I have in my writing life, spanning three decades, probably penned over 1000 articles but if you asked me which has been my best, I will typical of artistes respond that for as long as I breathe, the best is yet to come.
And yet one article I wrote with the headline-MONEY CANNOT HIDE- remains a favourite of many who read it when it was published in the Weekly Spectator in the 80s.
i wish I had a copy to republish it in its original form but I surely remember the essence of that piece.
The idea for the article came from my friend and university mate-Lawyer Emmanuel Ohene, who we fondly called Habib, during one of our numerous conversations.
By all definitions a philosopher and great thinker, who would calmly look at situations and share his wit and wisdom with us, the concept of MONEY CANNOT HIDE, was a comment on how human beings act differently; when they do not have money and, when there is a change in their situation and they have lots of money.
Just consider this. A regular guy who has little cash would tell you he prefers small cars, in those days, the German-made VW Beetle, or the South Korean TICO in recent times.
The same guy would speak volumes about his love for things Ghanaian to justify why he drinks “Akpeteshie”, the locally distilled gin. He would tell you he loves his fufu and banku, two popular Ghanaian dishes, particularly when prepared in a dingy chop bar and show great disdain for “all this foreign food served in hotels”.
For his choice of a home he would exhibit such humility and modesty and swear that he would rather live in a small house than in one of the fancy houses in Labone, Airport Residential Area and these days Trassaco.
He would add when it comes to vacation that his eternal preference is a trip to his holy village or a West African country, Togo or Cote d’Ivoire.
All these preferences he would abide by faithfully until this day when Mother Fortune smiles on him.
From that day, depending on the quantum of his wealth, he will give up his favourite small car and go for a bigger one. He will quickly say farewell to the Akepetshie and graduate to imported drinks, beginning first with Red Label Johnnie Walker Whiskey to higher labels-Gold, Green, Blue and Pink, if there is one at all.
If it is Cognac he will start with Napolean and end up drinking Camus XO.
Our friend will exhibit his new fortune by shifting from normal cigarette to Cuban Cigar, which will become literally part of his identity.
If he once sang praises about how living in Nima, Adabraka, Accra New Town or Ashaiman was close to Heaven, he would now show his new status by relocating to Labone, Spintex Road, East Legon; each relocation telling you that things are getter better.
Of course he will still go to his holy village, this time not by public transport, the bone-shakers that he once loved and glorified, but in his limousine but he will reserve the real fun for travel to London and New York where he will show through his shopping that MONEY CANNOT HIDE.
And when it comes to his choice of women, he would now go for the most expensive who would gladly help him to “chop his money”.
This friend of mine made such a solid defence for “Afro-centrism”, arguing that African ladies should maintain their dignity by avoiding “weave-ons”.
“My idea of beauty is the African lady sporting her natural Afro-hair, either braided or kept free”, he would argue.
He could not afford the expensive Brazilian hairpiece in the range of GHC 500 to GHC1000 and convinced his girlfriend with STAY BLACK AND PROUD jives.
Then he made some bucks and declared his new love and admiration for long-flowing hair, the ones Nigerian Actresses like Stephanie Okereke, Mercy Johnson, Rita Dominic, Genevieve Nnaji and our own Jackie Appiah are famous for.
Our footballers depict most eloquently the theory that MONEY CANNOT HIDE, that money was created to be spent.
Come with me to Weija, Dansoman and Gbawe, where several of our footballers, at the beginning of their careers when they did not have so much money, built their first homes.
Then the money started coming in thousands and in millions, in hard currency, US Dollars and English Pounds Sterling. Then they started going where real cash goes-TRASSACO-which explains why several of our footballers playing abroad have purchased luxurious homes in Trassaco and East Legon.
Weija could not keep their money, the small cars with which they started life, the CARINAS and CAMRIES are discarded for SUVs, Hummers, Bentleys, Porsche, Range Rovers, Audis and all the latest models money can buy.
Almost 30 years after I wrote MONEY CANNOT HIDE, on how people react to poverty and to wealth, the theory still applies. Money is meant to be spent and cannot be hidden.
But I have an addendum to the original theory, which is that sometimes, MONEY MUST HIDE.
For instance politicians who steal from the public purse go to all lengths to hide their ill-gotten wealth. For one thing, the public knows their income and so they cannot openly display their booty the way hardworking guys do.
And so they build houses and cannot openly advertise their new homes. For fear that they will be exposed, they build house and mansions and deny ownership.
Find them around the mansions and they will say- “they belong to my brother abroad, my wife, my cousin, my friend”; when in all such references, both brother and wife as well as the friends and cousins cannot lay claim to the kind of money needed to build palatial homes..
Let them buy a house in the UK or the US and they cannot openly say so, as is proudly done by some hardworking business people I know who have more opulent mansions and are not afraid to show them off.
Swiss banks and other safe havens have indeed become sanctuaries for millions of stolen wealth of politicians from Africa and elsewhere because SOME MONEY MUST HIDE.
Such is the secrecy they cloud around their accounts that the monies often get lost when they pass away.
Money certainly cannot hide, but some Money Must Hide.
I don’t know what Habib will say to this review of the original theory.