Choreography vs. Whips: 28 secs whatsapp video redefining discipline?

Discipline is increasingly becoming an expensive venture vis-à-vis child upbringing. No two children are the same and styles of upbringing largely differ due to different factors – location, level of exposure, experience etc.

Social media on the other hand is giving us less and less reason to reason. I personally think we are losing depth in reasoning when it comes to social media especially with some videos that people share.

It is almost as if any 2 minutes video can give us enough basis to analyse a situation and to draw conclusive conclusions. It is interesting people post these short videos and ask for opinions on social media platforms.

The video at the center of my headache happens to be much shorter, it’s 28 seconds and has two sides. The ‘prim and proper’ beginning shows a teacher in some choreographic welcome of her kids. Part two shows a ‘brutal’ display of whippings on replay (pun intended).

The ‘prim and proper’ part was of a western setting where the teacher literally is playing with each child as they enter the class. The ‘brutal’ instalment is of a turbaned teacher lashing white long-robed boys, most likely from an Arab country.

I initially joked when I first saw it likening the first part to a playground and the second to a bloody battle field. Then in another group, an audio was attached to it where the speaker is condemning how Islamic school teachers beat kids and the need to learn from others.

Beating as a means of correcting a child is an age-long practice known for its benefits. Excessive application is as condemnable as is beating a child without first explaining their wrong to them.

Now, what was the context within which the first video was recorded? What precipitated the boys being whipped in the second? These are questions the video cannot answer, why? Whoever authored must have set out to drum forcibly into our heads convenient contrasts.

I have endured lashes over my time in chasing both secular and Islamic education. I have also paid my dues in the area of whipping kids, in the case of one child till I felt pity for him. I have disciplined children because their parents so requested and I have begged parents to spare their kids a certain degree of physical and verbal ‘assault.’

There are a few Islamic schools that still hold fast to the ‘cane to scare’ era. The tide is more towards other modes of punishment and correction. Many quit Islamic school because they saw others being caned. Others received the lashes and soldiered on and are the better today.

The resource called social media should not expose us so much that we play along with what I call convenient facts. Of course, if it is for the jocular value of it, why not? But let’s resist rather insist on more cogent lines of thought and experience sharing where need be.

One day when I am blessed with kids, beating will not be the first resort. It won’t! But it surely will be an option on the ‘discipline’ ladder. There is no bigger task as child upbringing. It is so because it blends a present childhood with a budding adolescence and adulthood.

My mom, Hajia Fati and her late husband Abdur Rahim Shaban, sunk effort into who we are today of course with our teachers – school and makaranta, even neighbours and extended family. Some actions I can apply to my kids, others belong to those days – they are history!

Every parents’ prayer is for their child (ren) to become the ‘coolness of their eyes,’ but they could easily become the spiciness that would badly itch those same eyes. I don’t know about me and Hajia Fati but for sure her eyes aren’t damn spicy with all six of us – the Shabans.

Aquinas repository: Mrs Juliana Ben-Eghan knew all 'her boys' or didn’t she?

There are teachers and administrators that you can hardly forget despite leaving school i.e. parting ways with them, decades back. Some for the right reasons and of course others for the very wrong reasons. 

For example: The intransigence of my JSS 1 French teacher (Mr. Abutiate), the loving posture of his successor Monsieur Tackie (dans l’auto) and the caning prowess of three Maths teachers (Messrs Kwarteng, Osei, Ansah) makes them easy to recall despite our ‘clashes.’

Over in Aquinas, I can recall a majority of the teachers that steered me and my crazy friends through the years. But permit me to instead mention the popular names that did not directly teach me at any point.

Mr. Larloku, Mrs. Mary Grant, Mr. Kiki Bruku and Chico. Despite teaching me briefly in Form 3 I can’t but add Mr. Dickson – crudely referred to as Zoo master. Father Ben Ohene makes the list as does Mrs. Nadia – our AMSA patron at the time.

The subject of this piece is Juliana Ben-Eghan (Mrs.) our very sociable Social Studies teacher in form 1 and 2 till she took over as the second assistant head. She brought life to her lessons. She was one that we yearned to come to class because she had a wow factor.

At least in respect to our class, she was the only one tutor who lovingly referred to us as ‘my boys.’ Her books will normally precede her arrival and we looked across the compound as she ‘slowly’ made her way to the class.

She had a problem with her leg for which majority of us felt the pain. We loved to have her around but understood her health. Our class (Science 3 – Agric) must be the furthest from the staff room but she almost always came to engage us.

One thing that we came to admit very early on was that she was a top shot at names. Mrs. Ben-Eghan knew everyone she taught by their names. Years on, I haven’t met her since I returned to Aquinas to conduct my GIJ research.

Friends who have, including Abraham Thomas Cudjoe – Aristo of War Party clan, admits that she mentioned his name when they once met. Maybe I should add that she is fully mentioned in the acknowledgment section of my GIJ research.

Whiles a number of teachers were hard to approach or they mostly had boys following them as they issued directives, the case of Mrs. Ben-Eghan was starkly different. Almost always had boys surrounding her as they chit chatted to or from class sessions.

Even in her assistant head days, very little changed in her interactions with students besides having her teaching duties waived. And if you thought we respected her that much, wait till you saw her chic-looking and sounding sons come to her in school. A sight to behold.

From Abraham Maslow’s theory of needs to the kinds of marriages. From types of human behaviours to types of leadership, we benefitted not only from the depth of her interaction and delivery but from the light side of her examples and its aptness.

Another key Ben-Eghan moment for a select group of us – Agric students – was when we went with her to Cape Coast for the wedding ceremony of our class teacher at the time (I can't believe I can't recall his name #sad). It was a trip where we wore our anniversary cloth and travelled with the Science Resource bus.

At a point, we left the wedding grounds to go and play football with some local lads. I think we lost that game. We made reasonable noise in the rather empty bus as Ben-Eghan sat in front with other staff minding her business.

On our way back, the bus broke down at Kaneshie. We all had money to get ourselves back home but no. She would give each one of us enough to get us home and I believe if she had contacts of each one, she would call to confirm that we had all reached home safely.

She positioned herself as a mother, no; in fact that is what she was even more than a teacher and head. I’ve written about the affable and wrongly labelled Mrs. Mary Boateng but you can hardly mislabel Ben-Eghan on the basis of her disposition.

One day, I will tell my kids about Mrs. Ben-Eghan and will entreat my wife to emulate the traits for which I’d hail her on any day. Like Hajia Fati, she proved to be selfless, dapper and super – in words and in deeds. God bless her and her progeny. 

Eboue's ‘love’ blues: Media impact, social media distract, racist construct

There are so many positives that media has/can champion/ed. I won’t go into instances because there’s be too many. I’d stick to the issue at hand. How a man who earned millions of euros could overnight become so poor as to be washing his own clothes is one for the novels.

Throws me back to the Biblical story of ‘the lost son,’ here was a footballer who literally fought for an earned his inheritance – rightfully so. He lost it overnight to his ‘love’ and financial naivety in a story that is very much strictly a one-sided tell-all tale from him.

Emmanuel Eboue, a top-flight footballer who was once just a game from winning the topmost prize in European football went 360 in few years time and was just an hour, a day, a week (who knows) from taking his life because of loses and shame due to his choices and name.

The U.K. Sunday Mirror, as a humanitarian move broke the story of Eboue’s woes. It lit the better part of social media in a matter of hours. Eboue, literally laid out his life from native Ivory Coast up to Europe. The missteps, the mysteries, the miscalculations and mishaps – most of them self-inflicted.

But of the social media commenters – I’m not moaning over people’s view and why at all should I especially on the vast expanse of social media? My issue is the detract that some people plunge into and the subsequent racist construct vis-à-vis Eboue’s wife.

A few mind tickling questions before I go on:

1. Zero media attention divorce involving a top player his caliber till now, how is that?
2. Without his wife’ version, is it fair to take Eboue’s story as gospel in its entirety?
3. Which court grants a woman 100% of her husband’s assets in case of a divorce?
4. The story doesn’t tell the grounds on which the wife filed for divorce. 

It is sad that he got to the edge of the cliff but refreshingly relieving that he was snatched from the precipice. His admissions of financial naivety and trust for a legally wedded partner falls back on him. That he was ill-advised is because of who he chose to roll with.

Yet for some people on social media, it had to do with an ‘evil woman’ worse than a ‘white woman’ – the chauvinist plus racist poisonous combination. All of a sudden, there is a qualitative and quantitative research on why Africans should trust African women strictly.

All of a sudden, other African footballers who are married to white ladies have become targets of unfathomable ridicule, that they’d be sweating by now over what is happening to Eboue.

But it is symptomatic of social media, isn’t it? A ‘playground’ where people bandy about hasty generalizations and advance fallacious arguments based on half-baked facts – sometimes without facts, try politics. Lol!

The adult called Eboue who left home and after years earning big bucks still did not deem it fit to invest a CFA back home has himself entirely to blame. That was a decision he took or was convinced to take but surely a gun wasn't put to his head in that respect.

The resource called social media should not expose us so much that we play along with what I call convenient facts. Of course, if it is for the jocular value of it, why not? But let’s resist rather insist on more cogent lines of thought and experience sharing where need be.

And how can I forget to say ‘thank you’ to Turkish giants Galatasaray for offering to employ their former employee? Except against Arsenal, I’ll support the Istanbul side against any other opposition despite being rivals of ex-Ghana skipper Stephen Appiah’s Fernabache.

Eboue entered a marital relationship that has lasted 14 years. It bore fruits of three kids, he worked hard and earned to cater for his family. The relationship has all but crashed, he nearly crashed with it but alas has a second bite of the cherry, shot at goal if you want.

The social media distract and racist constructs should do themselves a favour by halting in their ‘attacks,’ reverse play and know that in today’s world except for narcissists, there should be no room for racist and chauvinist overtures – overt or covert. We’ve come too far for that!

Nigerian denied call to bar over hijab: My veiled reaction to a 'lawless' sacrifice

In the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds and I seek his peace and blessings for the best of creation – Mohammed, may Allah exalt his mention, members of his household and his companions.

News of how the hijab (Islamic female headscarf) caused an aspiring lawyer to be denied a call to the bar in no mean a place as Nigeria is in part mindboggling but also revolutionary. Mind boggling because of the explicit nature of religious freedom on the country’s statutes.

Revolutionary because (lawyer-to-be) Amasa Firdaus from of the University of Ilorin in Kwara State has dared to chart a path that many others will soon walk without hustle. A path that thousands of her predecessors did not bother to tread – for whatever reason.

For five years Firdaus had no issues wearing her hijab to and from class. It was an effortless routine I guess. The hijab has triumphed in different courts across Nigeria. The most recent if I’m right was in Lagos State this year.

Incidentally, it was on the day of her crowning as a professional in the field she had studied and excelled that the furore broke out. By the way, she has in subsequent interviews stated that her action (refusal to yield) was to challenge a rule that she believed was unfair.

Caveat: I don’t have a position on hijab save for what the Quran and Hadith says about it – that is, that it is an OBLIGATION for the Muslim woman. May Allah reward those that adhere to it and strengthen them.

A few veiled and lawless questions from my end, never mind I’ll attempt to answer them:

a. Is it all rules in this life that are fair?
b. How did thousands of earlier female lawyers manage their call?
c. Why study and obey the law for five years and break it on your last day?
d. What is the importance of this religiously – legal tussle?

Of course we will all agree that not all rules in life are fair and it is incumbent on us to keep fighting to change rules where applicable. The story of Rasool during the Treaty of Aqabah where he ceded key positions to the Kuffar is one such – in the end, you win.

Firdaus is not the first Muslim lawyer to have passed law exams, many have come before her. They removed their hijabs and wore their wigs for the call to the bar and afterwards put it right back – that they bent the rules doesn’t mean she should.

Even a number of Muslim colleagues on the day she was refused entry pulled off their hijabs for the event and put it back at a time Firdaus stuck to her guns that not even at gun point will she yield. Well within her rights.

To tie the last two questions: Could it be said that she did not know of the rule prior to the Abuja event? If she did not too bad, but if she did; could she not have sought to rectify the issue before the day? Well, any which way, ignorance of the law is no excuse, or is it?

So she studied the law and ‘broke’ an existing law on her day of glory. But therein comes the revolutionary class act. The debate thanks to an Instagram post by an ‘enraged’ colleague hit national and international headlines.

Whether the law school likes it or yes, this is snowballing into a reform call. That they accept and modify same or be sued and forced to accept that despite having enforced a seemingly discriminatory law (which I support at the time), the time to change seems long overdue.

Firdaus, I will not compre to any freedom fighter anywhere. She could have been a lawyer by now but opted to be a liberator for now till the next call to the bar. She will most likely wear her hijab on that day. With double pride of having prevailed and having set the standard.

For years to come, Muslim ladies that pass through the law school, long after her, will be told of her heroics. In Ghana, I know of private call to the bar, if lucky the Nigerian authorities could grant her a similar audience.

I respect the many before Firdaus who signed up for the existing rules. I’m without a shred of doubt that many of them lodged protests but felt it was not much of a big deal. Not so for the trailblazing Firdaus. May Allah ease her and our collective paths to Jannatul-Firdaus. 

Masjid tales (2) The partially paralyzed man - Afflicted but committed

He is partially paralyzed but Magrib and Ishae, particularly, hardly passes him despite his affliction. He walks with the aid of a stick in his right hand as he holds his phone and tasbih with the left.

He is always early to come to the mosque and is about the only other person with a permanent spot aside the Imam. His foldable chair is always stationed at the far left of the first row in the masjid.

His first act is always to drop his stick beside his chair, exchange pleasantries with those sitting beside him before he prays a naafil and await the salat.

That's his foldable chair leaning against the wall

His type of greeting, hmmmmmm. He uses his left hand - it is functional of the two. The other is for support and yet the smile on the faces of the people he greets.

As Magrib is dispatched and we await Ishae he usually prefers to lie on his back as he engages in Azkaar with the tasbih firmly clutched in his left hand.

How he gets to lie down again. Another riveting process. He drops a knee, then another. Before he tosses his back to the wall and drags himself away from the wall till he lays on his back fully.

The solidarity that greets his coming and exiting is absolutely heartwarming as everyone seeks to be of help. From those that help him don and remove his shoes, those that prepare his seat and the many others who offer him greetings.

And he comes across as the very appreciative type who thanks in double. His is an affliction but one that as per what I see draws him closer to the mosque than many able-bodied persons.

I pray for him and the many that offer to help him daily. A prayer extension to the people at his home. May Allah reward them with good for the help they offer him. May he reap the benefits of his affliction in this dunya and beyond.

Permit me to end with a quotation used in the beginning of the first part of my Masjid tales series. 

"If an ailment affects your body, head for the hospital
Likewise, If an ailment affects your soul, head to the masjid." 

May Allah increase us in khayr and with barakah. The concluding part of this series is of the Muazzin who has one hand. I wish I could upload his call to prayer. A beautiful soothing voice he has. May Allah reward his khidmah. 

Typical Jum'ah congregation Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo - The street worshippers. Lol

[Letter] ‘Pampered’ homosexuality forecast: Akufo-Addo vs. Jammeh

Since it's a blog letter please bear with an 'introduction.' A caveat before the intro: I’m not going to waste my time as others are doing and have done analyzing President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s response to the homosexuality question as aired on the Qatar-based TV channel, Al Jazeera.

I'm writing this letter because out of the plethora of issues that he discussed with Al Jazeera, it seems that the same-sex response has elicited more coverage in the local media space. Undoubtedly weeks after his pronouncements it continues to pop up here and there.

For me, I believe it's same for several others, it underlines how the president succeeded in failing to simply quote what the law says and leave the future to the future. To my letter.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
President of the Republic of Ghana
Flagstaff House
Kanda – Accra

Dear Sir,

How are you? I hope you are fine together with your elephant government (relative to size rather than party emblem). After all, it’s a government for all of us despite flawed and floored theories like that of ‘our’ South Africa rep, Ayisi Boateng and his 'party before government' rhetoric, disgusting.

As for how Ghana is doing, it is for three sets of Ghanaians to say, members of the ruling party, those from the opposition and the apolitical ‘party’. The key point is the peace is a product of our combined efforts. We no get time for stress.

I saw you on Al Jazeera addressing issues from local, continental and global politics. Nice. I watched you hail Donald John Trump, wow! I heard you prophesy that Mandela’s ANC will one day lose power. Yo! Even of you talking about child marriages and other issues, great!

I watched with admiration how you said Africa’s march towards democracy was unstoppable and how can I forget you refusing to poke your nose into Zimbabwe, well played! But of these major issues, your about two minutes ‘pampering’of homosexuality is/was the talk of town.

I know you know why and would have ended my letter here but please indulge me. There are some core matters on which we are united in celebration/condemnation as a people. Long before democracy and human rights, we had tradition, culture and thereafter religion.

These bind us more strongly than does politics. You said it was a matter of time before it (same-sex marriage) will be with us. Common-sensically people have argued that it is right but that is not what ‘we’ needed at least going by the public reaction.

Your burdened sigh when the interviewer posed the specific question portended chaos and you delivered it, fast forward to your last statement about it not being on the agenda, the hostess was quick to move on because you positioned yourself as an ‘accommodating’ leader.

I would not have expected a Yahya Jammeh type reply – slitting throats et. al, that’d hardly come from you that stayed in Britain and saw same-sex relationships in its hustle days. You that are a legal brain and acclaimed human rights fighter.

Boss, the reality is; you should have just fired the existing law – top of my head, that unnatural carnal knowledge is a crime under Ghana’s law. That has not changed and that is where we stand as a people with you as the leader of constitutional defence, I know you remember your January 7th oath.

Your groundswell of activism argument suggested that a time will come when activists will build enough vim and audacity that could bring us to where the west are today. But my question, will you open us up, expose us to the start of that era?

I have widely followed reactions to your response – the politics in it was expected. Your people are doing their defensive duties as opposition apologists keep attacking. I don’t know who the goalie is but those of us in midfield (apolitical) will defend our society and religions.

Gay rights people on hearing you will put plans on ‘yellow’ as in ‘get ready’ at a time I think the traffic lights were on bright red ‘STOP!’ I insist, they are amongst us, but we cannot afford to make them bold to step out. May they forever live watching their backs. Amen!

Your Excellency, this is my little piece to you. The part that sweet you, I didn’t mean it, this is serious business. The part that anger you, I don’t care. Next time the question is tossed, don’t skirt around it. Knock it into a coma, of course not Jammeh style.

Even though I’m far away from Kejetia and Makola and given your legal background, permit me to say: ‘I arrested my case.’ God bless you and the government, God bless our homeland Ghana.

Very Sincerely Yours
SIGNED
Hajia Fati’s son, Alfa Shaban

Addendum

If I may add, can the presidency and leading local channels get such interviews done? To some extent, that would cure the choked once-a-year 'Meet The Press' series we have been witnessing over the years.

Our presidents have spoken to 'outsiders' often but only get time for local media when elections loom. The very time their local media mojo begins to tinker.

Damn! Trump opts for Jerusalem, Harlem must be U.S. capital, Saudi diss

Kindly pardon my use of "damn!" in the headline od all places, it is strictly in the capacity of an interjection - an exclamation of annoyance - strictly that. Thanks

The surprise about U.S. president Donald John Trump is of those that are surprised about his surprises. Thankfully I’m not and I’d be surprised at me if I ever was. It is the new normal – the Trump manual.

There’d been relative peace in the Middle East before early last week when word had it that Mr. Trump was set to make an announcement on no less an issue as the Israeli – Palestinian process, the truth is I don’t even know what stage those long winding talks are at.

I grew up knowing Tel Aviv to be the capital of Israel. I watched how turbaned Yasser Arafat entered peace talks after peace talks with Shimon Peres, Ehud Barack, Yitzhak Rabin, Ariel Sharon even with Bibi Netanyahu.

Talk of the conflict between the two nations being historic and hardly going to be resolved has long been bandied around. The key point is that at every point, it seemed that the Palestinians were the worse for it in the case of any armed confrontation.

Roll forward the years, Donald Trump has altered our geography lessons of years back. He is alone in his mission but it would not have mattered if he did the alteration at Trump Towers in NYC, he did it at the White House as head of the U.S. political establishment.

If condemnation could effect a reversal, if it could significantly change anything in a Trump manual – roll back to the U.S. position on the Paris climate accord and UNESCO pull out, Tel Aviv will be the capital but the declaration had come from a man who should know better.

I have and continue to wonder how a man across the ocean could keep the press waiting to make a pronouncement on a matter in another region. And now that he has, there are riots and clashes that have turned deadly especially on the Palestinian side.

The social media thuggery continues unabated as some Muslims have resolved to saying funny stuff about the Saudi establishment. Saudi has been slammed than Trump in some quarters.

Interestingly, people who know as much as nothing on global diplomacy and the Middle East crisis are parroting diatribes and casting Saudi in shady light. But that is what social media and affordable internet does to some people.

A Palestinian lawyer reacts to tear gas fired by Israeli troops during clashes

America’s position as a global hotshot is emphasized in its trumpy and grumpy move on Jerusalem. At a point I asked what will become of Washington D.C. if say Saudi or Turkey says it recognized Harlem as the new U.S. capital? Oversimplification of the point but is that not why America is seen as who they are today, a superpower?

Well, if it is about power, they were nobodies decades ago. They took over from others and as much as we believe the word of Allah at all times to be true, their reign will round and wrap up just as those before them.

Back to Saudi and the shade throwers, Muslims around the world owe each other the value of supplication. We must pray for one another, remember Rasool’s last cry? Ummatii, Ummatii… I cannot go to Palestine but I can pray for the burdened people of that land.

You can insult Saudi because you have access to social media, years back, nobody will hear your rants. You can/must pray for Palestine because you must. You can box the two – insults, prayer – or stick to one, in that case, I suggest you pray for Saudi and more for Palestine.

As for Trump and his tawaga – lieutenants – even if we don’t resist of their machinations, history will sort them out. I repeat, for the promise of Allah is TRUE. May Allah ease the affairs of our brethren. May HE have mercy on the souls of those lost in the struggle. Ameen.  

Masjid tales (1) The visually impaired man: Afflicted but committed

If an ailment affects your body, head for the hospital
Likewise If an ailment  affects your soul, head to the masjid. May Allah increase us in khayr and with barakah.

Life and living it took a different turn when I left home to a far away land to work. There are so many things I don't get to do. Among others, go to makaranta, visit family and physically meet friends except on whatsapp.

Over in Congo, my movements are predictable, predominantly at home or at work, usually at the mosque, sparsely gone to the market or the seaside when I'm very annoyingly off duty for an entire weekend.

For purposes of this write up, I stick to the masjid (mosque). Whiles there to pray, I do observe a lot. Three people "freak me out" for the right reasons I must admit. May Allah reward their commitment at least on the face of what I see.

The committed visually impaired man. His mode of coming to the mosque is riveting. He is helped to board a taxi from his home towards the mosque. As he gets off, almost immediately someone/ anyone grabs hold of his hand and leads him into the mosque.

His place, Subhaanal Laah, is right behind the Imam. It's a constant spot and for all the time I have joined the prayer have sighted him. He is early to come for obvious reasons and usually has his ears plugged, most likely listening to Islamic related stuff.

How he gets his actual spot is by having a feel of the tip of the Imam's prayer mat. In his own beautiful world he sits whiles others exchange greetings because for him, a greeting is possible with a verbal or physical prompt.

Even though it's as much as I know of his plight, I know he doesn't have to hassle with lowering his gaze, that's for us, those with the blessing of sight.

Bearded, bespectacled and with his round cap carefully balanced atop his head, he nods when a khutbah or lecture is being delivered and from afar or right behind him, I look at him and say a prayer.

"Yaa Allah, bless your servant with good in this dunya and beyond." I believe the angels will answer in the affirmative and I will also be granted that which I so wish for him.

In part 2, I share the story of the partially paralysed man, who has a special spot he sits and stands to pray. May Allah have mercy on our feeble souls and grant us the gift of jannah. Ameeen 

Decrepit fame: From hustling 'Bandana' to noisy gun firing 'Shatta Wale'

Growing up, I actively listened to music, not anymore for religious reasons. It's the basis of how much music I will attempt to exhibit knowing in this piece.

I have traversed GBC's Guinness for your dancing feet through to TV3's Hitz Video with the Iceman. Metro TV's Advertising Cycle and sequels of MTV base. 

But more of the music I have come to know was more via radio. Years of Joy FM (Morning Show (Komla Dumor), Cosmopolitan mix (Doreen Andoh), drive time (Bola Ray) & multi-track show (Kwesi Anim Adjei)) meant I could sing along a medley of tracks. I still can but don't.

Let's cut the chase, I lived in the era when VIP from bogey down Nima were a tough side - Ahomka wom, swept awards at their peak. I lived in the time of Nkasei's 'Tuorbordom' when Tic Tac got us mental with 'Philomena' and when Obrafuor was a shining light with 'sense-laden' tracks. I cannot forget batman's hit single Linda and Abrewa Nana's Odo Filla. 

Of course, there were many others, Tinny, Sonny Achiba, KK Fosu et al. The Kojo Antwis, Amandzebas, Rex Omars, Daddy Lumbas and Gyedu Blay Ambulley's all churned out hits that music lovers enjoyed.

Bandana (then), Shatta Wale (now)

At that time was an artiste known as 'bandana' who always looked as if he was in a rush, always running across any stage. He was a very ordinary artiste who did not make it anywhere - at least at the time. I didn't even bother know his real name. From 'Bandana from Ghana' with its 'moko hoo' respone and 'aafee fee shi still anyee,' was about all there was to the artiste.

Years down the line, fame finally found him. And with each step, he feels like he has more than arrived. The latest idiocy being the firing a gun at perceived enemies. Right after needlessly and unprovokedly joining "issues" with a Nigerian artiste.

I have heard also of verbal tirades even against persons that have criticised the content of his music. Flying the banner of a certain Shatta Movement, Charles Nii Armah Mensah "Shatta Wale" continues to defy common sense and to remember that many have come before him and before long he'd be gone as he came.

It doesn't matter that you sang at Mahama's final rally and he crushed at 44%+. It's of no significance that a tweet exchange with the man who beat Mahama earned you a Flagstaff House visit and I hear a car.

Now listen, it's no insult that some of your lyrics are nonsense. Who cares how many tracks you can record in a minute. You risk fighting yourself when you are done fighting any and everybody. Chinua Achebe in Things Fall Apart quoted an Igbo proverb that "Those whose palm kernels are cracked for them by a benevolent spirit, should not forget to be humble."

And oh, just as I finished this article, I read that he had slapped a bodyguard during a concert in Accra, if you ask me, his latest piece of madness but that is exactly what the young man should check - to put himself in check.