Features
Relocating – Living abroad 2
Some persons at the airport
In an earlier article, ‘Relocating’ has been made to seem all-positive and hunky-dory. Several years had gone into strategic and careful planning resulting in the acquisition of a good expatriate package before the journey to be in another’s land from home had begun.
Reasons for relocating may vary, and primarily be spread across the ‘seeking- a-better- life’ spectrum; a better life in a less stressful economic climate, a better life from political and environmental turmoil as in fleeing from wars, famine and diseases; a better life from political, religious and social persecution.
A common denominator in all these is the need to move from where one would usually call home, with set aims and objectives to be achieved in the place of relocation. These reasons are valid in their own rights, in my opinion the people who undertake a relocation are entitled to go wherever in their estimation, their ‘better-life’ will be found.
An observation of ‘Relocators’ brings to the fore two types – those who secure a fair certainty of their lives away from the homeland in terms of acquiring job contracts to those who leave on promises of securing jobs. Outside this bracket are those who leave without any certainty of a contractual source of livelihood; not even a promise. Those who flee war and unsavoury environments, be it for life, health, religion or social reasons are placed on the furthest end of this ‘seeking-a-better-life’ spectrum as no choice is given them really.
The kind of preparation for the first-two types mentioned above are as interesting as they may be varied. For both, years of preparations go into waiting for the most opportune time to take off.
Some preparations apart from the acquisition of knowledge and skills that will be needed for jobs in the new destination, entail a meticulous contact of a network of ‘Agents’ and several individuals, each in competitive businesses ensuring that ‘Relocators’ are assisted in landing in their notion of the ‘Promised Land.’
Sums of money involved in these transactions are eye-watering; not to mention other preparations such as being spiritually, often traditionally as well fortified for such take-offs.
The means of travel is equally diverse. To most citizenry of the ‘Relocators’ home-land, the obvious means of getting to ‘Abrokyire’- the land of the beyond is by air.
However, for various reasons known to the ‘Agents’ of some ‘Relocators’ any means of travel, such as sea, land and rail may conclude the ‘Relocating package’ for their clients.
Is it not indeed whispered that travel on camels’ backs, treks in desserts, bushlands; other such may be resorted to should the need so arise during the course of the ‘Relocator’s journey (?)
As if these unusual means of getting away to far-away lands is not disconcerting enough to the average citizenry, some may well arrive in the ‘Promised Land’ such as the UK, U.S.A. or Germany; parts of the Middle East, the Down Under without having had personal involvements at all with visa proto cols demanded of them from these countries. All such arrangements having been paid for and left in the able hands of ‘Agents.’
So it was that with the above thoughts forming the background of my research in preparation for completing Re-Locating 2, the topic of a Public Lecture at Gresham College, London caught my attention:
The Human Cost of Immigration Detention.
As I sat listening to Dr. Greg Constantine who had taken it upon himself to delve into the lives of people who had had the blunt side of seeking the better life most people relocating sought, the direction of Relocating 2 changed. I realised it would serve a better purpose to open a window through this Part 2 into some of Dr. Greg Constantine’s findings.
For some, the months and years of preparation does not yield the desired results of a good change in economic and other environmental conditions. They land in Immigration Detention Centres-a far cry from the vision of the better lives for which they had prepared themselves, and often times their families.
These Detention Camps were shown in pictures of grey walls spread in desserts, near airports; indeed everywhere-some close enough and within vision of the people in the Promised Land, yet hidden in the view of their busy, bustling lives! In these camps, begin an agonising several months, years, decades; ‘processing’ of their documents-legal or illegal, within which time, the clock ticks unbearably slow. Some lucky ones do enter the Promised Land but get immediately abandoned by their ‘Agents’ leaving them to a blind navigation to their vision of a better life.
My mind wandered to the in famous ‘Boat People’ who get to Europe on dinghies on open seas to France and Britain mainly, some of whom do not ever set foot on solid ground and become mere statistics archived for purposes such as had led me to sit in a lecture hall that Tuesday evening in March 2024.
Indeed, by March 27, 2024 4644 ‘Boat People’ had crossed the English Channel into the UK. This report on Sky News did not give a figure of how many ‘Boat people’ had not made it to dry land.
I wondered also, what could make groups of people with the same objective of seeking a better life find themselves aligned so dif ferently on the ‘Relocating Goals/ Success Spectrum.’
The difficulty with my thoughts lay in my inability to arrive at reasons for their predicament with out having any sense of personal guilt…they like me have the right to seek a better life; they like me have also researched their destinations; their routes on camel backs; dinghies inclusive.
Indeed, most of them in addition to our common modes of preparation had coughed out colossal sums of money I can only dream of to ‘Agents’ as an additional inclusion to their ‘Relocation’ package.
My pondering continues and though I am not concluded yet, all indications point to a failure of a system both in the homelands of relocators and the Promised Land to which their aspirations lay. What kind of system begets citizens desperate enough to want to undertake the crossing of high seas on dinghies, children and babies in tow? Worst still, what kind of system locks such seekers of a Promised Land up in ‘Detention Camps’ of sorts after survival of such traumatic journeys? Where, oh where is humanity?
Alas! My pondering continues…….
By Dzigbordi B-A
Walk into any supermarket in Accra, Kumasi, or Tamale today, and you will see the modern Ghanaian diet packaged as ‘progress.’ You will see breakfast cereals with cartoon mascots, fruit drinks that are mostly sugar and colour, and snacks promising energy and happiness in bright fonts.
Even products loaded with salt and unhealthy fats often wear a health halo labeled as fortified or natural, while the real nutritional risk is hidden in tiny print on the back. This is not just a consumer inconvenience; it is a public health blind spot. Ghana is living through a silent surge of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like hypertension, diabetes, and stroke.
These conditions quietly drain household income and steal productive years. According to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates, NCDs are now responsible for nearly 45 per cent of all deaths in Ghana.
We cannot build a healthy nation on a food environment designed to confuse people at the point of purchase. Ghana must mandate simple front-of-pack warning labels (FOPWL) on high-sugar, high-salt, and high-fat packaged foods because consumers deserve truth at a glance, and industry must be pushed to reformulate.
Why Back-of-Pack Labels Are Not Enough
In theory, consumers can read nutrition panels. In reality, most Ghanaians shop under pressure, limited time, rising prices, and children tugging at their sleeves. The back label is a relic that requires a high cognitive load to interpret—essentially, the seller knows what is inside, but the buyer cannot easily tell.
This ‘information asymmetry’ is not fair. It is not consumer choice when the information needed to choose well is deliberately difficult to find.
Simple warning labels like the black octagons used in the Chilean Model act as a ‘stop-and-think’ nudge. They do not ban products but they simply tell the truth so people can decide.
Reshaping Our Food Environment
A generation ago, Ghana’s meals were mostly home-prepared, like kenkey and banku with soups and stews. Today, ultra-processed foods have become the norm, especially in urban areas. Children are growing up with sugary drinks and salty snacks as everyday items, not occasional treats.
If Ghana is serious about prevention, we must act where decisions are made—thus, the shelf. Warning labels protect parents from sugar traps and pressure the market to improve. When warning labels are mandatory, manufacturers start to compete to make healthier recipes to avoid the stigma of the label.
Addressing the Pushback
Industry will argue that labels create fear or that education alone is enough. However, health education is slow; labels work immediately. While the informal street food sector is a challenge, regulating pre-packaged goods is the practical starting point because the supply chain is traceable. We cannot wait until the whole system is perfect; we must start where action is feasible.
A 2026 Implementation Roadmap for Ghana
To move from talk to action, Ghana needs this 5-step plan:
- Issue mandatory regulation: The Ministry of Health, Food and Drug Authority (FDA), and Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) must define the label format and nutrient thresholds for all pre-packaged foods.
- Simple, bold symbols: Use plain language and clear symbols, such as “HIGH IN SUGAR,” designed for busy families, not experts.
- Transparent thresholds: Adopt technically defensible standards adapted to the Ghanaian diet.
- Transition and enforce: Provide a 12–18 month period for manufacturers to reformulate, followed by firm enforcement at ports and retail centers.
- National literacy campaign: The Ghana Health Service must pair labels with public messages explaining why high salt or sugar increases disease risk.
Conclusion: Truth Is Not a Luxury
Prevention is cheaper than treatment. A warning label costs little compared to the price of dialysis, stroke rehabilitation, or lifelong diabetes complications. A black octagon on a box of biscuits is more than a label; it is a shield for the health of all Ghanaians. It is time to put the truth where we can see it, right on the front.
By Abigail Amoah Sarfo
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Natives of the Kenkey Kingdom were mad with joy. They were still recovering from the hangover of the kingdom’s loss of the African Cup when their spirits were rekindled. Their great warrior, Zoom Zoom, stormed Melbourne and made sure that every Australian refused food. And that was after he had drawn contour lines on the face of their idol, Jeff Fenech.
Not only did the terrible warrior transform Old Boy Jeff’s face into a contour map useful for geography lessons, but he also accomplished the feat of retaining the much-envied super-kenkeyweight title against all odds. The warrior had not been eating hot kenkey for nothing.
The Fight Against Fenech
When Jeff Fenech bit the dust in the eighth round, I was tempted to consider if Adanko Deka could not have faced him in any twelve-rounder, title or non-title bout. Adanko has improved tremendously, and soon he would be facing Pernell Whitaker.
Sincerely, I was pessimistic about Azumah’s man, who the last time took him through twelve grueling rounds of rough boxing. I expressed my fears to my colleague Christian Abbew, alias Gbonyo, who surprisingly had total confidence that the Australian brawler would fall, predictably in Round Five.
Gbonyo gave reasons for his contention, all of which I counteracted using the age factor. Fact is, I didn’t know that contrary to the laws of nature, Azumah was all the time growing younger.
When Fenech fell briefly in round one, I asked my brother whether it was the same Fenech that fought Azumah in Las Vegas. Sure, it was the same Fenech, all out to beat Azumah before his countrymen.
But the African Professor had no intention of making the Australian a hero. As he spun round the desperate Aussie, dancing and stinging out his jabs, it was not too long before I realized that the end was near.
The Eighth Round Showdown
Two minutes into the eighth round, the African ring-master proved to the whole world that he was a true son of Bukom. He himself was cornered, but like the tough nut he is, he managed to break free before overwhelming the panting Australian with several blows that made him crash headlong.
Moments after, the referee, expressing fatherly sympathy, stopped the fight to prevent an obituary. After the ordeal, Fenech’s fairly handsome face was full of newly constructed hills, valleys, ox-bow lakes—whatever. I noticed that his nose was very tired and had a miniature volcano sitting restlessly on it. Obviously, Jeff’s wife will have to nurse that nose back to its normal shape—but I’d advise her not to use iodine, otherwise her dear husband will wail like a banshee.
Reflections on Boxing
Because Mohammed Ali was the kind of boxer kids liked, many school-going kids often entertained the wish of becoming like him. I remember one day when I told my father I wanted to become a boxer, and he advised me to first complete my education to the highest level. Then, if I decided to become a boxer and was knocked out a couple of times, I’d fall back on my degrees and make a living.
Boxing used to be interesting when bouts were fought more with the mouth and tongue than with gloves. You had to brag well, psychologically belittling your opponent before beating him up physically. Mohammed Ali became a very successful pugilist because he also managed to become a poet. He often blew his horn across America, calling himself the “pretty boxer” and opponents like Joe Frazier “the gorilla.”
Ali made a living fighting hard fists like Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Jerry Quarry, George Foreman, Leon Spinks, and Trevor Berbick. Twice he came back from retirement to fight just for money. It was Larry Holmes who finally pensioned him, and since then the great Ali has never been himself.
The Path Ahead for Azumah
When Azumah nailed Jeff Fenech on the cross and barked almost immediately that he was after the head of Pernell Whitaker, I was happy but concerned. I would have been happier if he had announced his resignation there and then—he would have been more of a hero. Beating Fenech in Australia is more newsworthy than facing Whitaker in the States.
With Whitaker, it might be a little difficult. The “Sweet Pea” is agile, has a crooked body like a snake with diarrhea, and stands awkwardly as a southpaw. He is known for having the fastest pair of fists and the rare ability to dodge punches no matter how close they may be.
Much as I do not doubt that Azumah can take his title, I also don’t want him to retire beaten. I want him to retire as a hero and live a fuller, healthy life.
As Azumah himself said after dishing Fenech, he is now a professor and has something to show for it. Like a true professor, I think it is time he resigned and took up training young talents who could draw inspiration from him and become like him in the future.
Closing Thoughts
I must say that although ageing boxers like Larry Holmes and George Foreman are making a name for themselves, boxing is not like the Civil Service, where you can even change your age and retire at 74. Zoom Zoom has delighted the hearts of the natives, and Sikaman will forever hold him in high esteem—but only when he retires as a hero.
This article was first published on Saturday, March 7, 1992.
