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| Afia Schwarzenegger & Kennedy Agyapong |
“The drums beat and the flutes sang and the
spectators held their breath,” Chinua Achebe, in his book Things Fall Apart, described the fiercest fight
between Okonkwo and Amalinze, the Cat.
That spectacular Amalinze-Okonkwo banter was
years ago. Wondering whether we have had such a hyped bout in Ghana aside the
recent Bukum Banku vs. Ayitey Powers’ bouts? You need not look further.
It started with comedienne Afia Schwarzenegger,
who doubles as a radio and television personality, hurling missiles of insults
at Honourable Kennedy Ohene Agyapong for the latter’s reported attack on
President Mahama’s family.
Defending one’s President positively, I must
say, is in a good direction. Afia Schwarzenegger started a good course. She wanted
to ensure sanity prevailed in our daily politics where one would not go the
extent of seeing his or her opponent as an enemy.
However, like a child who drew a beautiful lion
but unfortunately added wings, Afia spoilt her ‘lion.’ Lions don’t need wings! Indeed,
Afia could have respectfully tamed Mr. Agyapong and reminded him that he bore
the title ‘Honourable.’
Mr. Agyapong, when received the barrage of
insults and the comedienne calling on him to let Ghanaians know his true source
of wealth, did not take it lightly either. Speaking on his Oman FM, which Afia
said she would never tune in to, the Honourable Member of Parliament did not
mince words. He, as well, retaliated calling the Kↄkↄↄkↄ host a prostitute.
This brouhaha between the two has generated a
heated debate among a section of Ghanaians. Both sides of the divide either
praised or bashed the fighters. Recently on Radio Ghana’s News Commentary, a
social commentator bashed Mr. Agyapong for not acting as an Honourable. The
commentator, again, called on Parliament to discipline their colleague for
stooping so low.
While the bashing and praising went on, the
supporters of both Mr. Agyapong and Afia hailed them respectively. They did not
only hail but scored their respective candidate with high marks and declared
their fighter winner of the verbal battle.
If an egg falls on a stone or a stone falls on an
egg, our elders say, the result is the same. Whether it was Mr. Agyapong who first
insulted President Mahama and his family or it was Afia Schwarzenegger who
first insulted Mr. Agyapong, both sides did not help matters.
Without fear or favour, I condemn the two for
not acting professionally. However, I will not ‘put it to’ Mr. Agyapong for not
doing what is expected of Honourable Members of Parliament.
In one of Nana Kwame Ampadu’s songs titled
“Ampan Dankwa” – where the title refers to the bat, the legendary highlife musician
told an intriguing story in the animal kingdom.
The animals had met for a meeting. Mr. Squirrel,
the Secretary, began the meeting by marking his register. When it got to the
turn of Ampan Dankwa, the bat, there was silence. Squirrel mentioned the name over
and over again. It was obvious Ampan Dankwa could not attend the meeting.
It was later discovered that Ampan Dankwa was
in the belly of the Leopard, after a surgical operation. The case appeared
before Judge Rabbit to rule on why Leopard had breached an established law that
called for animals to live in peace without one eating the other as food.
The court case was tensed. Very! Perhaps,
comparable to the NPP-NDC Supreme Court battle. Lawyers for both Ampan Dankwa
and Leopard argued vehemently. But… the Leopard’s lawyer’s interpretation of
the law had Judge Rabbit setting Leopard free.
“Mr. Judge,” started Leopard’s lawyer, “it is
true the laws say one animal should not pounce on the other as its prey.
However, there is no clause that says that because of this law one could use
the mouth of his/her friend as a playing ground.”
Leopard had had his mouth opened while
sleeping. Ampan Dankwa, instead of waking him up to ask for them to play,
decided to rather play in the mouth of the former.
Nana Ampadu recounts that Judge Rabbit was well
convinced and eventually set Leopard free. He [Nana Ampadu] commenting on the
animals’ story cautioned the public not to take things for granted.
It is true Members of Parliament must command
respect by first respecting themselves. However, Mr. Agyapong could not when
Afia Schwarzenegger had virtually been given the license for abusive words to
freely leave her mouth as milk freely drops from a lactating mother’s
breasts.
When it was alleged that musician Becca had had
an affair with one of the Black Stars’ players in Brazil, Afia Schwarzenegger
had the guts to call the former names. As a matter of fact, even if Becca
indeed had that affair and it did not contradict any of our laws… then no one
had the right to fight her. After all, Afia Schwarzenegger is not a ‘moral
police’.
In another breath, Afia Schwarzenegger has
fought with her former boss Delay. That did not end there. She has battled
Bishop Obinim and the boxing stars, Bukum Banku and Ayitey Powers.
Afia Schwarzenegger may be right in some of
these instances but I think her approach has not been the best. In fighting Mr.
Agyapong over his derogatory words fired at the President, one is tempted to
ask if what she says of the president herself is not derogatory enough. Don’t
get me wrong. I am not blindly justifying Mr. Agyapong’s act.
On her show dubbed Kↄkↄↄkↄ on UTV, she is known for flaunting herself as the President’s
girlfriend among other risqué jokes. So… when the Despite Group and Okay FM
issued a press statement on February 9, 2016, to apologise to Mr. Agyapong and
Ghanaians for their presenter’s words, I laughed. Here in Ghana, we do unnecessary things with
careless abundance and later apologise.
Indeed, the Despite Group should have long
tamed its lioness. It was rather unfortunate they had to wait for Mr. Agyapong
to act as the Leopard in Nana Ampadu’s story to do the taming.
How the media has raised Afia Schwarzenegger is
not any different from how they did to Nana Aba Anamoah, formerly of TV3. TV3
revered her so much that Nana Aba insulting Viasat 1 on live broadcast was brushed
under the carpet.
In my article on the ‘Nana Aba was there’
titled “My view: Of Nana Aba Anamoah & TV3,” I blasted TV3 for poor-parenting
the young woman. I, as well, gave an advice to others especially loud-mouth media
personalities to take a caution from the Nana Aba’s.
That advice was summed up in an Igbo proverb
which says that a person whose father received a bullet in the head, uses an
iron pot as a helmet. The media must also be warned to desist from hipping
uncultured mouths.
The writer, Solomon Mensah, is a freelance journalist and a
cultural activist.
Email: nehusthan4@yahoo.com
Twitter: @Aniwaba
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