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KIA: An aberration of the highest order (Part 1)
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When a man fathers a child, he names it after himself. In African culture, even when the father or grandfather dies, their progeny are named after them to preserve their revered ancestry. Their descendants are not named after strangers. There could be an exception to the rule if a stranger were acclaimed by members of the naming family as having benefited the family in a way deemed worthy of immortalising.
Then, the stranger’s name could be adopted into that family’s heritage. Otherwise, it is an aberration to name somebody’s baby after another person who is not the father, more so if that stranger had some character defects. It is an abominable paradox. It is a misnomer.
Talking of naming reminds me of another scenario in Ghana, where it is common practice to name foreigners as “Nkosuorhene,” that is, “Development chief” because of their contribution to the upliftment of a particular community. These “strangers” are invited from their countries of origin and enstooled with regalia, traditional name, and all, and paraded through the streets to outdoor them.
Sometimes, in the euphoria of celebrating these foreign helpers, tradition is even broken. For instance, these “chiefs” may be carried in a palanquin which is meant for only the overlord of the beneficiary community. But who cares? They deserve all the encomiums.
Not so with the case of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the man who led the struggle for Ghana’s independence and helped the country to shake off the heavy yoke of colonialism. The Akans have a proverb that says: “W’annyi me ay3 a, enns3e me din,” which loosely translates to: “If you would not praise me,(for all I have done), do not malign me.”For all Nkrumah did for Ghana in record time, they gave him a bad name and hanged him. The Western world with whom he dared to compete in terms of industrialisation, branded him a communist and encouraged his own countrymen like Lt. General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka to depose him from office.
What was his crime? Apart from being charged with practising communism, Nkrumah’s stature was growing at breakneck speed among freedom fighters all over the world who saw him as their go-to person as they looked for inspiration to break free from the yoke of colonialist subordination.
Besides, his “dangerous” rhetoric about the selfish ambitions of the Western powers, his continuous bashing of them, his name-calling such as exploiters, imperialists, and neo-colonialists, did not sit well with them. Furthermore, his concrete efforts to unite all of Africa to enable the continent to present a united front against the intention of the Western powers to call the shots and keep Africa in perpetual subjugation, were too threatening to ignore.
Amidst the tension, Nkrumah published a book: Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism, shunned economic policies prescribed by the IMF in May 1965, and proceeded with his own mission to develop Ghana the way he thought best for the country. That means he refused to collaborate with the West in his development plan because he did not see them as helpers but exploiters. His stout stance caused diplomatic relations with the West to deteriorate further.
To the Western powers led by the US, Nkrumah was becoming too much of a pain in the neck. Consequently, they planned to eliminate him and found ready accomplices in Kotoka, who was a Lt. Colonel at the time and his gang. Other co-conspirators were Major Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa, Lt. General Ankrah from the army, and from the police, Mr. J.W.K. Harlley, the Inpector General of Police and Mr. A.K. Deku, his deputy.
Irrefutable evidence abounds implicating Kotoka and his henchmen in cahoots with clandestine saboteurs like America’s CIA and M16, their British equivalent, to undermine Ghana’s rapid move towards industrial growth and prosperity. And what were they promised? Listen to what Robert W. Komer, one of the operatives on the ground told President Lyndon B. Johnson after the coup succeeded:
“Nkrumah was doing more to undermine our interests than any other black African. In reaction to his strongly pro-Communist leanings, the new military regime is almost pathetically pro-Western. The point of this memo is that we ought to follow through skillfully and consolidate such successes. A few thousand tons of surplus wheat or rice, given now when the new regimes are quite uncertain as to their future relations with us, could have a psychological significance out of all proportion to the cost of the gesture. I am not arguing for lavish gifts to these regimes—indeed, giving them a little only whets their appetites, and enables us to use the prospect of more as leverage.”What a shame!
In collaboration with those clandestine organisations, they staged the first military coup d’etat that led to a domino effect precipitating ripples across Africa. For one thing, as a trailblazer, when Ghana sneezes, the rest of Africa catches cold. Even though Togo organised the first coup in sub-Saharan Africa in 1962, followed by Nigeria in 1966, Ghana’s participation made it more “attractive” for others to join the bandwagon.
Between 1962 and 1967, there were 15 coups in Africa. Even now, see what is happening in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Chad. The military in these countries have all overthrown democratically elected governments, some twice or more.
That brings me back to what I was saying earlier about the proper way to name babies. The current name of Ghana’s premier airport: Kotoka International Airport, (KIA) is strange, misplaced, and improper. The simple reason is that the airport is one of the maiden projects of Dr. Nkrumah following the attainment of independence and, therefore, it is his baby. For that matter, its current name is unacceptable, inappropriate, and utterly amiss.
Remember what I said from the outset, that babies are not named after people with character defects, and Kotoka’s record is there for all to see. His name is that of a traitor who conspired with foreign powers to halt Ghana’s quick march towards greatness. Why then should Ghana’s premier airport be named after Kotoka for all his sabotage? If you did not understand what it meant to add insult to injury, this is a typical example.
Originally, the airport was a military landing strip used by the British Royal Air Force during the Second World War. After the war, the facility was handed over to the British civilian authorities. On March 21, 1952, Dr. Nkrumah became Prime Minister of the Gold Coast before the country’s name was changed to Ghana. He hit the road running because he realised that the British were only interested in exploiting Ghana’s rich mineral resources with no commitment to the prosperity of the country. Even the airport was left just as it was – a military base.
To ensure a rapid transformation of the country, President Nkrumah drew a master plan spearheaded by massive infrastructural development. Among his plan was a redevelopment project to restructure the military base into an international airport with a commensurate terminal building. He launched the project in 1956 and got it completed in 1958. The airport which initially had a capacity of 500,000 passengers per year, was originally named Accra International Airport.
With incredible ingenuity and leadership, Nkrumah proceeded with other aspects of his enormous development agenda, embarking on projects whose magnitude, variety and pace were unmatched elsewhere in Africa. Within a short time, he completed projects such as the Tema township and industrial area, Tema Harbour, Tema Oil Refinery, Tema Motorway to link the port city with Accra, the Akosombo Hydro-Electric Dam, and the expansion of the old Takoradi harbour for the exportation of Ghana’s raw materials such as cocoa, timber, coffee, and rubber among others. What about the Ghana Atomic Energy Programme at Kwabenya, Accra? All these were geared towards the rapid industrialisation and transformation of the country.
But alas! That was not to be. The trajectory of progress took a downward spiral. Ghana, Africa’s rising star, was shot from the sky and made to tumble down to earth. On February 24, 1966, while Dr. Nkrumah was away to Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam on a peace mission to seek an end to Vietnam’s war with the US, Kotoka and his cohorts staged Ghana’s first coup, a bloody one for that matter, and ousted the President from office.
For Kotoka and his gang to sell their conscience to an organisation working against Ghana’s progress is pure treason. Apart from the treasonable nature of the offence, Kotoka’s putsch dragged Ghana towards a downward spiral from which we have never recovered.
Yet, his name is imprinted boldly on an edifice as important as Ghana’s main international airport, the gateway to the land people from the diaspora are trooping in to see, partly because of the name and fame Kwame Nkrumah gave to Ghana. This is adding insult to injury. It is an abomination. It is a shame!
Next week, we shall discuss how the airport’s name was changed. We shall talk about the legacy of Kotoka also.
Contact:teepeejubilee@yahoo.co.uk
By Tony Prempeh
The average modern Gold Coaster born and bred in Sikaman is an adventurous creature. Go to any part of the world and you’ll find Ghanaman diligently slugging it out either in the snow or in hot sweltering weather, earning a decent living.
Go to Guinea and see Ghanaman in the garb of a herbalist, curing the sick of various ailments. He makes the Guinean understand that not all diseases are caused by James Lucifer alias Jimmy Satan. On the contrary, most diseases are caused by kooko which can even attack the human nose and turn it upside down.
That kooko is also the cause of poverty and the internal bleeding of personal back-pocket economies. And that kooko can be cured using the chemistry underlying Sikaman herbal medicine which has been blessed by the gods of Larteh.
And before Ghanaman starts dispensing his herbal concoctions, he must attract the passing crowd with some Sıkaman-originated choreography, akin to a combination of adowa and agbadza, such that the dancer can easily dislocate a shoulder and start crying for his mother.
When the crowd is enough to form a quorum, Ghanaman must perform magic as a side-attraction, and proceed to sell his drugs. The drugs are genuinely made from potent herbs which the Pharmacy Board of Sikaman says it has no confidence in. Believe me, Ghanaian herbalists are practising in neighbouring countries like Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Benin, while we are discouraging them from practising in Sikaman.
Go to Las Palmas and see Ghanaman as a fisherman. He sails on Korean-owned boats and is forced to eat garlic and raw tuna for radiant health. The garlic is also supposed to protect him against witches. But sometimes, he is not good bedfellows with some Korean crew members, and once in a while a fight breaks out.
The typical Korean is a Kung Fu expert and before displaying a golden dragon data. He must first terrify Ghanaman with a Korean dance which consists of wild arms and leg throwing. But Ghanaman is usually not daunted. Why has he been eating cancer kenkey all years without developing cancer? It mean is a superhuman capable of countering Kun fu side-kicks to the ribs.
Anyhow Ghanaman’s most potent arsenal lies in his fists. If he is a southpaw, it mean left fist is probably insured and can cause damage. When Ghanaman lands a cassava blow and it lands on a Korean chest, it has the effect of a cruise missile. If there is no ceasefire a funeral cannot be ruled out.
Greenland
Go to Alaska and find Ghanaman there. Greenland, Iceland, Brazil, Argentina, Madagascar, everywhere and you’ll find him. He has become an international citizen and is generally lauded for his hardwork, sincerity and honesty.
However, some bad nuts are also condemned and despised.
The world and all its parts and corners are for the human race, and anyone can choose to live anywhere and earn a decent living so long as he doesn’t misconduct himself or become a social misfit and a law unto himself.
Sıkaman for instance accepts foreigners, and we are so liberal that people just come in through our borders and we welcome them with the best palmwine in town and goat light soup. Who cares about passports and visas? Our hospitality is, as it were legendary.
So we have Liberians, Nigerians, Sierra Leoneans, Togolese, Europeans, Americans, Scandinavians and Koreans in Sikaman. And some of them have misinterpreted our overzealous accommodation to mean “foolishness” and are misconducting themselves.
The newspapers carry stories of some unscrupulous Nigerians stealing, defrauding and collaborating with their Sikaman counterparts to rob people. You’ll find some good and law-abiding Liberians around but some other Liberians are in the business of fraud, robbery, money printing, money doubling, anything criminal.
Ghanaian hospitality can no longer be extended to such people. I do not think Ghanaians will be treated kindly either, when they misbehave anywhere in the world. Those who come from outside with the intention of bringing down their evil deeds and to practise them here professionally must be getting ready because Ghanaians are getting fed up with the menace.
These days, you’ll find strange people following you as soon as you emerge from a bank. If you are not careful, they’ll wrestle your briefcase from you and speed away in a waiting taxi.
Someone was just saying that many foreign criminals are flocking to Ghana because in their countries, they are enable to operate either because they are being looked for by the police for offences committed or fear instant justice at the hands of mobs. Ghanaians, it is said, are humanitarian in dealing with criminals.
Well, in some African countries, a thief who is being chased runs directly to the police station in his own interest and begs the officer at the counter to lock him up. Otherwise he’ll be lynched or be burnt to death. In Ghana, it is the opposite. The thieves run far away from the cop stations.
The criminals must reform and stay peacefully in Sikaman or quit. No court case!
This article was first published on Saturday September 5, 1998
The human condition is defined by two absolute, biological bookends: the commencement of complex cellular animation and its ultimate, irreversible cessation.
For centuries, medicine treated life and death as strictly separate states. Today, modern pathology and molecular biology reveal a more profound truth: the mechanisms that allow us to live are the exact same mechanisms that dictate how we die.
Understanding this relationship is no longer just a philosophical pursuit. It is a clinical necessity for managing public health in the 21st century.
Part I: How we live – The mechanics of animation
At its core, biological life is a continuous, high-stakes battle against entropy (the natural tendency of systems to degrade into disorder). To maintain form, consciousness, and function, the human body relies on three fundamental pillars:
1. Cellular respiration and energy production
Every second of human life is powered by the conversion of oxygen and glucose into Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP), the universal energy currency of our cells. This process occurs within the mitochondria.
Without a constant supply of ATP, the microscopic pumps that maintain electrical gradients across our cell membranes fail, causing cellular collapse within minutes.
2. Homeostasis: The balancing act
To survive, the internal environment of the body must remain incredibly stable, regardless of external chaos. This balancing act, known as homeostasis, regulates:
Blood pH: Strictly maintained between 7.35 and 7.45.
Core Temperature: Ideally kept around 37°C (98.6°F).
Electrolyte Balance: Precise ratios of sodium, potassium, and calcium that allow nerves to fire and muscles to contract.
3. The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)
The ANS acts as the invisible conductor of life, split into two complementary branches:
Part II: How we die – The path of cessation
Death is rarely a singular event; it is a progressive biological cascade. Whether caused by old age, chronic illness, or sudden trauma, the final pathways of mortality generally follow a predictable trajectory.
1. The cellular horizon: Senescence and Apoptosis
Every time a human cell divides, the protective caps at the ends of its chromosomes-telomeres-shorten. Eventually, telomeres become so depleted that the cell can no longer divide safely. It enters senescence (a state of permanent arrest) or triggers apoptosis (programmed cell death). This gradual, systemic loss of cellular renewal is the underlying engine of aging.
2. The clinical cascade of somatic death
When the body can no longer maintain homeostasis, somatic death (the death of the organism as a whole) begins. This occurs in a distinct sequence:
1
Clinical Death
Zero to four minutes
The heart stops pumping blood, and respiration ceases. While breathing and circulation have ended, the body’s tissues still contain residual oxygen and cellular energy reserves. At this stage, resuscitation is often still possible.
2
Brain Death (Infarction)
Four to six minutes
Deprived of fresh oxygenated blood, the brain’s highly sensitive neurons begin to starve. Lacking ATP, the brain cells lose their electrical charge, swell, and begin to burst. Permanent, irreversible neurological damage occurs within minutes.
3
Biological Death
Hours to days
The organs fail entirely. Without central control or blood flow, individual cells throughout the body consume their final energy reserves. Enzymes that once aided digestion begin to break down the body’s own tissues from the inside out, a process known as autolysis.
Part III: The modern collision of life and death
In the modern era, the boundary between how we live and how we die has blurred. Historically, humanity died primarily from infectious diseases and acute trauma. Today, global mortality is dominated by non-communicable, chronic lifestyle diseases.
Modern Pathology: How we live (the cause) how we die (the result)
Cardiovascular disease, chronic stress, poor diet, and lack of sleep keep the sympathetic nervous system hyper-activated, damaging blood vessels .Occlusion of coronary arteries leads to myocardial infarction (heart attack) or ischemic stroke.
Metabolic syndrome over nutrition and physical inactivity overwhelm cellular mitochondria, leading to systemic insulin resistance. Multi-organ failure, chronic kidney disease, and severe vascular complications.
Neurodegenerative Disorders Chronic systemic inflammation and sleep deprivation prevent the brain from clearing metabolic waste. Gradual loss of synaptic connections, leading to dementia and the eventual loss of basic autonomic functions.
Conclusion: The unified theory of health
Ultimately, how we live directly shapes the path of how we die. The micro-choices of daily existence-how we manage emotional stress, the quality of our rest, our communal connections, and our nutrition-either preserve the integrity of our homeostatic systems or accelerate their decline.
True medical advancement is shifting away from merely extending the final, frail stages of biological death. Instead, the focus is turning toward optimising our living years-ensuring that the intricate, beautiful machinery of human animation runs smoothly until its natural, quiet conclusion.
By Robert Ekow Grimmond-Thompson
