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Stop milking the dead!
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The famous President Nelson Mandela of South Africa once said, “Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace.” These are words from a man who surely knew his purpose in life. Nobody on this earth created by the Almighty God will live forever. At a point in time, you will be called to eternity to give an account of your stewardship on this earth. This, therefore, presupposes that when you are alive, you have to be righteous and committed to the Almighty God, the Creator and Maker of heaven and earth who our lives depend on.
TREATING THE DEAD WITH DIGNITY
The lexicon explains that death is an inevitable universal process that eventually occurs in all living organisms including humans and it generally applies to whole organisms such as cells and tissues. The overriding duty to treat the dead with dignity is by ensuring that the body of the dead person is well preserved in the mortuary, while preparations are made to provide a befitting burial to the deceased in a way that may not lead to serious life threatening conditions to the people.
KEEPING DEAD BODIES IN MORTUARIES FOR YEARS
In the Ghanaian setting, most of the dead bodies, especially traditional leaders and other influential personalities in the society are usually not buried for months and sometimes up to so many years by their families for inexplicable reasons. Sometimes, these dead bodies are kept in the morgue for a very long period with some families contemplating over who should be appointed as chief mourners or organisers to handle the funeral arrangements or due to disputes over when and where to bury the corpses. In most cases, these litigations finally end up in law courts with injunctions preventing families from moving their dead bodies from the mortuaries. Some elders will even go to the extent of ensuring that new buildings are put up to lay their deceased relatives. These unnecessary litigations over funeral and burial arrangements, often put financial burdens on the children of the deceased persons who have to move heaven and earth to raise the needed funds to pay for the mortuary fees. The inconveniences placed on their children are outrageous and unimaginable. The sad situation is that the families who are litigating over the funeral arrangements will never contribute a dime to support the children of the deceased
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF A RENOWNED JOURNALIST
This piece will not end properly without taking some extracts from the thoughts of the renowned veteran BBC journalist of high repute Madam Elizabeth Ohene about the era before the emergence of mortuary in our country. According to her, before mortuaries became popular in this country, we buried our dead bodies within two or three days and then set a date for the final funeral rites. Now the regular period in which dead body is kept in the mortuary before being buried ranges from three to six months. Ten months to a year is not unheard of. When you try to bury someone within a period that is regarded as “too early”, you are certain to invoke outrage, the veteran prolific writer concluded. She recounted her own experience involving the death of her 90-year- old mother who was buried after three weeks of her death and that was regarded in her village as sacrilege and lack of respect to their beloved mother and blamed the Ghanaian funeral madness on refrigeration saying, “Without fridges, we would not be able to keep bodies for ludicrously long period we currently do”. We need to shake ourselves from the brainwash of the white man and do things that will minimise cost and burden of handling the dead so that we can use our money wisely and judiciously. Indeed, there is dignity after death and we have to jealously and modestly protect the sanctity of the human remains.
parents.
LAVISH TREATMENT OF DEAD BODIES AND COST INVOLVED
This lavish treatment of some of these dead bodies by some families has given room for the handlers, both at the mortuaries and the cemeteries, to also charge exorbitantly to preserve the bodies well for a very long time in the fridge before their removal. The grave diggers also demand their share before covering the dead bodies properly. If you cannot afford, then your corpse will be put aside to rot. The fact is that our mortuaries and cemeteries have been turned into commercial entities by workers of these places who engage in dubious undercover deals at the expense of the dead and the bereaved families. Passing through the right channels in these places means you don’t want your deceased relatives to get the necessary attention. The sort of corrupt practices at our mortuaries and cemeteries, especially in our major towns and cities are, indeed, unbearable and disgraceful. The state is being denied huge sums of money through these illegal practices at the final resting places of the dead.
WORK OF MORTUARY ATTENDANTS
It is a fact that not everyone can work at our public mortuaries and those working in these places deserve some sort of recognition and better remuneration and other service conditions. However, because the state is
not providing them with that kind of support, they have, therefore, capitalised on the situation to do their own thing at the place and nobody can begrudge them for the back-door treatment. But some families are suffering due to their inability to pay for these illegal charges from these mortuary attendants. The problem can also be blamed on families who decide to keep their dead bodies for a very long time in our mortuaries while they litigate on the funeral arrangements. Their unnecessary actions of delaying their corpses in the morgue, have placed heavy burden on those who cannot afford these illegal charges. They have the means to pay anything through the back-door and don’t care what happens to anybody.
EMERGENCE OF COVID 19 AND HANDLING OF DEAD BODIES
With the emergence of the Corona Virus Disease in the country which had claimed the lives of innocent people and had brought miseries to many families, the thinking was that people would capitalise on the situation to bury their dead bodies in good time so that the funeral could be scheduled for a later date. However, the situation has rather worsened. As the disease rages on, people continue to keep their deceased relatives in the fridge for a very long time and that has not been a good sign at all. Ghanaians in general revere their dead persons. However, the way and manner we spend huge sums of money on funerals in this country is not healthy and uncalled for. The so-called ‘gbonyo’ party which runs from the day of the burial up to Sunday, the day of the thanksgiving and memorial service is something we need to take a second look at. Families and children of deceased persons without the means to organise such hilarious and lavish funerals often go and borrow money and eventually become debtors after the funeral. It will be of interest to know that when the person was sick or ill nobody offered the necessary funds to cater for his or her medical expenses, however, money can be raised to organise such glamorous funeral. It is a question of encouraging people to die so that people can be happy and rejoice?
Charles Neequaye
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
