Features
The aged needs respect, not this type of evil branding by youth
A story published on page 3 of the state-owned Spectator newspaper of Saturday July 29, 2023, with the headline, “Aged not evil… Disrespecting them attracts curses – Catholic Priest” makes for interesting reading. The story written by Dzifa Tetteh Tay read in part: The youth have been advised to treat their parents with respect, especially in their old age. “Do not call your parents witches,” the Parish Priest of the Saint Augustine Catholic Church at Ashaiman in the Greater Accra Region, Reverend Father Ignatius Ayivor (SVD), gave the caution at a church service on Sunday.
Accusing the aged as witches
He said it was appalling that persons who had been blessed to grow old were accused of being witches and being the cause of problems in their homes. Speaking at a joint First and Second Mass on Sunday, he said that persons who maltreated the aged only drew curses for themselves. He lamented that instead of children reciprocating the sacrifices made by their parents in appreciation of their care and love, some old persons were unfortunately, facing serious discrimination, stressing that the practice was becoming a common phenomenon which to him must be discouraged. Old age, he said “is a blessing which not everyone will enjoy”, adding that some old men and women were struggling because their children had neglected them. He said such act would not gounpunished by God, so all children must endeavour to take good care of their parents.
COUNSELING BY REV. MINISTER
Indeed, these are profound statements, words of exhortation and counselling from a reverend minister who have observed and done a research on bad and negative treatment being meted out to people who have one- time tasted life and are now in their advanced age. Some of them might be personalities possess¬ing enormous wisdom and intellectual abilities to advance the course of development in our society. Others have used their rich experience during their youthful age to shape our society and now they are being branded witches and wizards by the youth, some of whom happened to be their own biological parents. That is most painful and unfortunate scenario.
This article will not be complete if I fail to dilate on issues regarding the aged and why there is the need for the younger generation to revere and accord them the necessary and needed respect in the society since they are the repository of wisdom. An older person is defined by the United Nations as someone who is over 60 years of age. However, families and communities often use other socio-cultural factors to define age, including family status, physical appearance or age-related health conditions to determine who is an aged.
WHAT CONSTITUTES AGEING?
Ageing is a gradual, continuous process of natural change that begins in early adulthood. During early middle age, many bodily functions begin to gradually decline. Traditionally, age 65 years has been designated as beginning of old age. Common conditions in older age may include hearing loss, cataracts and refractive errors in the eye, back and neck pain and osteoarthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, diabetes, depression and dementia. As people aged, they are more likely to experience several conditions at the same time. It is generally accepted that damage to genetic materially cells and tissues that accumulate with age which cannot be repaired by the body is the cause of the loss of function associated with ageing.
AGEING IS OF ESSENCE
As humans created by the Almighty God, you cannot avoid getting old at some point in life and that is what we need to understand, recognise and appreciate. As a youth with enough strength, all things being equal without sickness or any ailment that can send you to your grave early or prematurely, you will by all means pass through the various stages of life’s cycle. You will be an infant, toddler, adolescent, adult, middle age and finally old age. The last stage of the life cycle is termed the end-end-of life period, that is when the body system shut down and death is eminent. You do not turn into a witch or wizard at this stage in life, since it is a normal routine that you will one day become old at a point in time. Therefore, for someone who is close to you, a family member, your old blood relation or your own child to brand you a witch or wizard means that person is inviting a curse to himself or herself as the Holy Bible preaches.
Attacks on the aged
It is most unfortunate that parents who have sacrificed to look after their children by ensuring their up-keep and spending a lot to give them better and sound education only turned out to be witches and wizards for the fact that they have grown old. As soon as one starts growing grey hair, he or she automatically becomes a nuisance and evil to the child or the family. Peer pressures from friends among the youth have been contributory factors to some of these negative inclinations.
Showing courtesy and respect to the aged often referred to as senior citizens may not only brighten their day but also yours and can earn you more blessings from the Almighty God. It is important for the youth to always respect our elders, help them in their work, spend some of their time with them, talk to them in a more polite manner, respect their wise counseling and above all show them your love and affection at all times. Sometimes, it can be difficult to relate to the generations that have come before us. Growing up in different circumstances can make us feel as if we have nothing common with them. But, let us not forget that older people have plenty and lots of wisdom and knowledge to share with younger generations and, therefore, treating them with respect should be an ideal thing to do by the youth.
How the aged are held in high esteem
In most jurisdictions across the world, especially in Europe, Asia and the Americas, the aged are held in high esteem, they are highly respected and accorded all the courtesies they deserved to have. Even in public transportation, such as buses and trains, special seats have been reserved to accommodate the aged. In most of their shopping centres, special places have been designated for the aged for their shopping activities. Food rations on daily basis, are provided to the aged to make them feel comfortable and happy. The aged enjoys the fruit of their labour and hard work because they are considered as people who have one time served their countries. Is that the case in Ghana? The answer is big no. We rather prefer to look down on them, vilify them and treat them with the contempt by brand¬ing them with all forms of negativities, such as witches and wizards.
Lukewarm attitudes by govern¬ments
While blaming the youth for various forms of negativities and cruel practices against the older generation and for that matter the aged, it is also important to at least criticise various past and present governments of Ghana for the lukewarm attitudes and also not giving the needed attention to the aged in the society, forgetting that most of them have sacrificed for the betterment of the country. Look at what happened recently when some of the aged have to picket at the Ministry of Finance headquarters in Accra, just to fight for their matured bonds which government was feeling reluctant to pay. Was it not a threat to their survival? Some of them have to trek from far and near to picket daily at the Finance Ministry. It was time subsequent governments in our country set good and shining examples concerning the aged for the youth to emulate.
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By Charles Neequaye
Features
Tears of Ghanaman, home and abroad
The typical native of Sikaman is by nature a hospitable creature, a social animal with a big heart, a soul full of the milk of earthly goodness, and a spirit too loving for its own comfort.
Ghanaman hosts a foreign pal and he spends a fortune to make him very happy and comfortable-good food, clean booze, excellent accommodation and a woman for the night.
Sometimes the pal leaves without saying a “thank you but Ghanaman is not offended. He’d host another idiot even more splendidly. His nature is warm, his spirit benevolent. That is the typical Ghanaian and no wonder that many African-Americans say, “If you haven’t visited Ghana. Then you’ve not come to Africa.
You can even enter the country without a passport and a visa and you’ll be welcomed with a pot of palm wine.
If Ghanaman wants to go abroad, especially to an European country or the United States, it is often after an ordeal.
He has to doze in a queue at dawn at the embassy for days and if he is lucky to get through to being interviewed, he is confronted by someone who claims he or she has the power of discerning truth from lie.
In short Ghanaman must undergo a lie-detector test and has to answer questions that are either nonsensical or have no relevance to the trip at hand. When Joseph Kwame Korkorti wanted a visa to an European country, the attache studied Korkorti’s nose for a while and pronounced judgment.
“The way I see you, you won’t return to Ghana if I allow you to go. Korkorti nearly dislocated her jaw; Kwasiasem akwaakwa. In any case what had Korkorti’s nose got to do with the trip?
If Ghanaman, after several attempts, manages to get the visa and lands in the whiteman’s land, he is seen as another monkey uptown, a new arrival of a degenerate ape coming to invade civilized society. He is sneered at, mocked at and avoided like a plague. Some landlords abroad will not hire their rooms to blacks because they feel their presence in itself is bad business.
When a Sikaman publisher landed overseas and was riding in a public bus, an urchin who had the impudence and notoriety of a dead cockroach told his colleagues he was sure the black man had a tail which he was hiding in his pair of trousers. He didn’t end there. He said he was in fact going to pull out the tail for everyone to see.
True to his word he went and put his hand into the backside of the bewildered publisher, intent on grabbing his imaginary tail and pulling it out. It took a lot of patience on the part of the publisher to avert murder. He practically pinned the white miscreant on the floor by the neck and only let go when others intervene. Next time too…
The way we treat our foreign guests in comparison with the way they treat us is polar contrasting-two disparate extremes, one totally incomparable to the other. They hound us for immigration papers, deport us for overstaying and skinheads either target homes to perpetrate mayhem or attack black immigrants to gratify their racial madness
When these same people come here we accept them even more hospitably than our own kin. They enter without visas, overstay, impregnate our women and run away.
About half of foreigners in this country do not have valid resident permits and was not a bother until recently when fire was put under the buttocks of the Immigration Service
In fact, until recently I never knew Sikaman had an Immigration Service. The problem is that although their staff look resplendent in their green outfit, you never really see them anywhere. You’d think they are hidden from the public eye.
The first time I saw a group of them walking somewhere, I nearly mistook them for some sixth-form going to the library. Their ladies are pretty though.
So after all, Sikaman has an Immigration Service which I hear is now alert 24 hours a day tracking down illegal aliens and making sure they bound the exit via Kotoka International. A pat on their shoulder.
I am glad the Interior Ministry has also realised that the country has been too slack about who goes out or comes into Sikaman.
Now the Ministry has warned foreigners not to take the country’s commitment to its obligations under the various conditions as a sign of weakness or a source for the abuse of her hospitality.
“Ghana will not tolerate any such abuse,” Nii Okaija Adamafio, the Interior Minister said, baring his teeth and twitching his little moustache. He was inaugurating the Ghana Refugee and Immigration Service Boards.
He said some foreigners come in as tourists, investors, consultants, skilled workers or refugees. Others come as ‘charlatans, adventurers or plain criminals. “
Yes, there are many criminals among them. Our courts have tried a good number of them for fraud and misconduct.
It is time we welcome only those who would come and invest or tour and go back peacefully and not those whose criminal intentions are well-hidden but get exposed in due course of time.
This article was first published on Saturday March 14, 1998
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Features
Decisions have consequences
In this world, it is always important to recognise that every action or decision taken, has consequences.
It can result in something good or bad, depending on the quality of the decision, that is, the factors that were taken into account in the decision making.
The problem with a bad decision is that, in some instances, there is no opportunity to correct the result even though you have regretted the decision, which resulted in the unpleasant outcome.
This is what a friend of mine refers to as having regretted an unregretable regret. After church last Sunday, I was watching a programme on TV and a young lady was sharing with the host, how a bad decision she took, had affected her life immensely and adversely.
She narrated how she met a Caucasian and she got married to him. The white man arranged for her to join him after the marriage and processes were initiated for her to join her husband in UK. It took a while for the requisite documentation to be procured and during this period, she took a decision that has haunted her till date.
According to her narration, she met a man, a Ghanaian, who she started dating, even though she was a married woman.
After a while her documents were ready and so she left to join her husband abroad without breaking off the unholy relationship with the man from Ghana.
After she got to UK, this man from Ghana, kept pressuring her to leave the white man and return to him in Ghana. The white man at some point became a bit suspicious and asked about who she has been talking on the phone with for long spells, and she lied to him that it was her cousin.
Then comes the shocker. After the man from Ghana had sweet talked her continuously for a while, she decided to leave her husband and return to Ghana after only three weeks abroad.
She said, she asked the guy to swear to her that he would take care of both her and her mother and the guy swore to take good care of her and her mother as well as rent a 3-bedroom flat for her. She then took the decision to leave her husband and return to Ghana.
She told her mum that she was returning to Ghana to marry the guy in Ghana. According to her, her mother vigorously disagreed with her decision and wept.
She further added that her mum told her brother and they told her that they were going to tell her husband about her intentions.
According to her, she threatened that if they called her husband to inform him, then she would commit suicide, an idea given to her by the boyfriend in Ghana.
Her mum and brother afraid of what she might do, agreed not to tell her husband. She then told her husband that she was returning to Ghana to attend her Grandmother’s funeral.
The husband could not understand why she wanted to go back to Ghana after only three weeks stay so she had to lie that in their tradition, grandchildren are required to be present when the grandmother dies and is to be buried.
She returned to Ghana; the flat turns into a chamber and hall accommodation, the promise to take care of her mother does not materialise and generally she ends up furnishing the accommodation herself. All the promises given her by her boyfriend, turned out to be just mere words.
A phone the husband gave her, she left behind in UK out of guilty conscience knowing she was never coming back to UK.
Through that phone and social media, the husband found out about his boyfriend and that was the end of her marriage.
Meanwhile, things have gone awry here in Ghana and she had regretted and at a point in her narration, was trying desperately to hold back tears. Decisions indeed have consequences.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’
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