave him a book written by Robin Sharma, a Canadian with Indian and Mauritian roots who is one of the most widely read authors in the world and one of the most-sought after leadership advisers in the world. The book is The Greatness Guide. 
  

This book really change my world view of life.

He came back the next day, exhorting me to get him the book two, The Greatness Guide 2.The most baffling aspect of the whole story is how two days later I received a call from him that a female friend of his had fallen profoundly in  love with  the books when she saw them with him that  she gave him  hundred Ghana cedis for us to get her some. So we set up together to find those books (he was also ready to grab some books). The rate at which he reads inspires me now and the profundity of his OAD (Obsessive Attention to Detail) raises one’s hackles.  He will give you details of the book you have read and you wonder if you really read the book.

     

The day we went book-hunting . This is Vidya Bookshop at Osu.

Before I sign out of this internet café, let me tell you the story that brought me here. On 2^nd March, 2016, the main auditorium of the University of Cape Coast shook with indescribable vibration stemming out of a wild ecstatic state of happiness. The School of Physical Sciences was awarding its hardworking students. Among the people taking the awards was a tall, lanky, innocent-faced Nima boy called Mubarak Iddrisu who took the Dean’s Award for Excellent Academic performance. 

The jubilation that spontaneously erupted when his name was mentioned alone manifested the fact that this was the pied-piper of the School of Physical Sciences of University of Cape Coast taking an award.

 His statement after taking the awards left me thinking and smiling at the same time. He stated, “I’ll quote Isaac Newton that “if I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” Congratulations elephantly to your “little achievement” as you described it. Remember it is a tour de force and a real possession in this kaleidoscopic world.

To all boys and girls, no one owes us a living. We make our own destinies. You make your own life. You can choose to waste it and you can choose to make the most out of it. I see great potentialities in us that we waste on frivolities, banalities and unproductive ventures. We must persevere. We must persist in the face of turbulences and pestilences. We must persist to put our heads above the troubling waters.  Persistence indeed conquers.

Inusah Mohammed

NB: The writer is a Youth-activist and Student of knowledge.

okoromaazi@gmail.com