The pigs of our time! By Abdul-Latif Ahmed

One night, Mr. Liberal passes out drunk, creating the perfect opportunity for the people to rebel. The people were so hungry that they broke into the Castle. When Mr. Liberal and his men try to whip them into submission, the people ran them off the Castle. The people burnt all reminders of their former bondage but agreed to preserve the Jubilee Palace “as a hen‘s coop.”

Snow came up with Seven Commandments. These were:

1. Whoever rides on an elephant is an enemy.
2. Whoever is an Umbrella, is a friend.
3. No person shall work in the Jubilee Palace.
4. No person shall drink "atyre" (tea).
5. No person shall buy an aeroplane.
6. No person shall kill any other.
7. All persons are equal.

Every weekend, Snow and Napo led a meeting of some Ghanaians. The Socialists were the most intelligent people, so they thought up resolutions for the other people to debate. Soon after, the Socialists set up a study-center for themselves. Snow embarked on various campaigns for social and economic improvement. And promised to jail the Liberals. Napo opposed whatever Snow does. Because most of the people lack the intelligence to memorize the Seven Commandments, Snow reduced them to the single maxim, “Umbrellas good, Elephants bad.” The footsoldiers take to chanting this at meetings.

As time went by, the Socialists increased their control over the people and awarded themselves increasing privileges. They quell the people's questions and protests by threatening Mr. Liberal's return. During this time, Napo also confiscated newborn babies and secluded them in a twenty million dollar mansion at Adabraka which the socialists have denied ownership, in order to “educate” them.

By Hamattan, Snow's and Napo’s propagandists have spread news of the Rebellion across Ghana. The people begun lashing out against the Liberals and singing the revolutionary song “Beasts of Ghana.” The people celebrated their victory with "atyre", in what they call “chasing the elephants into the bush". The cases of "atyre" was discovered in the castle After the battle. They drank to excess and soon, Able reported that Napo is dying and, as his last action, has made the consumption of "atyre" punishable by death. But Napo recovered quickly and then sent Majmo to procure manuals on heating "atyre". Majmo came back with the manual and added that of "chinchinga". Able changed another commandment to “No person shall drink "atyre" to excess.”

The people agreed to let the Socialists make all the resolutions. Snow and Napo continue to be at odds and eventually clashed over the style of leadership. Snow wanted to imprison all his enemies as he promised the footsoldiers but Napo opposed it. Napo summoned the fierce babies (the babies he trained) to ran Snow off the Castle. Snow been the barking dog was tamed by the fierce babies and their trainer, commander cockroach. Napo then made all the decisions in the peoples’ best interest. At this point, Mr. Gargantua took on his own personal maxims, “I will work harder” and “Napo is always right.”

The Socialists moved into the Jubilee Palace. Able assured the people that there is no resolution against this, but some people discovered that one of the resolutions has been changed to: “No person shall move into the Jubilee Palace without security.” Able convinced the people that there was never a resolution against moving into the Palace.

Able spread propaganda against Snow, claiming that Snow was always a spy and a collaborator while Napo was the true hero of the Battle of chasing the elephants into the bush, and Able warned against Snow’s secret agents. Afterwards, the footsoldiers started singing “Beasts of Ghana,” but Able informed them that the song is useless now that the Rebellion is completed and that it is now forbidden. The new anthem begins with the lyrics: “Ghana, Ghana, Never through me shalt thou come to harm!”

Able begun reading statistics regularly to convince them that production wss increasing. He claimed Napo had created 1.6 million jobs, uprooted schools under trees, established two Universities and had built thirty thousands affordable houses. Napo seldom appear in public. The people now call him “our Leader, Comrade Napo.” They attributed all misfortunes to Snow and the Liberals. All success and luck to Napo.

Years went by, and conditions were still harsh despite the commercial discovery of oil. The Socialists and footsoldiers continued to do no manual labuor, instead devoting themselves to organizational work and propaganda. They paid themselves fat salaries and lived in mansions and condos.

But the luxuries of which Snow and Napo had once taught the people to dream, the one time health insurance, the drastic reduction of petroleum products, jobs not the zoomlion types, the prosecution of the Liberals and hot and cold water, were no longer talked about. Napo had denounced such ideas as contrary to the spirit of Better Ghana Agenda. The truest happiness, he said, lay in working hard and living frugally. Napo used the concept of Better Ghana Agenda to disguise his manipulations, but notice that he simultaneously denied the initial dreams that went along with this concept.

One day, Able took some footsoldiers out to a deserted pasture where, he said, he was teaching them a song. On the day the footsoldiers return, the Socialists were riding on elephants around the palace as the footsoldiers chant, “walking with umbrella good but riding an elephant with umbrella is better.” The other people became horrified. They consulted the commandments again. The Seven Commandments have been replaced with a single maxim: “All persons are equal, but some persons are more equal than others.”

The Socialists continued the longstanding pattern of awarding themselves more and more privileges. They bought aeroplanes and rode in V8 vehicles. One night Napo held a banquet and announced that the Jubilee Palace will now be called Flagstaff House. The people will call each other “Comrade” no longer, and they no longer will march ceremoniously past Old Liberal’s office (a practice he denied understanding).

Mr. Gargantua, the hard worker, not one of the greedy bastards, seeing some criminally-minded individuals parading as party members causing harm to Ghana in the name of their political affiliations and that he was against the use of party name to commit crime assured the people, that he still stand by his promise to prosecute criminals who have caused gargantuan lost of a gargantuan amount of money to the state, in spite of the fact these hard core criminals have made it a habit to hold paid membership cards as an unconstitutional insurance against crime and criminal prosecutions, was sold to criminal minded and rented press by Napo. Another commandment was changed to read: “No person shall kill any other person without cause.”

Napo declared that Ghana’s flag will be Red, White and Green with a Black star, devoid of the symbols of the Rebellion. While the Socialists changed in many ways, it is not moving into the Jubilee house, or buying aeroplanes or driving V8 vehicles that worries the people – it was their arrogance and abuse of their power.



Inspiration from Animal Farm by George Orwell