The Gossip

By Emmanuel Yartey

Owusu Kwakwa, the protagonist in the novel, is not an honest man. He is a Politician and thrives on Gossip, lies, and deceit to achieve his ends. He has no iota of sympathy in all those he comes in contact with when it comes to deals that bring socio-economic and political benefits. Owusu Kwakwa's habitual gossip and greed prompt him to organize

• Language: English
• Publisher: Writers Publishing House
• Release date: Dec 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781648731464

Emmanuel Yartey

Emmanuel Yartey was born in Ghana. He is currently a freelance journalist in Accra. This is his first novel.

Book preview

Chapter One:

A Story of Two Evils

O

ver the years, life hadn’t been easy for him at all. It was extremely difficult with his family of five to make ends meet. Owusu Kwakwa’s clothes were always old and in tatters. They lived in a cottage with a thatched roof belonging to his deceased senior brother, Ofori Kwakwa at Bantsiman. The late Ofori Kwakwa remained a bachelor till he died at the age of fifty. Owusu Kwakwa, forty-eight years of age, was by nature not industrious. His late brother, who was a cobbler by profession, tried fruitlessly to lure him into his vocation, hoping that with time he’d also take the profession as his vocation. However, what Owusu Kwakwa appreciated doing for a living was to gossip about people laced with sweet talks, always brainwashing little minds with cheeky ease, and they listened to his lies with a sense of spiritual fervor.

Kwakwa was an old gossipmonger, he received petty favors from the many gossipy people he went about fooling daily. Owusu Kwakwa’s true followers were: Sunday Sumaila, a forty-year-old plump man, gullible and timid but not lazy. For instance, he always said if he’d multiple job opportunities at a go, he’d try tirelessly to engage the employers to arrive at a consensus which would make it possible for him to work for all his employers on a different hourly basis, daily. And so, at the end of the day, working for all those employers, it shall then enable him to be receiving good pay packets at the end of every month for his creature comfort. Kwame Kakabo was a hunter, bearded; six feet six inches tall, stout, and a glutton. He ate any kind of food under the sun and glorified them anytime he ate to his fill. However, he ignorantly continued to accuse God of making death a natural part of human life. Why should he die and leave behind all the palatable foods? He believed God made a serious mistake on the phenomenon of death by introducing the greatest monster ever in the affairs of humanity.

Dzifa Yomekpe was the carefree type. She was a buffoon who didn’t know when to be serious at a particular point in time to do some serious thinking a little. She believed there were intelligent people out there whose job it was to think for persons like her; the weaker souls as she’d been referring to. Dzifa naturally had a flat stomach; slim in structure; ate a lot of food daily, but the flatness of her stomach remained constant. Awo Yaa Asante was the kind who respected those who assisted her in whatever form daily, but immediately those benefactors missed a day to shower the freebies on her, she descended heavily on them. She demonized them and resorted to assassinating their characters through gossiping.

Ashorkor Nortey was taciturn by nature. She could stay for a whole week or more without talking to anybody. She normally stayed indoors. She was a very dangerous and venomous young lady if provoked; twenty-five years of age. She was fond of contacting witch doctors, sorcerers, oracles, and spirits of the underworld to harm or destroy those who offended her on a variety of issues. She led an abstemious life. Laryea Korney, corpulent and bald-headed; he didn’t trust anybody including his master Owusu Kwakwa. But he was a very corrupt person among his colleagues. However, Owusu Kwakwa topped them all concerning corruption. He was a gossip, liar, cheat, miser, and an extremely jealous person.

Kankani Nuhu was the quick-tempered type. He was always upset by what someone had said about him and was almost always engaged in physical fights with people, an act which could have been avoided by any tolerant person. He’d enough courage because of his huge body structure, and so he went about fighting physically his so-called offenders. Owusu Kwakwa’s wife, Esi Atta – Mensah, was a head porter

and his four sons were all commercial truck pushers. Their job demanded that they had physical strength for them to endure them. But their daily wages were a mere pittance. His children in the order of seniority were: Anane, 26; Kwakye, 24; Amankwah, 22; and Ntim, 20. Owusu Kwakwa was also a friend to the chief and elders in the palace. And so, by virtue of his relationship with the power brokers in the village, any falsehood that he peddled was believed and taken as gospel by his many gullible friends. He targeted his perceived enemies and even friends alike and gossiped about them. For Owusu Kwakwa, gossiping was a serious business as well as a hobby.

As usual, he’d say, I’ve got some juicy gossip for you. It’s the latest gossip and very powerful than an atomic bomb. Owusu Kwakwa told one of his acolytes, Sunday Sumaila, drawing himself closer to him to feed him with his gossip and looking around with his eyes moving very fast in all directions. "Have you heard that Nana Kwame Opoku, the successful large-scale farmer, will be divorced pretty soon by his wife, Ama Pokuaa, because she’d discovered that he acquired his money from the queen of the mermaids?

My brother, I mean queen of the mermaids. This can’t be taken for a joke. He shook his head three times and looked in the sky. In fact, they also say he’s planning to use his wife as a sacrifice for additional money. This is more serious!"

He feigned trembling with fear and pretended to be crying. My brother, so you see what many of these so-called rich and wealthy men and women in this community deal in, for their affluent lifestyles? I tell you what, I don’t envy them a bit.

Again, a credible source, which I don't like to disclose to you now, told me that he saw him at night last week Wednesday, standing under that mahogany tree and a python was vomiting brand new Ghana cedis in bundles on his feet. Owusu Kwakwa opened his eyes wide and held his chin. Can you imagine? How much money does Nana Kwame Opoku want in this world before he becomes satisfied? I mean, he’s indeed a greedy pig, too materialistic! Why?

Frightened to his bone marrow, Sunday Sumaila held Owusu Kwakwa’s shoulders firmly, Gosh! Nana Kwame Opoku deals with such dangerous spirits? He continued looking around as if he was mindful someone was eavesdropping on him. It means that man is capable of doing anything to satisfy his self-aggrandizement. Hei, then he’s very dangerous and callous. We’re not safe! Not safe at all in this village!

But he’s always nice to everyone and also a reserved taciturn. Sunday stood akimbo and stared at Owusu Kwakwa. Allah! What then is Nana up to? I mean…I mean…I mean, he’s an unpleasant person who cannot be trusted, a lousy, two-timing snake in the grass. Can I deal with that man? Well, I’ll continue to monitor him and see whether he’ll turn over a new leaf.

My friend, don’t be deceived by Nana Kwame Opoku’s pretense of an angel. Owusu Kwakwa said with scorn and anger. Never be carried away by his habitual falsities. He’s an old fox…!

Oh, just last week, he promised me a job on his cocoa farm as a farmhand. And I was very elated because I thought I was about to gain a permanent job.

Ha! Haa!! Haaa!!! Sunday Sumaila, do you also want to be used as a sacrificial lamb? Don’t you cherish your life? Look here, let your grey old matter function the normal way, and don’t be silly!

Indeed, you’ve imparted wisdom to me. I won’t make that mistake; otherwise, it will be a tragedy of monstrous proportions.

Owusu Kwakwa needed to plan for his future life because things were becoming very difficult. He couldn’t make ends meet and so he told Sunday Sumaila that he’d an important matter to deal with, and that he’d get in touch with Sunday pretty soon adding, I’m repeating, Nana Kwame Opoku is a very dangerous man to deal with. If you disregard my advice, you’ll die prematurely, trust me.

Similarly, Owusu Kwakwa had already destroyed the image of Sunday Sumaila to Nana Kwame Opoku the day before, that Sunday told him (Owusu Kwakwa) all the wicked things he’d rather told Sunday Sumaila about his dealings with mermaids, multiplicities of evil spirits, and the so-called Ama

Reviews for The Gossip

[Emmanuel Yartey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

After reading it, you still want to continue reading. It is full of suspense.