Friends, I wish to thank you so much for your kind and inspirational birthday wishes. It is a wonderful feeling to know that I have 
friends out there who care: and I appreciate it! God richly bless you all for making this year’s birthday the most memorable of my life.
It is believed that everyone is susceptible to mental illness, and that any person can slip into madness at any given point in time. The President of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Philip G. Zimbardo thinks all it may take to trigger the process is a special kind of blow to one’s self-image to push someone over the edge of sanity.
When you hear a musician shouting, “I dey mad oh, I dey go crazy”, and another one sing, “Ole seka ni wo ye” meaning do you know how mad we are? And a third person hitting the side of his head with a clinched fist, and shouting, “Abodam” (madness); then, no one should tell you that things are knocking things, and that “they are slipping coming”.
These are some of the reasons why I want to applaud President John Dramani Mahama for promising two brand new psychiatric hospitals in his recently launched manifesto. Greetings, Your Excellency, Kikikikiiki, boss, I’m reminding you of my birthday present oo. Anyway, you are a giver by nature and nothing can stop you from doing what you love doing. Givers never lack oo, oga.
In fact, I was shocked to hear some people accusing President Mahama wrongly for sharing money during his campaign tour at Sabon Zongo in Accra, when in actual fact he was doing an act of kindness to a small girl who had her crate of eggs crushed.
Let me explain what happened as reported by the Daily Post newspaper: when the President’s convoy entered Sabon Zongo, the passage was narrow and the crowd following him was very heavy. From the top of his vehicle, President Mahama saw a little girl with a tray of boiled egg in the crowd being pushed by the cheering crowd amidst the jostling. The tray fell from the girl’s head and the crowd trampled on the fallen eggs.
The girl then burst into tears. Touched by what only he could see because of where he was standing, President Mahama ordered the man who commands his convoy (who was in his vehicle) to stop the convoy. The convoy stopped. President Mahama then took GH¢50 from his ADC, pointed to the crying girl in the crowd and then reaching down from the top of the vehicle, gave it to a woman standing by her thinking she was with the girl.
He was however, surprised to see the girl still crying so he asked her if the woman was the mother. When the girl shook her head and he noticed the woman had moved away, he took another GH¢50 from his ADC and gave it to the girl. This is President John Dramani Mahama for you!
Coming back to the issue of mental illness, some common symptoms of the disorder are delusions, characterised with seeing visions and hearing voices. That is not to say it is wrong or bad for men of God to see visions; please don’t get me wrong. I’m a Christian, and I believe in visions and prophesies. Aaah, who is calling me at this hour when I’m very busy. Eiii, please excuse me, let me pick this call. It’s Rev, Prof. Mantey.
Me: Hello, Prof.
Prof: Hi Tony. How are you? I’m returning your call.
Me: I’m fine sir. I was calling to inform you that I will be installed a chief next week, and wanted to find out if you would be kind enough to permit me to use your V8 on the occasion.
Prof: Sorry, Tony. I’ll be travelling with it.
Me: Sir, please don’t you have V8vi?
Prof: Hahahaha, Tony, you’re funny. What is V8vi?
Me: Hehehehehe, Prof, “vi” in Ewe means “small”, so V8vi is “small V8”.
Prof: Hahahaha, then I’ll give you a Prado.
Me: Many thanks, sir.
Prof: Tony, by the way, what is going to be your stool name?
Me: Kikikikiiki, my stool name will be Nana Okumsonu Biegya IV.
Prof: Eiii, you again? So, hilarious.
Me: Please can I ask you a question?
Prof: Please go ahead.
Me: Prof., you said no one can gag you, but you’re too quiet of late, people are saying the former PRO, Rev. Achie has… hello, hello, hello, Prof. can you hear me? Oops, I’ve lost him!
Now, coming back to my point, I’m a Christian, and I’m not against prophesies or men of God. There are genuine pastors in this country who are doing awesomely well. My pastor for example is one of the greatest gifts to our generation; the grace upon his life is unimaginable. He can see and reveal deep spiritual matters, but he says he is not a prophet. Good beads do not rattle indeed.
Unfortunately, some “men of God” are becoming a disgrace to Christianity, and when I heard one of them say that God has revealed to him that this year’s election is going to be rigged through Proxy and Special Voting in favour of the ruling party, and so the Opposition must wake up in arms, I said to myself, kai, he is slipping coming. But as soon as he said that he has seen in a vision that the EC boss, Madam Charlotte Osei will die through an incurable disease if the NDC wins the 2016 elections, I said to myself, sosket! Things are knocking things!
Anthony Obeng Afrane
