THE SWORD OF ‘MEMPENE’
Well, for those of us who do not speak Akan, ‘mempene’ simply means ‘I won’t agree.’
When the African politician says such, the UN must be ready to set up refugee camps. Mempene from a politician can mean many things.
Most prominently, the politician’s MEMPENE could mean, “I do not care how many people die,” because the way we do our politics is ‘life and death.’
Only God can tell the number of human beings that are literally sacrificed in political pursuits. When they start with human sacrifice, they will end with the same.
Well, I must confess I am not privy to any particular politician doing that. Neither have I received any revelation from God.
But come to think of it, if teenagers can kill their own friends for a small amount of money, then what else cannot be done in our country? It should not be surprising.
The cost of political campaigns is huge. The one-on-one distributions alone! So, it is ‘eye-redening’ when a politician loses.
That is why some African politicians do not care if a whole population will be wiped out, so they can become presidents over nobody, so to speak. It has happened in a number of our neighboring nations. We give God the glory for Ghana.
All because politics seems to be a more assuring investment than even the bank. People will sit on the radio and talk politics for hours.
They do not consider that they could spend the same time setting up a business to create employment for just two people. Unemployment and economic hardships are the reasons they are sitting on the radio anyway.
The season is busy, like some wedding ceremonies I have heard of. A couple of days after the wedding, the photographer, the caterer, and the manager of the events center will show up, demanding their money.
Similar situations may happen after December 7. While many will have legitimate reasons for a ‘mempene,’ others may purely be financial. If you cannot spell it, please don’t write it. Mempene almost always bears a sword.
Mempene shows up everywhere. The last time it showed up in that marriage, it fell on rocks. It showed up among two anointed pastors, and the church was divided into two.
It showed up between a son and his father, and the case ended at the police station. In God’s nation Israel, in the glorious days of Solomon, it showed up.
Two mothers were probably at the maternity ward waiting to be discharged. The unfortunate happened: one lost her son.
This bereaved mother may have waited for a son all her married life. She may miss the family’s inheritance without a son.
Like Hannah, her rival may have teased her continually. She had thought all these were over until her baby died.
In desperation, she needed a solution. The only one that came to mind was to exchange the dead with the living. She executed the plan so perfectly.
But as fate would have it, the real mother realized that her living son had been exchanged with the dead one. It was ‘mempene’ by both until the case got to King Solomon.
The sword always lurks around wherever there is mempene. So Solomon took the sword. “Bring the baby, let me divide it into two for them,” he commanded.
What are you going to do with a baby with divided intestines? What use was having two legs without a chest and a head? Mempene always likes it that way.
The fake mother was happy at the ruling. None of us should have it. If I don’t get it, you neither. Are we talking about the constituency you have heavily invested in? Your CHP compound? That school block?
The road? Similar were the feelings of the real mother. Her bowels of mercy began to churn. “NO, King,” she interrupted.
“It is more about life than death. Please let the baby live.” Chills may have run through the spine of King Solomon. “What manner of love is this?” he may have pondered.
The fake woman may have stretched her hands to receive the baby. She was surprised to hear the real ruling. “Give him to the other woman. She is the real mother.” King Solomon! King Solomon! King Solomon!
One thing mempene is surely afraid of is wisdom.
We have over 270 educated parliamentarians, plus the Speaker and clerks in parliament.
It can be emotionally draining to be on the losing side. Staying positive and calm during a loss calls for employing all our inner strengths. However, on such occasions, the slightest show of grace in conceding defeat is so profound.
In a particular marathon race, the leading runner stopped short of the finishing line and started celebrating. The second-placed runner could have passed him to win.
Amazingly, the second-placed runner slowed down and gently pushed the frontrunner toward the real finishing line. Internationally, that act of graciously accepting second place was more celebrated than the win.
Abraham had lived with Lot until they had both prospered. It got to a time when the available pastures could not contain both shepherds.
This resulted in a misunderstanding between Abraham’s employees and those of Lot. They were a family, as many Ghanaians are.
There are Ashantes named Okyere. The Kwahus, the Akuapems, the Guans, and many other tribes all name Okyere. We are one big family. We need not fight. To help the situation, Abraham allowed Lot to choose his portion of pastures first.
Lot should have protested the offer because Abraham was the elder. But Lot looked around and chose the best of pastures without leaving an apparent good portion for Abraham. Both Lot’s and Abraham’s followers may have seen Abraham as weak and stupid.
But we should never forget the fact that peacemakers are wiser and blessed. Make peace this election season.
The Fantes have a proverb. It says when your friend eats faster than you, he leads you in seeing ‘ghosts.’
In our primitive family house settings, we ate together. All the boys brought suppers from our mothers, and we ate each other’s meals together at a time.
Obviously, the fist folds and the ‘circumference’ of opened mouths were in different categories of sizes.
It means some stomachs will be fuller than others at the end of the rounds. Fuller stomachs lead the queue to the washroom. In those days, we did not have toilets in the home.
The main toilet was at the edge of town. So, when the need arose at night, you would walk through the darkness with the possibility of seeing a ‘ghost.’ What it means is that every opportunity grabbed comes with a responsibility. So, if your opportunities are more loaded than mine, your risks are higher.
Behind Lot’s greener pastures was Sodom. In fact, the Bible says he pitched his tent toward Sodom.
Sodom was obviously the beginning of Lot’s woes. They were trouble upon trouble. His troubles recorded both homosexuality and incest.
Many politicians will do everything to win by hook or by crook. Political power is a huge responsibility. There are unseen battles waging. It is better not to win than to win unfairly.
A fair win still comes with its own challenges. These occupational hazards, coupled with an inward guilt of unfairness, are not a good way to go.
If it is not fair, it is not firm. Truth is the only foundation, and it endures the test of time.
Abraham had calmed the situation; all parties dropped their swords. Lot chose his lot and left toward Sodom.
He was in trouble too soon because the community was captured in a raid, and Abraham quickly went to his rescue.
But early on, after they had parted, God visited Abraham and told him to lift up his eyes. God showed him pastures that the greedy eyes of Lot had not seen. The biblical passage reads this way:
“The Lord said to Abram, AFTER LOT HAD SEPARATED FROM HIM, ‘Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.'” (Genesis 13:14-15)
Lot chose his portion, but Abraham’s portion was given to him by God. God Himself protects what He gives to us.
I believe in hard work, I believe in adventure, but they are all uncertain if God is not in them. All that Lot gathered perished in Sodom. It was so painful that Lot’s wife did what she had been warned not to do.
She turned back and turned into a pillar of salt. Some will certainly lose the election, but they may be given a better opportunity by God. There are divine directions better than an election.
“Kae d3, s3 wo yonko sen wo edzidzi a, osen wo nsamanhu.”