COMMON SENSE: THE IMPORTANCE OF ACQUIRED HALLUCINATION

. And For A Nation A Statesman Gone Beserk, Overboard

He was one of the good athletes on campus. He ran the 400 meters with the
strides of Ed Moses. He had the potential of becoming a world-beater, yet
he only settled for the school's 400-meter relay. He had a problem. He was
a victim of Acquired Hallucination. In parables, he was a voluntary
gardener, who gathered weeds and burned them whenever he willed it.

Like most students, he had a nickname. He was called Solo Pee. It
originated from an event in which he played the leading role. He had gone
to incur the displeasure of another colleague and got beaten up for his
troubles.

He then went to burn some dry leaves and came fully charged. He went to the
school kitchen, grabbed an axe and gave his 'assailant' a chase. At that
time, one of the most read books in the school was Alan Quarterman by Rider
Haggard.

It was a story about white adventurers on the African Continent. A bulky
African warrior called Umslopogas, who had a huge axe as his weapon,
assisted them.

Our student was rightly called Umslopogas for brandishing an axe. The
nickname, which he cherished, changed to Um-Solo, then to Solo Pee.

Solo Pee was not that strong. However, he was always looking for trouble.

One thing was true. He gathered great courage and strength after burning
weeds. When this happened, he became infested with Acquired Hallucination.

Hallucination as described by the Cambridge International Dictionary of
English, is the act of seeming to see, hear, feel or smell something, which
does not exist. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical
Principles says Hallucination is the condition of being deceived or
mistaken, or of entertaining unfounded notions with an illusion. The
apparent perception of an external object when no such object is present.

Hallucination may be the result of illness, e.g. High Fever which is
involuntary or the taking of drugs, which is voluntary, self-induced or in
plain English, acquired.

Solo Pee and some other youth through out the ages, believed that drugs
lifted their ego and made them what they wished to be. So they took drugs
in order to pass exams, to woo a girl, take command of affairs and among
others, be the leader of the pack.

Sadly, they perish by first going off key, then when pure and undiluted
madness sets in, they go roaming the streets and eating from garbage sites,
then sooner or later, they depart this world.

Some brilliant students even end up in the universities only to go bonkers,
due to drug addiction. Some people even go way up to be rulers of nations
and disperse their madness over their unfortunate citizens. The people of
Uganda had their share when they encountered Idi Amin.

People with such conditions believe they are tops. No one is more capable
than they are. Woe betides anyone who challenges or crosses swords with
them. They are the kings, the commanders, etc. Unfortunately, they are not
always in the right frame of mind.

Acquired hallucination is a problem. In a typical secondary examination
situation, students would be asked to discuss the Importance of Acquired
Hallucination. It is indeed a big problem; since it could be very difficult
getting sick minds round to civility. Acquired hallucination could reduce
top-flight people to lunatics. The rich become poor due to drugs and
statesmen with this problem end up becoming the scum of the earth. Even
people who do not matter can talk anyhow to them. They play with dogs and
so get licked in the face. Let us pray for the sick.

We have a problem in this country.

Our only living ex-Head of State can say anything he feels like and get
away with murder.

For the past week or two, he has been growling and howling about nothing.
Yet when his gestures are returned in equal proportions, we are told to be
moderate and not muddy the waters.

He accused the Kufuor Administration of training a special police unit to
defend the cause of the NPP.

He accused the JAK Administration of plotting to kill him.

He claims that his ministers in jail were politically sentenced for no
crime at all.

Maybe Jerry is suffering from short memory.

Were we not in this country when Jerry, in an effort to implement his
ideology of Democratization of Violence, actually hand picked people in the
streets, drug addicts, criminals and other hangers-on and trained them to
be his elite guards?

These groups of Special Forces became the Commandoes (army) and Police
Panther Unit, which was led by Jack Bebli. The soldiers were later
constitutionalized and called the 64 Battalion after being absorbed into
the Army. The 64 Battalion were directly under the Office of the President
and looked like separated from the Command Structure of the Ghana Armed
Forces. The Police Panther Unit also took orders from the Castle and was an
external police unit on its own. I believe Jack Bebli might have been
ordered to steal gold. Today, he is languishing in jail.

Even if it is established that the JAK Administration is secretly training
an elite police force, he has not put them directly under his authority.
Police could be trained anywhere, especially in this era of high tech crime.

Jerry had two units of police and army directly under him. I hope he has
not forgotten. It is these units that put the fear of God into all Ghanaians.

Jerry's claim that the JAK Administration is out to kill him, speaks
volumes of a man haunted by an evil past. He is now very paranoid and could
be having sleepless nights despite his wealth. At this stage of his life,
he should know that no amount of human comfort and support could free his
mind off all the wicked and evil things he did against God and man. Are we
talking King Saul here?

Jerry John now prides himself with the fact that only a few of his
ministers are languishing in jail for economic crimes. In fact, he is even
insistent that they were wrongly convicted for crimes they never committed.

According to Rawlings and those who think like him, the Quality Grain gang
was jailed for willingly causing financial loss to the State and nothing
criminal was found against them, as the judge took pains to explain that
there was no evidence of wrongfully benefiting from the $20,000,000.00 deal.

Willfully causing financial loss to the State is a crime. Let us look at
this illustration.

To linger indolently on one's way; to hang idly about a place; to dawdle
over a task and to stand or wait somewhere especially with no obvious
reason do not look harmful or criminal. This act is loitering. Yet
loitering can be a crime. The law can charge someone for loitering, without
necessary establishing whether the loiterer was attempting a break-in. So
also is the fact that willfully causing financial loss is a crime in its
own world and need not have other crimes inclusive before a case could be
established.

All that Rawlings is doing of late is to put the fear of God into people,
especially the vulnerable rural folks. Imagine telling them that Kufuor is
a thief and a leader of thieves. And that the soldiers are to arrest him.
This trick is not working, with the growing support for Kufuor and the NPP.

Was it not Rawlings who stole helicopter seats (State property)? Was it not
Rawlings who bought gari and beans from a poor vendor and refused to pay?

Was it not Rawlings who, on two occasions, armed robbed the nation by using
violence and gun power to usurp the seat of government? Was it not Mrs.
Rawlings who it is alleged, owns a jewelry shop in Switzerland?

Could Rawlings be justified and come out clean and declare all that he has
illegally acquired during his twenty - year reign as leader of this nation?

Solo Pee is dead and gone. The result of drug addiction. May his soul rest
in peace. In the 1980's, many youth went down that road out of frustration.
While Rawlings and the NDC were turning people crazy, Dr. Kwame Safo-Adu
and his team were counseling some of them out of drug addiction.

Yet Jerry, out of ingratitude, picks issues with the doctor, and closed
down his factory.

With the biggest case of a statesman going bonkers, fully infested with
acquired hallucination, what are going to do? Can Dr. Kwame Safo-Adu
remember his medical code of ethics and counsel our man out of this
disease, in order to save us from a national embarrassment of having a
certain somebody picking food leftovers from the garbage.

Acquired hallucination is dangerous and so let us discuss its importance
May the Lord have mercy on us.