The Revolution Train
A Touch of Nokoko by Kofi Akumanyi
…
"...and now to matters affecting my very existence as a human being. I'm sure you have, of late, heard enough about food and fuel shortages, assault and battery, and - wait for it - suicides. Yes, that's what people are doing to themselves these days. I cannot for the life of me understand why anybody should take a rope or whatever and take his or her own life simply because some people who have constituted themselves into a government and supported by a few Ghanaians who have chips on their shoulders are making life unbearable for all. I tell you quite frankly that the day I feel I can't cope and want to leave this God forsaken place I am determined not to go alone. I shall definitely take a few people along with me to Kingdom come! I mean, what the hell, if I have to go then it stands to reason that I should go with somebody. If I know you right, you're probably shaking your head with unadulterated mirth saying that I'm chicken; I can't hurt a fly. You're right and that's the pity of it all. But as they say desperate situations demand desperate solutions, n'est ce pas?
Talking about situations and solutions reminds me of Amponsah. You remember him - he was often so broke that he used to hang around us during lunch breaks. He borrowed your fifty cedis and never repaid it. Yes, that's the chap. Smart chap. He has managed to get himself installed as the secretary of the Workers Defence Committee (WDC) in his workplace.
As you may know already, these chaps, I mean the bosses of the WDC, have become very powerful, and our Kwame has grown wings all of a sudden and is flying all over the place.
The other day I met him at "Times Square' bar in Accra where I had gone to drink a bottle of beer and there he was hosting a large party of friends - presumably - WDC functionaries and at the rate at which beer was flowing I couldn't help but conclude that our friend has gone up in life.
It didn't cross my mind that his sudden rise to power has anything to do with his apparent affluence until the party stepped outside to leave and Amponsah sat behind the driving wheel of a Peugeot 504 car.
Jokingly, I remarked that he hadn't been doing badly lately judging from the little I had seen that evening and he said to me: "There is nothing to this - this is an operation car and whatever goes with it are operational perks". What type of operation, he didn't say but your guess is as good as mine.
Yes, all it boils down to is that to survive in this hell-hole you must belong to the 'operation syndicate'. They are all over the place selling commodities, seizing people's goods and generally behaving as if they are holding the country by the balls! - which of course, they are doing).
ANALOGY
Talking about balls and ball-like things also brings to mind an analogy that a member of the PNDC, apparently reacting to a comment on the frequent reshuffle in the government made. Wonder whether you read about it. He compared the revolutionary mechanism to the operations of a commuter train. Take note that he used a train and not a bus or any other means of transport. He made the profound observation that like a train on a journey, the revolution every once and again stops for passengers to get off and new people get on."Very interesting analogy", I told a revolutionary friend. "But why a train? Knowing that Ghana has no reputation for efficient train service. It's slow, rickety, never on schedule and forever being derailed with heavy casualties."
"The PNDC member didn't discuss this analogy at the cadres-meeting but I suppose he used that because trains are long vehicles and like a revolution moves in mysterious ways,” he answered.
"That's fine, except that unlike buses, trains have class seating arrangements".
"You're overstretching the point".
"I didn't intend to until I realised that while the first class passengers in the revolutionary train may get on and off when the driver and crew feel like it, the poor passengers in the over crowded and foul smelling second and third class seats would have a hell of a time to make themselves heard about food shortages and prices in the catering department."
"There is only one general seating arrangement on the revolution train," he said, clearly annoyed.
"Just as you say. But I think there is a better analogy the comrade could have used to describe the situation."
"Like what?"
"Could have compared Ghana's situation to the making of bread?"
"What bread? It isn't appropriate… it's so expensive and scarce..."
"Ordinary white bread made of flour, sugar and yeast. The process, as you know is simple enough but by the time the final product comes out from the mixing stages to the baked stages, all sorts of metamorphoses take place."
"What are you driving at?" he asked rather impatiently.
"Simply this, that at the end of the day, or the revolution, if you like, the ingredient for the bread would be moulded and baked in different shapes and colours, some would be bigger than others, some burnt and others underweight" I explained.
"That's life."
"It is except that even revolutionary bread had to be baked and with electricity consumption cuts in the country at the moment it may take a long time to see the end product ... and who wants to eat half-baked bread?"
