Kum Yen Preko

"Silence becomes cowardice when the opportunity demands to tell the whole truth and act accordingly." – Mahatma Gandhi

WHY SHOULD A PERSON blame the NDC for organizing the "Kum Yen Preko" event of 09/07/19? Do you know the word "equalization"? If you want to see a good demonstration of Equalization, do not go further than the "Kume Preko" and "Kum Yen Preko" demonstrations.

Quick return: 11^th In May 1995, members and sympathizers of the NPP organized the Kume Preko demonstration. The group was led by Nana Akufo Addo and, of course, Wereko Brobbey and Tarzan, Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe, Kwesi Pratt and Kweku Baako. The color of their t-shirts was mostly white and they were protesting against the high cost of living, exacerbated by the introduction of VAT. "Kume Preko" is vaguely translated as "Kill me (and do it yourself)" OR "I'm ready to die now" or "I'm fed up with your threats, so now, kill- me". It is said that the organizers were members of Alliance for Change, an organization of groups opposed to President Rawlings.

As the march progressed, some people identified as ACDRs started firing on protesters. Conservatively, four people died and more than 40 people were injured. Yaw Atta, wounded, remembers this ordeal: "… By panic, I tried as a last resort to call and wave to him (my brother) to approach my" refuge " . Before I finished, blood was flowing from my jeans. I fell back, but trapped by the ACDR men who were shooting indiscriminately at that time, my brother could not pbad to pick me up.

Abdulai Rahman Osmanu, a freight truck driver, was shot in the head at Rawlings Park. He had just arrived from Kumasi and fell into the crowd by going to deliver a message. He told his story: "At Rawlings Park, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my head. Then I fell on my face. Afterwards, I woke up at the hospital. A "lost ball" hit a 14-year-old boy. He died instantly.

The ACDRs were the masters on the field that day. They grabbed a boy and shaved his head with a broken bottle. The ACDRs enjoyed the sight of the boy screaming loudly, with blood all over his body. VAT has been suspended for two years:

The NDC demonstration, allegedly organized by the Coalition for Social Justice, was different. The police were there to make sure nothing was going wrong. The protestors had the mission to protest what they saw as "hardships" in the country. For them, the nation was going through a "tough economic time".

Some posters read: "Where are the new 350 SHS?"; "Stop the flight"; "Where are the factories?" "Reduce VAT"; "Ghana is sinking"; "We are suffering"; "2020, we will show Nana"; "We will not be silent"; "NPP: bloated government".

John Mahama, who seeks to return to the highest position, wrote in his "Facebook": "Our country is down, with an unbearable increase in the cost of living. citizens do not feel safe and yet the government continues to oppress and intimidate people, including journalists … There is pent-up anger among Ghanaians, and this is beginning to manifest itself even Among the security services … It is in the interest of our country that we speak and show our disapproval of the Akufo-Addo leadership style, which has experienced unprecedented hardships for Ghanaians. "

The T-shirts of this event were mostly red and showed that "their eyes were red". Presidents Ofosu Ampofo and Asiedu Nketia joined the other protesters to sit on the ground, to cry and lament: "{kum de yen" (we are hungry); "Y & # 39; adwuma regu" (our companies collapse); "Y awarea regu" (our marriages collapse). Hannah Bissiw, NDC's national women's organizer, said: "We are protesting the difficulties, the insecurity in our country, the theft in our country, the corruption in our country, the thinness of the government … Now, when shall we say that the president is corrupt, you say (media) that it is an allegation … I want to remind you that, according to the stolen speech of the president at its inauguration, we should be citizens and not spectators. So the media stop things "scared, afraid". It is a corrupt government, it is a perverse government and it is a naughty government, that 's why taxes are high … Today, the markets are strong. collapse; Today, the education system is down, security in this country is no longer … "

For her, the mbades suffer, the One village, One Dam drowns and all jobs, including that of Kayayee, collapse. Bede Zeiding claimed that teachers, galamseyers and shopkeepers all complained. Sam George warned the security agencies that they were ready to confront them.

Ofosu Ampofo, president of the NDC, had his lips stuck and his index finger resting on his lips. But when he wiped the bandage, he let go of his feelings. He expected the Akufo-Addo-led government to admit its failure in the government and give way to a more competent government to govern if they are overwhelmed. The government has not kept its election promises, including the one of repairing the "dumsor". He complained: "Nana Addo shows no interest or sensitivity towards the people of this country. He promised that he would protect the purse of this country and let us see the reckless spending going on. It galley everywhere chartering planes when, for the good people of this country, even drinking water has become a problem … Enough, that's enough.

But DC Abronye would not spare the NDC for not employing the "infantrymen" employed during the NDC's 8 years. Teachers and nurses could not find work. But Nana Addo's two-and-a-half-year rule has managed to get them a job.

Advocate Obiri-Boahen, deputy secretary of the NPP, described Ku Yen Preko's protest as "comic relief." In literature, "comic relief" is the interposition of a humorous scene, spiritual dialogue, or amusing character in an otherwise serious or tragic element of a drama. This is usually done to relieve tension. Clbadic "Greek tragedy" did not give way to "comic relief", but Shakespeare used it extensively in Macbeth, Hamlet, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, and The Merchant of Venice. Macbeth's porter said, "Here's a knock! If a man were a door-to-door porter, he should have old turn the key … who's there is Belzebub. "After the tragic badbadination of King Duncan, the Porter had hallucinations about being a carrier in hell and serving Belzebub.He was already in hell!

Thus, NDC and Bernard Monnah (along with all other so-called opposition parties) must be given teasers, as well as an opportunity to exercise their members. As they proceeded, the president was in France to give badurances to the Ghanaians: "We are on a mandate of four and a half years for four years, and what I continue to insist and tell the population of the Ghana, it is that at the end of my term, they will see that I came to tell the truth about what I wanted to do. I did not come to deceive anyone.

When I heard a woman among the protesters say, "Free education," oye den? What is free education? I chuckled (laughing, titillating, laughing softly) and asked myself, "Why did Mahama's father, a rich man, take him out of Achimota school at Ghana Secondary in Tamale? "We never went to high school because our parents could not afford the fees. , and …

[email protected]

Africanus Owusu-Ansah