In Ghana, it is forbidden to question the source of one’s wealth. It amounts to hate. You did not question his poverty status, why question his wealth – you will be told to your face. So, to avoid being labelled as a jealous person unable to stand the success of others, you confine your thoughts to yourself.
Then you whisper the obvious to your own hearing. It is only when the truth emerges that those who called you names, etc., now begin to beat a cautious retreat. For you, it is not a vindication but a reminder that society must begin to question the sudden wealthy status of individuals. Nobody has said one cannot be successful, far from that. But the reality is that one cannot be doing a business and within a short time, become filthy rich. It is impossible!
For those who win lotteries, it takes time for them to begin to show off their cash. But when you live in a society where integrity means nothing, the overnight wealth of others is celebrated as divine blessings. The nouveau rich becomes the toast of everyone; he occupies the front seat at church meetings, his word at townhall meetings is final, and even in matters where he is not making sense, his views are cherished as gold. Such people are found in almost every profession, especially politics and show business.
The primary school teacher in the community with one car jumps into the political space, gets appointed into office and within a year or so, moves from a two-bedroom modest accommodation to a multimillion-dollar estate in a prime location, and he or she achieves that in less than two years. He or she shows up at a funeral or community engagement surrounded by sunglasses-wearing bodyguards, dips his hands into the car and sprays money without looking back. He is the new voice in town.
All in less than 3 years! He or she buys whatever is on offer and even uses the money to threaten those perceived in the community as enemies. Ironically, this same person had spent more than a decade in a profession and had a car to his name. But the politics of pretentious service has transformed him into a Village Rockefeller, and he is using his wealth to bully everyone in the community, including appropriating peoples’ wives and girlfriends. For the taste in women, they want those who can drain their pockets with elastic joy. Every lavish party must be on social media.
His senses are dead to what the public reaction will be because after all, cash dey. Our Fourth Republican democracy has recorded and keeps recording such characters who suddenly assume some arrogance and fail to appreciate common sense. They demand undivided loyalty from their platoon of worshippers, and whoever disagrees with a position is marked an enemy.
They draw inspiration from rapper Rick Ross’ – we’re talking money all you talk is nonsense, from PSquare’s Beautiful Onyinye song. Money is good but it must be acquired in the right way. The wealthy people in our society did acquire their wealth through grit, so they spend it wisely.
You compare them to our overnight celebrities or so-called influencers who are unable to tame their overnight acquisition of wealth, and you are worried for most young people and who they pick as their role models. I remember when news of the arrest of Mona Faiz Montrage, aka Hajia4Real in the UK. I authored a piece in which I talked about how her source of wealth was whispered in secrets but never spoken about publicly.
Now in the grip of the American justice system for a US$2million romance scam for US court, the Ghanaian socialite, who threw a lavish birthday party to mark her 30th birthday, had attributed her wealth to prudent business deals.
In an interview with one of the country’s networks, she admonished young people to work hard for their money, so they do not become dependent on men. Prior to that advice, in 2019 in another interview, she advised young women to date “rich” guys and not those she termed broke.
“My sister, date a rich guy cuz no man is faithful. It’s better to cry in London than to cry in Obuasi.”
But in a US court document, the curvaceous socialite is alleged to be part of a syndicate operating in West Africa who prey on single men in desperate need of romance. In one of the accusations captured in the document, the singer is said to have benefitted from an amount of more than US$80,000 from one of her love interests.
“As to one victim, MONTRAGE used her real name and spoke to the victim several times by phone. MONTRAGE sent the victim a tribal marriage certificate purporting to show that MONTRAGE and the victim had been married in Ghana. The victim sent MONTRAGE approximately 82 wire transfers totalling approximately US$89,000 to purportedly help with costs associated with MONTRAGE’s father’s farm in Ghana.”
Though she has not been charged with any of the offenses, the charges are pretty weighty and one that somewhat confirms what had long been whispered in private.
I wish her well!
