It was one of those regular days back on campus when you are only three steps away from tipping over the Broke Hill and you are at that snug place where you feel you are entitled to some “me time” (it’s an Oprah thing) And yes, the lecturers can go hang. News came through that a former president of Botswana was coming over for one of Legon’s vainglorious lectures; a compliant devotee of mine and I idled our way to the Great Hall where the debacle was to take place. The aged yet restless Sir Quett Ketumile mounted the podium and spewed what is irreconcilably his account of how Botswana “made it”. It is not his speech I’m hoping to dwell on here but I’ll admit it wasn’t entirely dull. I actually liked him… he seemed a nice guy. The Vice Chancellor took over to do the vote of thanks thing; you know Legon and their unyielding sense of propriety. The VC gave his thanks from the highest to the lowest – the Vice President was the first and then the Chief Justice and a cast of other VIPs who like me, had an afternoon to spare. Each name mentioned got a generous serving of applause, after all, there were refreshments and we were trying hard to make ourselves feel we’ve earned them. After noticeably working his mind to get the hierarchy right, the VC finally recognized JJ who was seated upfront in what I can only call a plebeian chair. JJ rose up courteously to acknowledge his name being mentioned. The applause showered him was in two segments. First, the crowd gave him a doling that was a spot above the average received by the other dignitaries. Then there was an epiphany: this is the great J.J. Rawlings! The crowd then heaved a crescendo that was truly deafening. The Great Hall was aggressively reverberating with bewildering cheers. JJ was moved… he even shadowboxed! I envied him. I couldn’t comprehend the euphoria. The frenzy in the place was suggestive of a rock concert or a World Cup final goal. It got me thinking about JJ, hard and mean. What is it about this guy? The only thing that can get you more unpopular in Africa besides being labeled a witch is to hold public office in the presidency. You would be blamed for anything and everything including but seldom, things you actually did wrong. But after an eighteen years stint in the chairmanship, presidency and whatever else he had, one would think JJ’s image would have been done some brutal damage. But the chap amazingly still has mass appeal, our people like him so much; I strongly think he could win another election if our constitution allows it. JJ’s opposers have not relented in damning the image either. The trouble-monger/dictator image has been hyped for so long; NDC’s think tanks even bought into it and thought it wise to disassociate JJ from their visibly unexciting presidential candidate sometime back. They know better now, they’ve got a separate campaign tour planned for him. But what remains a mystery is what makes JJ so popular even now. Most of those who went gay when they saw him (I’m talking about university students here) at the Great Hall on that blessed day are not even in the know about his past exploits. So we can not directly impute his popularity now to his Guevara-like escapades. Even more interesting is the allegiance people hold to him on a personal note back then and now. Boakye-Djan and his cohorts braved the perils of a militia-brawn era to reprieve him from death row. And there’s a teeming mass that is forever in his defense like the eager legal counsel of an oil-spilling-marine-life-killing oil company that pays its legal fees by the word count. I’m not ignoring the hoards of JJ loathers who indulge in their detestation of him with sporting fervor. It would be ridiculous if they didn’t exist and even more ridiculous if their sentiments are overlooked in this write-up. But the phenomenon of JJ stirring a festive frenzy in people is best addressed with such exceptions respectfully put aside. After all, exceptions don’t make the rule and the applause I saw on that day was almost unanimous (the “big men” didn’t clap). After all, an enquiry into why people go gaga over him is to the best of my memory yet to be done. But I believe we have had occasions on which his most ardent opposers have given themselves forums to express without restraint their extreme dislike of him. So let’s consider this an academic exercise, nothing less, nothing more. In my view, JJ is more than a person. He is more accurately viewed as an institution, a well minded institution for that matter. An institution with either a magic working PR machinery or a God given do-no-evil image that cannot be smirched no matter how much scum is abduced. It’s likely we’ll all consider the latter preposterous, so we shall explore the former. I would however refrain from insulting the intelligence of the model Ghanaian by raising the question of the “oburoni” factor. But we’ll have to factor in the fact that he’s a hunk by most Ghanaian definitions – none of which I personally subscribe to. JJ cleverly portrayed himself as an ordinary railroad worker on the montage for the evening news back in the nineties. His contemporary of similar but sterner circumstances, Mobutu, had an image of himself descending through clouds from the very heavens around the same time. The wisdom in aligning himself to the commoner was ironically discerned at the very heights of the rather intoxicating military power that he basked in. Even the great Machiavelli, by and large, only devised schemes for the manifestly domineering. Though JJ’s strategy is not entirely a novelty, it is one heck of a hand to play in the stirring sport of African politics. It is hard to tell if it is all a charade or indeed JJ is on occasion a wonderful chap. His endearing public performances are always on cue, even his insufferable quirks. He kept an unnecessary cigarette stub behind his ear to look the part of a hustler in the revolutionary times, he descended into foul gutters to embellish the image in democratic times, and he switches between the local dialects with a deceptive proficiency in his often hollow speeches that our people reprehensibly relate to. Amusingly, his political life is yet to be identified with any clear ideologies though there’ve been some leftist romance reported in his camp. The spirited rhetoric that supported his coups is as blurred as his everyday off-the-cuff speeches. I’m not set on discrediting him entirely; he has had some punch lines in his day. But his speechifying ability is not exactly his “cute” factor, especially when his audience is an enlightened bunch. JJ is however good at stoking the boiler of public optimism, what you call populist politicking. He is naturally too gidigidi and easygoing to be misconstrued as arrogant, so he has a lot going for him when it comes to effortlessly keeping up the image of a leader/servant who is in tune with the people’s plight. He speaks the everyday guy’s parlance with an unrivaled distinction and he emotes just enough passion to make his wholesale political glib sound heartfelt. The last time Shaka Ssali was in town he tried getting the other John into acknowledging that JJ did the wheels of democracy a favor by bowing out without the usual African theatrics. The other John was adamant. I agree with Shaka’s assertion and I’m personally grateful to JJ for that. It was very much within his power to forego the Castle eviction notice served him; and that is a fact! So there is an element of political charity in him that is also commendable. This attribute of his was tauntingly extended to Dr. Limann but it is nonetheless the very pillar upon which our teenage democracy is consolidated. Clearly, his actions and inactions during the revolutionary times are an unfading blotch on our growing yarn of political history. But he is perhaps the single most influential leader we’ve had since Nkrumah, references and inferences well noted. His popularity is perhaps his due. And so have many others their due; a due that is theirs like the honor of a maiden, unenlightened. Respect is a two-way highway with no speed checks. The right to dissent is as fundamental as the right to partake in oxygen. But the right to RESENT is however premised on a near feral instinct to respond. So let’s keep it within limits. Let’s take time to choose our language. There’s a conspicuous line that needs not be crossed.