The Finest vs. The Apostle: ‘Corruption’ and this week’s dose of on-air ‘wawulence’

By Alpha Barani Shaban, BACS231189

The media space has been a ‘boxing arena’ of sorts this week. 

In the red corner: Kwasi Kyei Darkwah, alias KKD. He is no stranger to the media space, he calls himself ‘The Finest,’ and that is for good reason – at least judging by his sartorial choices, be it formal or informal. Add his diction and you won’t exactly be wrong.

In the blue corner: Paul Adom-Otchere, a journalist who has decent media footprint – radio and TV, but more famed with his over two decades as host of Good Evening Ghana programme on Metro TV. He is referred to as ‘The Apostle’ – for good reason, thanks to his spiritual interludes.

 

Wawulence, what is it?                                  

‘Wawulence’ has become popular in recent months, a variant of the world violence – the non-violent type – one that is unleashed on social media in what can best be described as banter – involving slam dunks and very importantly clap backs.

Round I – KKD laments corruption o GTV

The KKD vs. Adom-Otchere bout started with the former’s accusation of corruption on the part of Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta relative to Ghana’s trading on the international capital markets – cue in Eurobonds.

 “I read a report yesterday that broke my heart, I saw how much Ghana owes but I also found that apparently, the minister of finance’s company or former company is a transaction advisor to the monies that we borrow.

 So, as Ghana gets poorer, the minister of finance’s company or former company gets richer,” KKD stated when he appeared as a guest on GTV’s Breakfast Show programme.

 

Round II – Adom-Otchere plays No. 5 for Ofori-Atta

Adom-Otchere, referred to in a recent GhanaWeb as the ‘Hatchet Man’ of the government entered the ring, expectedly so, to mount a defense on Good Evening Ghana last Thursday.

Whiles describing KKD as a ‘senior brother,’ Adom-Otchere dished subtle jibes whiles insisting that Ofori-Atta’s company Eurobond was doing legitimate business as Bond Market Specialists.

“If tomorrow, Togbe Afede becomes Minister of Finance, should we say, you have become Minister of Finance, therefore, SAS can no longer advice government on Eurobond borrowing and close down the company? But that is the reality that we take from the narrative of broadcast legend, Kwesi Kyei Darkwah,” Adom-Otchere noted.

Round III – KKD’s proverbial message to ‘junior bro’

On Onua FM earlier this week, KKD was back in the ring. The real wawulence started when he proverbially dressed down Adom-Otchere and landed an allegation of the TV host’s Movenpick past laced with alleged girlfriend jibes. 

“He (Adom-Otchere) is not part of the elders, but a child who is deployed by elders to abuse other elders should remember that it is because of the prominent person’s cloth that the dog barks when he approaches.

“But when the dog is restrained and the prominent person sits with the elders to chat, the dog is returned to the cage. Advice yourself. Do not insult a person who is your elder. I love you too much,” he stressed.

He accused Adom-Otchere of attending an event he organized at Movenpick with a lady other than his wife, stating a personal observation of she being too clingy to Paul and that Paul better be careful about such women.

 

Round IV – Adom-Otchere’s morality jabs

On his Tuesday, August 23 edition of Good Evening Ghana, Adom-Otchere made brief comments about KKD’s blow taking 15-minutes to address and redress his ‘big brother,’ he dwelt highly on moral grounds and pro-women respect plus doses of love to ‘big bro.’

“My senior brother Kwesi, what can I say, when you are dealing with people that you love, it is really difficult … What I can say is that assuming without admitting that the narrative that he put out is true, because it is partly incorrect but that is not important.

“I watched the video and I think that the way he refers to mistress and former mistress; I think is very disrespectful of women and I thought the society has grown beyond that. This is totally disrespectful of women,” he lamented.

“You don’t know the woman that you are talking about, you don’t know whether her profile is better that mine and yours put together and then you talk about her being clingy and it is because of your money and what’s not. That is so disrespectful. I thought that culture was gone,” he added.

 

Round V – We are waiting

For interested parties in the public space, the back and forth serves different purposes, be it entertainment, be it supply of memes, be it advancement of a particular political cause and new stories.

It is indeed intriguing that two broadcasters trade jibes on platforms available to them, in the midst of an economic downturn and for the typical social media user, it is about the wawulence that has unfolded and what is ahead if KKD or Apostle decide to land yet another jibe.

We are always here for the wawulance. We will block any efforts at peace.

Till then, God bless our memeland Twitter.