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Lotto Palaver
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My former classmate, Kwame Korkorti, told me recently that the symptoms of modern day diseases like unemployment and redeployment can effectively be stopped using herbal treatment. He also confided in me that if herbal treatment does not prove effective, then one needs to go the lotto way, to avoid weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Korkorti indeed has eleven and a half years practical experience in how to make ends meet. Although he was famous in the 70s as the best kpanlogo dancer of the decade, he was redeployed as a civil servant not too far back.
Faced with the dilemma of where to invest his redeployment benefits, he took the biggest risk in life. He used half the amount on lotto for four consecutive weeks and lost. He then approached a man called the ‘Lotto-Crocodile’ who gave him three sure tips, which were arrived at by the dictates of a ‘timing’ plan.
The calculations could not be doubted and the ‘crocodile’ was indeed revered, even feared, for his lotto prowess. Should Korkorti invest the other half of his benefits into the “3-sure” and damn the consequences?
If he lost, it would be a disaster for him. His wife would leave him, and the landlord would serve him with a ‘quit’ notice, and he would become a ‘Son of Man.’ Moreover, his friends would call him the biggest fool in contemporary times.
Investment
To be on the safer side, he told his wife about his investment plans. She flared up and called him an idiot and a fat-head John-Bull. Korkorti, therefore, recoiled into his shell but decided to stake just ¢1,000.
On Saturday, the three numbers were there in black and white. He promptly divorced his wife for having deprived him of millions of cedis.
Ever since this episode, Korkorti has become a lotto addict, a forecaster, a lotto magician, editor-in-chief of a lotto paper and the chairman of the Sikaman Lotto Winners Association (SLWA).
I heard there is also an association called the Sikaman Lotto Losers Association (SLLA).
Although it is the unemployed who are susceptible to the lotto syndrome, the business is also the pre-occupation of people from all walks of life-business executives, secretaries of state, assemblymen, fetish priests, pastors and evangelists, beggars and koose sellers.
In fact, lotto transcends all occupations and professions in such a way that both the rich and the poor are perpetually engaged in making money out of mechanised lotto, VAG-West or Lucky Scratch whose scarcity in the metropolis does not merit the numerous adverts on television.
Some people are born lucky and can win lotto 20 times in a year. Others like myself have been born to lose.
The last time I came close to winning was in 1983 when hunger in Sikaman was quite normal to the natives. It was the era of famine when man, wife and children had only one hard coconut for supper and got ready to develop jaundice. It was at that time that I got a “2-sure” tip from a very reliable but clandestine source. The mathematical solution of the problem was arrived at by permutation and combinations, backed by calculus and lotto matrices. The two numbers were unfailing.
I told two close friends about it and they staked heavily like I did. After I had kept the tickets safely in a notebook which l locked away in a fortified drawer, I quickly began figuring out a budget based upon the amount l’d win at the week-end.
I planned to purchase one maxi bag of rice, I’ll order yams from Kasoa, beans from Kordiabe and palm-nuts from Larteh. I’ll purchase a table top fridge (since l enjoy iced water so much), a portable sound system and a diplomatic shoe. I apportioned the amounts I’ll remit to my mother, my old-man, brothers, sisters and two friends.
I became so obsessed with this lotto palaver that I could hardly sleep at night. As the week-end approached, the excitement grew so much that I began feeling quite uncomfortable.
Come 5.05 p.m. on Saturday. My heart started beating violently when the Club Beer advert came clear on the air. It was only seconds away and I would be richest man in a time of scarcity and acute hunger. I dashed for my pen and paper.
The numbers were being mentioned by a deep-throated announcer: “And now, the numbers… “My heart beat like that of a marathon runner as I wrote them down, my fingers trembling. The first three numbers did not include my “2-sure” tips. But I was reassured when the fourth was one of mine.
I was ready to leap into air when the last number called was nowhere near my other number. I had lost, and immediately started thinking about where my supper would come from.
That was the day I vowed not to stake lotto again in my life. Lotto can be a good servant and also a bad master. It has been the fertile ground for some people and the downfall of luckless others. It has made some rich and also impoverished others. It has solved problems in families and caused problems in families.
Anyhow, it is the surest way of getting rich without getting into trouble with revolutionary laws. This is because with lotto, you can become an instant millionaire without dipping long fingers into public funds.
Some people say lotto is a vice. Well I do not consider it as such, but of course, it depends on the angle from which one views the game. Although I no longer stake lotto, I’ll be the last to advise anybody against it. It may be somebody’s saviour, who knows. Moreover, it is a way of taxing people for national revenue without, realising they being taxed.
In fact they pay the tax without force, and some gain therefrom. It has also been a source of employment for many, like lotto receivers and agents.
The only problem with lotto is that it is a time-wasting venture to which most workers concentrate all their attention instead of attending to official duties.
Productivity falls, because from the Managing Director to the cleaner, everybody is either busy calculating a certain mathematical progression or discussing the potency of a ‘machine’ number.
True to it, in an eight-hour working period per day, a typical lotto addict uses two hours to think about family problems, one hour for financial worries, and three hours to forecast winning numbers. The remaining two hours are shared between working on the job and relaxing. No country progresses with such work schedule.
Perhaps, it would be better if workers rely more on dream-numbers, car numbers and
house numbers instead of machine numbers, shadows, counterparts, addition 90, turning numbers and timing plans. We should not sacrifice productivity for personal gain. We are free to work lotto after closing hours, week-ends and public holidays. All the best in your lotto palaver.
This article was first published on Saturday, October 27, 1990.
After church on Sunday, Afrakoma said a quiet prayer, asking for divine help in getting Beesiwa to agree to her suggestion. She and Beesiwa were mates in senior high school, and they both studied for the Diploma in Business Studies at Koforidua Polytechnic, and they obtained jobs with Madam Bruwaa, a big distributor of provisions and textiles, where they were offered modest salaries.
They both got jobs at the National Bank, but just when they started, the parents of a young man based in the US, Sam Abrokwa, approached Beesiwa’s parents to ask for her hand in marriage.
Although the parents knew each other and Beesiwa remembered Sam as her senior in basic school, she told her parents that she would only agree to marry him after getting to know him.
The two parents tried, but she flatly refused to marry a guy she had never met. Eventually, it was agreed that she would meet him when he came to Ghana for a brief visit, but she insisted that she would only go and join him some time after they had met.
So they spoke on phone regularly, with Sam always expressing the desire to see her in the shortest possible time. Beesiwa, on the other hand, was polite and friendly, but reserved.
She quietly hoped that in due course, she would experience what would enable her to see her husband in him.
So it happened after some four months. Sam called to say that he had arrived in Koforidua, and would be calling on her in the afternoon. Beesiwa and her parents prepared a sumptuous meal for him, but he got to the house around 10pm, accompanied by two friends, obviously drunk. He apologized for his lateness, and after some 10 minutes asked Beesiwa to come with him to his house. Beesiwa said politely but firmly that she could not join him, and pleaded that they make it the following day.
He was very irritated by that answer, but he eventually accepted to come back the following day. As she lay in bed, Beesiwa wondered whether there was any hope for a future with Sam. Which normal person, she said to herself, goes to meet his wife and in-laws for the first time drunk? Perhaps tomorrow would be different.
Sam returned after 8pm the following day, a little sober but still drunk. He turned down the offer of a meal, and Beesiwa followed him to his home. A few minutes after offering her a seat, he turned on her, and started undressing her. Beesiwa started to object, but he flared up.
“Hey! You are not going to play games with me, after the monies I have spent on you. Your parents asked for money on several occasions, and I sent it. So how dare you refuse me sex?” Absolutely shocked, Beesiwa quietly gave in, and after less than 10 minutes Sam turned on his side and, with a big smile on his face, fell asleep. Beesiwa managed to dress up, walk out of the house and call Afrakoma. Afrakoma turned up in a taxi and took her to her house, and she narrated her experience to her.
“I can’t believe this. So your parents virtually sold you to him, and never told you?” “I don’t think I can face the two of them again. My own parents have given me the most violent experience of my life. I don’t want to see them again.”
“Take a shower Beesiwa, and try to get some sleep. I will go and see them tomorrow morning.”
“Hello Afrakoma. How are you? Your friend went to her husband’s place yesterday. She may be back in a day or two.”
“Actually, Ma, I came to discuss that with you and Daddy. I don’t need to sit down. Ma, Afrakoma went to Sam’s house with him reluctantly, because like yesterday, he was drunk.
As soon as they stepped in his room, he started removing her dress. When Beesiwa started to object, he told her that he had paid money to her parents, so she could not reject him.
She was so shocked that she just stayed silent and he slept with her. Fortunately he fell asleep, so she called me, and I went with a taxi to take her home.
Forgive me Ma, but I think you and Daddy have treated Beesiwa, a beautiful virgin determined to have an honourable, marriage, in the most despicable fashion. I’m trying to be polite, but I don’t know what your financial need was, which enabled you to betray your own daughter this way.
For your information, I have sent a message to Sam that Beesiwa and I need to know how much money is owed to him, and my husband and I will support her to pay. Good morning.” As the two parents stood with their mouths open, she walked away.
By Ekow de Heer
Features
Environmental stewardship is an act of worship: The Islamic response to climate change, environmental degradation (Part 3)
Within the Ghanaian context, environmental degradation has reached alarming proportions.
The destruction of forests, pollution of major rivers, indiscriminate dumping of refuse, bushfires, coastal erosion, and rapid urban expansion continue to undermine public health, agricultural productivity, and economic resilience (Environmental Protection Agency Ghana, 2024).
Particularly concerning is the widespread contamination of water bodies through illegal mining activities, which has rendered several rivers unsafe for domestic use and increased the cost of water treatment. These realities illustrate the tangible consequences of fasād described in the Qur’an more than fourteen centuries ago.
Islam does not merely prohibit environmental destruction; it encourages believers to become agents of restoration (iṣlāḥ). The Qur’an consistently contrasts corruption with reform, calling believers to promote justice, preserve creation, and contribute positively to society.
Environmental restoration through reforestation, river conservation, responsible waste management, and sustainable agriculture therefore constitutes an important dimension of iṣlāḥ.
Every effort to restore degraded ecosystems is not only a contribution to national development but also an act of obedience to Allah.
Understanding environmental degradation as fasād fundamentally reshapes the Muslim response to today’s ecological crises.
Pollution is no longer viewed merely as poor sanitation, nor deforestation as simply an economic issue. They become moral failures that violate humanity’s covenant as Khalifah and threaten the balance established by Allah.
This ethical perspective provides a compelling foundation for addressing one of Ghana’s most pressing environmental challenges—illegal mining, commonly known as galamsey-which represents one of the clearest manifestations of environmental corruption in contemporary society.
Illegal mining (Galamsey): An Islamic and national crisis
Among the many environmental challenges confronting Ghana today, none has generated greater national concern than illegal small-scale mining, popularly known as galamsey.
Although mining has contributed significantly to Ghana’s economic development for decades, illegal mining has evolved into a major environmental, social, and governance crisis.
The indiscriminate use of heavy machinery, excavation of farmlands, destruction of forest reserves, and pollution of rivers with mercury and other toxic substances have left lasting scars on the nation’s natural resources.
Beyond its environmental consequences, galamsey raises profound moral and ethical questions that demand reflection from an Islamic perspective.
Ghana continues to experience substantial forest loss due to illegal mining, illegal logging, agricultural expansion and human settlement.
The degradation of forest reserves weakens biodiversity conservation, reduces carbon sequestration, and increases vulnerability to climate-related disasters such as flooding and drought (Forestry Commission Ghana, 2024).
The environmental cost of illegal mining is staggering. Rivers that once supplied clean drinking water and supported fishing communities have become heavily polluted. Productive agricultural lands have been rendered infertile, forests have been cleared indiscriminately, and biodiversity has suffered extensive loss.
These developments threaten food security, increase the cost of water treatment, reduce agricultural productivity, and compromise the health and livelihoods of millions of Ghanaians (United Nations Development Programme [UNDP], 2023; Environmental Protection Agency Ghana, 2024).
Climate resilience is also weakened by illegal mining. Forests serve as important carbon sinks, regulate rainfall patterns, protect watersheds, and reduce soil erosion. Their destruction accelerates land degradation and increases communities’ vulnerability to flooding and drought.
Consequently, the environmental damage caused by galamsey extends far beyond mining sites, affecting entire ecosystems and future generations.
From an Islamic standpoint, such destruction constitutes a clear violation of humanity’s responsibility as Khalifah. Allah entrusted human beings with the care of the earth, not its reckless exploitation.
While Islam recognises the legitimacy of earning a lawful livelihood through commerce, agriculture, industry, and the responsible extraction of natural resources, these activities must be conducted within the limits of justice, public welfare, and environmental responsibility.
Economic benefit can never justify the destruction of Allah’s creation or the endangerment of human life.
The Qur’an repeatedly condemns those whose pursuit of worldly gain results in widespread destruction. Allah says, “And when he goes away, he strives throughout the land to cause corruption therein and destroy crops and animals.
And Allah does not like corruption” (Qur’an 2:205, Sahih International). Although revealed in a broader ethical context, this verse powerfully illustrates the destructive consequences of human greed.
The deliberate destruction of fertile land, vegetation, water bodies, and wildlife for short-term financial gain closely reflects the type of corruption condemned by the Qur’an.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) established another enduring principle when he declared, “There should be neither harming nor reciprocating harm” (Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 2341; Al-Muwatta of Imam Malik, Hadith 1461).
This legal maxim (lā ḍarar wa lā dirār) has become one of the foundational principles of Islamic jurisprudence. It requires Muslims to avoid actions that cause unjustifiable harm to individuals or society.
Illegal mining clearly violates this principle because its consequences extend far beyond those directly involved. Entire communities lose access to clean water, farmers lose their livelihoods, children face long-term health risks, and future generations inherit degraded ecosystems.
The crisis of galamsey also illustrates the relevance of the higher objectives of Islamic law (Maqāṣid al-Sharī’ah). The preservation of life (Hifz al-Nafs) is threatened when polluted rivers expose communities to toxic chemicals and waterborne diseases.
The preservation of wealth (Hifz al-Māl) is undermined through the destruction of farms, fisheries, and other sustainable sources of income. The preservation of intellect (Hifz al-‘Aql) is endangered by exposure to hazardous substances such as mercury, which can impair neurological development and cognitive function.
The preservation of lineage (Hifz al-Nasl) is compromised as environmental degradation jeopardises the health, livelihoods, and welfare of future generations. Even the preservation of religion (Hifz al-Dīn) is affected because Islam calls believers to uphold justice, fulfil trusts, and refrain from causing corruption on earth. Thus, galamsey undermines every major objective that Islamic law seeks to protect.
The issue is not solely an environmental problem but also a governance challenge. Weak enforcement of environmental regulations, corruption, inadequate land-use planning, and economic hardship have all contributed to the persistence of illegal mining.
Ghana has enacted laws to regulate mining activities and protect the environment, including the Minerals and Mining
Act, 2006 (Act 703), as amended, and the Environmental Protection Act, 2025 (Act 1124).
Furthermore, Article 41(k) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana places a civic duty on every citizen “to protect and safeguard the environment. Effective implementation of these legal frameworks requires political commitment, institutional integrity, and active public participation.
