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| Why Akofa Cried |
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| Posted on: 2007-Jul-08 Times |
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The Spectator called Akofa Adjeani this week because we thought that two years of silence in the life of any big artist is unacceptably long.
We should have gone there with handkerchiefs and a camera. What was designed to be a 30 minute interview lasted nearly two hours.
For upwards of 30 minutes we sat by the stunningly beautiful actress-turned-restauranteur watching her wipe tears silently falling from those soft dark eyes.
A few curious ones among diners enjoying their Ghanaian dishes at her Falis Hot Spot (location: Kanda Estates), occasionally threw suspicious glances in our direction, and I tried to warn Akofa, but she was inconsolable.
What had triggered the tears? It was a harmless question. The Spectator had regrettably assumed that in Ghana, the easiest way to start a conversation in Ghana was to talk about political parties. So we asked harmlessly which of the political parties she belonged to.
She started well. "Hey! Ghana? I beg-o, I don’t belong to any party. Since 1992, I vote on issues. And ever since I opened this restaurant, it has even been more imperative to be absolutely neutral. People are petty in this country. You can easily lose fans or clientele! Before 2000 I was branded an NPP sympathiser because of my association with some of the NPP stalwarts. I lost fans. Today the story has changed: I have been branded NDC, so I am losing clients. People shun my restaurant."
Why?
She explained: "I guess it’s because since NDC left office, some of them, including Kwame Peprah had been coming here to eat. It all began with a visit to her restaurant by a friend who happened to be a popular NDC man. He found the food good, especially the Ghanaian dishes. The next time I saw, he had brought more people, some of them known NDC faces, others unknown to me. That was all."
But Akofa insists that she has NPP stalwarts, also, as friends. I insisted that she name names. "Ho, plenty," she said after a very long uncomfortable pause. "Nana Akomea used to come here regularly. Hawa Yakubu was regular here before her illness and eventual death…" Here, her voice started to break and she kept clearing her throat. When she found her voice again, she resumed the list…."Dan Botwe is a friend. He comes here, Kofi Ameyaw, MP for Asuogyaman). He is very regular..." That is when she broke down.
Akofa eventually regained her composure. The real interview then began. And there was another round of tears. Why? Because "since time immemorial, governments have promised but have never fulfilled the promise to take good care of artistes, in general, especially actors and actress."
That was one. The other one was the collapse of the film industry in Ghana, because of lack of funds, and mostly because "the industry has been taken over by trash and film marketers who have turned themselves into film makers."
For more on that, don’t miss your Spectator next week.
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