Yes I have listened to the tape…the infamous leaked recording of Victoria Lakshimi Hammah.Mine played for just over 33 minutes and it was, indeed cringe worthy. The entire saga now popularly known as Vikileaks has been thoroughly discussed in the media and it is what is definitely trending on twitter with respect to local politics. Not to sound like an annoying headmaster but what lessons have been learnt from Vikileaks?

With all the brouhaha (I just had to use that word somewhere) going on about Miss Hammah, one wonders what really went wrong. Until last year’s outside student politics, very little was known about Miss Hammah.

She had a stint on the program “Real Talk”, and was described by some viewers as ‘hot’. So how did this bulging bosomed and cantilevered buttocks politician rise so fast and fall so hard?

Many pundits in politics would say the writings were on the wall. To be honest the path to success was a tad too easy for Miss Hammah; Student politics, crappy talk show, failed MP bid and then a reward for donning the NDC colours as Deputy Minister of Communications.

 

I watched her vetting and she got my attention, not because of her wit or looks but because of her religion. I recall that she said she was a

member of the Hare Krishna movement. I told myself I am going to watch that one. The media had a field day a few months ago, urging President Mahama

to sack Miss Hammah with respect to an outburst she made concerning her speech. She showed how immature she was when she blamed her

surbodinates for not giving her the right edited speech. She then proceeded to talk extempore, I think mainly to appear smart to the

public. Whatever shenanigans she was up to, it backfired because

the media begun to hound her ass. A news item, which appeared on Ghanaweb.com dated Saturday, August 10, 2013 and titled “Mahama must sack Victoria Hammah – MP,” one Dr. Kwabena Twum Nuamah, the New Patriotic Party Member of Parliament for Berekum East in the Brong Ahafo Region, referred to the saga as “immaturity and incompetence.”

That was President Mahama’s cue to send his deputy Minister to Sorbibor and bring her back when the heat was down, totally repackaged. Sadly, the opportunity was lost.

Back to Wikileaks, which is essentially the rantings of Miss Hammah, throwing one Rachel Apoh under the bus. Mind you, it is a private conversation, and Miss. Hammah says the most uncharitable things

about Rachel with abandon. She says “people are ambitious and do not read…”, she talks of Rachel about how she should lower her ego, she says the lady has no pedigree (whatever that means), then she talks about how it is not on to fight your Minister(boss) and makes reference to it being like throwing pebbles to the giant. The two most talked about portions are the parts where she says

“..If I haven’t made a million dollars, I wouldn’t go and attack people. If you have money then you can control people”. Many people have construed that to mean she intended to make $1million in office, the answer to that, is as a budding politician she probably did.

How many people do not rush into politics to make money, or are there actually still people who rush into politics because they care about the motherland and it tears their hearts apart that nothing good is being done by Government. This is not a new gem of information unknown by the public.

Miss Hammah goes on and on, talking about what Rachel should do or not do. She even goes on that the public perception about her, Rachel and another politician is that they are not too smart.

On another portion of the tape, Miss Hammah refers to Nana Oye Lithur, the Minister of Gender Childeren and Social Protection as working hard for the NDC party and being with the judges before the

judgment. If one listens to Miss Hammah carefully, one realizes the trend of whining and exaggeration throughout the recording. She is no doubt a puerile, self conceited, egoistical creature. She goes on at

length in her “Letter to Rachel” as if reading from her time tested playbook. The recording only brings to light a newbie’s struggle in a political system which can be a cold, cruel and an unusual terrain.

For a 32 year old who had tried to contest a hot seat and lost, Miss Hammah may have had a bright chance 100 blunders down the road. President Mahama should have given her the opportunity to resign and let her have a

better chance in this tough game of politics. Many have done much worse and Miss Hammah refers to Dr. Anane under President Kuffour (JAK) . The difference here is that JAK was not taking a lot of heat as JM is.

What this means for JM is that  he should not just reward anyone who dons the NDC colour and loses an election, there are a plethora of talents to choose from. The case of Miss. Hammah who is about the same age as

Jerry John Rawlings was when he first tasted power, shows that one has to be circumspect and even choose their audience widely…trust no one in politics; the Judas Iscariot here was apparently a driver (a cousin).

General Acheapong is noted for making coded, long conversations; his reference to the behinds of womean as collateral and his refusal to write many things on paper that could incriminate him, are lessons to learn if one aspires to go to great heights in politics. Victoria Hammah was a disaster waiting to happen but she did not deserve to be sacked, she should have been repackaged and released onto the unsuspecting public in the future.

Rachel Apoh must be having her last laugh at Miss Hammah herself having failed to follow lines from her own playbook. As they say it is hard to feel sorry for a rich girl drinking champagne on a yacht, especially one aspiring for $1 million. All the best to Miss Hammah we will miss her sorry ass.