Is President Wade's Obsession With His Son Unhealthy?
Before this item showed up on my Twitter feed, I confess that I'd failed to pay any attention at all to President Wade's obsession with his son, and in fact hadn't given a thought in a very long time--if ever--to the politics of Senegal. I can't vouch for this analysis and the only reason I'm wading in, so to speak, is that upon reading a bit further to try to figure out what's going on there, I discovered that journalists who write about Senegal are kind of great.
Considered one of Africa’s few stable democracies, Senegal has in the last month gone up in flames. Riots and violence have become the order of the day amid a fury never seen before in the West African country.
It’s all because of Wade’s tin ear. He is 84 (or older), yet the ageing geezer is determined to serve a third term beyond the two the constitution allows. Hell broke loose recently when he tried to sneak in an unpopular constitutional amendment that was perceived to be designed to ease his re-election next year.
"Ageing geezer," now that's a forthrightness I can get behind. I found this piece even more refreshing: Senegal’s Abdoulaye Wade Is An NDC Hack!
It is no sheer coincidence, at all, that both the Wade-led Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) and the Rawlings-chaperoned National Democratic Congress share the deceptive descriptor of “Democratic,” as both political parties are relatively and respectively the less democratic of the two major parties in Senegal and Ghana. Ironically, a hitherto staunch Rawlings supporter and political commentator who claims to have joined the teeming ranks of the thoroughly disaffected, largely the result of Mr. Rawlings’ attempt to lewdly parcel out his old job to his wife, had occasion to cite the Wade faux-pas as being unpardonably redolent of the indelible stench that is the very essence of post-colonial African politics.
The irony further thickens when the reader learns to his/her great amusement that the same commentator who now claims to have regretted the error of becoming a staunch Rawlings partisan has, in fact, been publishing reams of articles hermetically backing the jaded and effete Gaddhafi dynasty.
I wasn't sure how much to trust the judgment of the author (one Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., Associate Professor of English, Journalism and Creative Writing at Nassau Community College of the State University of New York, Garden City, Governing Board Member of the Accra-based Danquah Institute (DI) and author of twenty-two books, including “The Obama Serenades”) but at least, I thought, that's an interesting sample of English prose, unlike so much of the twaddle written these days about Turkey, say, which in addition to being misleading is also unforgivably boring.
Further investigation of the reputation of Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D, reveals him to be a controversial figure:
Normally I do not mind mad dogs, but I have decided to take Ahoofe on ... Mr. Ahoofe (Beauty), you are not helping yourself at all. Even teenagers who read your articles make a mockery of you. You are simply out of touch and Akufo-Addo would need you to stop that garbage that does not help his cause. Haven't you realized that the other sycophants who became praise singers all year round leading to the defeat of Akufo-Addo are all cooling it somewhere? You have given people the chance to insult a Ph.D holder like you. This is because of your miscommunication. If you look at the topics of your articles, you hardly talk about the topics but veer into unnecessary areas that does not help readers to determine what your conclusions are. If you ever insult me again, I will hit back. I am a Fante woman and therefore not afraid to fight back.
I don't know who to trust here. They all sound like they're telling the truth about each other, don't they.
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Aug '10
Re: Is President Wade's Obsession With His Son Unhealthy?
There's "English As A Second Language." And then there's "English As A Nother Language." I think these people are arguing in the latter because it's more fun. Its pomposity amplifies their insults; and if this gets them into trouble, well, the comic sound of it all will excuse it all - outside of Africa, where opinions matter. (Inside of Africa, the consequences might be prolonged and unpleasant, if one has to live next door to Fante Woman. But Mister-Doctor Ahoofe - Beauty! - does not. Nyuk-nyuk!)
Well, that's a year's worth of Africa-analysis for me. Now I will sit down. Of the 8 Portuguese-speaking countries, I have yet to visit 3; but 2 are in Africa; sometimes I think I must snag them; but the feeling quickly passes. Ah.
Re: Is President Wade's Obsession With His Son Unhealthy?
I found those items wonderful. It's good to see the English language in such vibrant use. I can't comment authoritatively on the politics, but I'm happy to see something beside Newspeak in the press for a change.
Aug '10
Re: Is President Wade's Obsession With His Son Unhealthy?
Claire Berlinski, Ed.:
Further investigation of the reputation of Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D, reveals him to be a controversial figure:
Hmm... If Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe calls himself a Fante woman, mightn't he be a she?
Re: Is President Wade's Obsession With His Son Unhealthy?
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Claire Berlinski, Ed.:
Further investigation of the reputation of Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D, reveals him to be a controversial figure:
Hmm... If Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe calls himself a Fante woman, mightn't he be a she? · Jul 4 at 1:11pm
No, that's his hostile interlocutor speaking.
Aug '10
Re: Is President Wade's Obsession With His Son Unhealthy?
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Claire Berlinski, Ed.:
Further investigation of the reputation of Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D, reveals him to be a controversial figure:
Hmm... If Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe calls himself a Fante woman, mightn't he be a she? · Jul 4 at 1:11pm
No, that's his hostile interlocutor speaking. · Jul 4 at 1:13pm
Ooops. Serves me right for shooting my mouth off without following the link.