This is a novel of more thoughts than action. The thoughts are those
of an unnamed man about corruption in society in Ghana right after
independence, about the deceit of the politicians who began by telling
the people the white men had to leave, only to get there and squander
the riches of the land in imitation of the lifestyles of the white
people, about the deceived mass of people living in poverty, about
corruption in his own place of work. The simple plot begins with this
man in a bus on his way to work. The man is followed to his boring job
and then home where his wife calls him a fool for turning down a bribe
at the office. He walks out in the night and goes to a solitary friend
for comfort.
His
classmate now a minister is living like a king and his wife and her
mother are impressed. The minister promises the ladies a boat and ends
up actually owning the boat but having them sign the papers. Then there
is a military coup and the honorable minister runs to them a wanted man,
stinking of fear. The main character rushes to his aid without thinking
and assists him to escape through the latrine at the backyard to the
boatman’s house. The escaping man promises the boatman part-ownership of
the boat to have him take him to Abidjan where his wife’s relations
live. As the main man is walking back home he looks at a bus and notices
the inscription on the body,
The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born.
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