Features
Male or Female?
Imagine God appearing suddenly to you and asking you whether you would like him to change you into the opposite sex. What will be your response?
In a home where the family is made up of boys and girls, the argument about which group i.e. males or females have the easier tasks ultimately leads to the boys wishing they were girls and girls wishing they were boys.
In a typical Ghanaian setting which is not a middle income home, the choice will be driven by the specific job the parents do for a living.
Again, it will also depend on whether it is in a village setting or a town setting. I am under no illusions that if you are a boy in a village, you would not think twice in asking God to transform you into a girl.
Society since the days of Adam, has been fashioned to prepare males for tedious work. Jobs that require lifting of heavy items are the preserve of men which is a natural occurrence, due to the natural physique of men.
There are a few exceptions of course where some women have been observed to have even beaten their husbands.
Being a provider for the family is a huge responsibility and it is something that most men given the opportunity, will wish it were shifted to their wives but you cannot eat your cake and have it.
When the children do well in school, the credit automatically goes to the men even though the mental capacity exhibited by the children, could be traced to their mothers. Some men are as dull as they come.
At the physiological level, I believe a lot of females would wish they were males. At a certain age, girls begin to menstruate and this will happen every month until they reach age 50 on the average if my biology teacher did not give me wrong information.
During this time there are complications with some women experiencing pain in their bodies, not to mention the psychological pressure it brings to bear on the girls and women.
In certain societies and even in some religious organisations, females are considered to be unclean during menstruation period.
In certain sporting activities, sports women are not able to participate due to their inability to be 100 percent psychologically fit as a result of their being in that period of menstruation.
Let us consider the issue of child bearing and if you consider the agony women go through from conception till delivery, I believe I can boldly say that no man will have the desire to be transformed into a woman.
It is true that men also have an issue when it comes to circumcision and again I believe that if that is the only consideration then boys and adult males will be in a rush to change their sex status because if you go through the pain of cutting and the hot water treatment of the sore, the rush to transform from male to female, if the exercise were to be repeated at some point in their lives, is a forgone conclusion.
However, there is an aspect of child bearing that if considered, no man will ever rush to be transformed into a woman, given the opportunity. If men were the ones who give birth, most homes and therefore families will have only one child, I can guarantee that.
The agony women go through during delivery is out of this world.
The story is told of a renowned man of God in Ghana who nearly collapsed, when he wanted to behave like a Caucasian and went to witness the delivery of his baby by his wife.
A friend openly confessed in church that he was in tears as he heard the screams of her wife during delivery. If God were to put the question to me, I would kindly and politely say no.
The abuse some women go through at the hands of some insane husbands makes the idea of transforming into a woman highly unattractive to me.
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
THE typical itinerant salesman in Sikaman is a herbalist. He is normally a slim macho with the capacity to perambulate the expanse of area covering the triangle of Accra-Tema-Ashiaman. In short, he can walk a total of 60 miles a day, marketing a product that cures every disease, including poverty. 
The door-to-door herbal pharmacist advertises his product by word of mouth. He has nothing to do with the Food and Drugs Board (FDB). After all, his concoctions do not feature on FM stations.
Those herbalists who cannot walk to propagate the herbal gospel, liaise with drivers of mass transportation and their mates. They are, therefore, given the chance to sell their products on Benz buses that ply the routes.
Normally, the herbalist starts his sales message with a prayer and Bible study. He asks the passengers to bow down their heads in supplication to God the father, the son, the Holy Spirit.
When a herbalist asks the passengers to close their eyes and bow their heads, Moslems on board naturally feel offended. They feel that the herbalist has no right to assume that every passenger is a Christian. They think such an assumption is an affront to Islam.
So a Moslem on board will raise the hand for a point of order. He’ll remind the herbalist that it would be in his own interest to mind his language.
“Be careful the way you address people in a public place. Not every person here is a Christian,” he’d state assertively.
Of course, the herbalist will promptly ignore him, but would all the same “watch” his tongue. Who knows whether or not the Moslem brother is inspired by Quoranic zeal to defend the tenets of Islam to the hilt?
When he starts saying, “Wallahi!” and “Inshallah!” it could be the beginning of proclaiming Islam as supreme, a point which must be driven home with talibanic precision.
So the herbalist must tread carefully lest he steps on fire.
The herbalist could even add a measure of mirth to it all, by announcing that Christians on board today have very interesting company on the journey, but that should not detract from the business of the day.
The Moslem brother will weigh the words carefully and offer a wry smile.
He must be careful the occasion does not degenerate into the use of semantics and proverbial oration to deride his conviction that public utterances must be mindful of religious sensibilities. He has made his point very clear and expects that it is taken in good faith in the interest of a peaceful journey.
The herbalist will now open the New Testament and preach salvation, stating clearly that salvation can come only through Jesus Christ and NOBODY else.
The Moslem brother will now start twitching his moustache. The visible and almost revolutionary reflexes of his upper lip can be an indication that sentiments have begun superseding reason, and the outcome could well be tragic now shift uneasily in his seat.
The time has come for him to also express his right to the religion of his fore-bears. He’ll put his hand into his pocket and rise to his feet. The time has indeed come!
This article was first published on Saturday, September 9, 2006
When the cause of a particular problem like sickness, disease, sudden illness, a social issue etc. are not known, it stands to reason that resolving it becomes a huge challenge.
Citizens would understand the government when public announcements are made to the effect that government is trying to find a solution to the issue, even though it is taking a while for it to be resolved because citizens are rational beings.
On the other hand, if the solution to a particular issue is known to everybody but the government for whatever reason, is dragging its feet in resolving it, citizens become frustrated and begin to lose trust in their leaders.
One such issue is the heavy traffic along a section of the Kasoa – Odokor road. A short stretch of bad road between the traffic light at the Weija Government Hospital and the entrance to the entrance of the overhead that leads to the N1, is the cause of the problem but nothing is being done about it, day after day, week after week, month after month. Thus is clearly unacceptable.
Another issue that requires urgent attention is the lack of pavements along a lot of streets in parts of the various Municipal Assemblies. Exercise is a prerequisite for long life and healthy living and for those of us who it has become a way of life, this issue of people putting up structures right to the edge of the drains beside the roads, are making life difficult for us.
We are compelled to walk along the roads, putting our lives at serious risk. Pedestrians should never be compelled to compete with vehicles on our streets and roads. Roads and streets are made for vehicles and pavements are made for pedestrians. That is the norm. Any attempt to normalise a situation where pedestrians are mingling with vehicles is insanity.
It is the road regulations that makes it so and therefore district or municipal assemblies are to take responsibility and ensure that spaces for pavements are not encroached upon. Citizens have rights that must be protected by their leaders and making pavements available to pedestrians, is one of them.
When we hear of teachers having sex with students, it appears it is something recent. It is not a new phenomenon. It has been there since Adam. Perhaps this issue is getting much attention due to the proliferation of social media. It was an open secret in times past when Teachers were in relationships with female students and some married them immediately after completion of school.
Some teachers were also known to be having unholy interactions with female pupils but due to the times that these acts occurred, human rights issues and the awareness around it, allowed such unscrupulous teachers to get away with their crimes.
Now we are in a different era and so a Headmaster is now in hot waters. He is alleged to have raped about 19 female students and as usual, some officials tried to cover it up and are also in hot waters and their actions or inactions in the matter are under investigation.
Why the man has been allowed to roam freely without being arrested is simply mind boggling. It appears that the law applies differently, depending on who you are. This issue came to public attention sometime in August this year, yet the police had not arrested or invited this man for question regarding the rape allegation.
It has come out that he is a Constituency Secretary of the ruling party and the question in the public domain is that, is it because he is a political figure that is why he is still walking around without questioning? I believe in the rule of law so let us hold our breadth and let the proper thing be done.
The police must however be seen to be active in this matter. God bless.
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