Features
The Big Catch – Part 2
A big catch
As soon as the taxi took off, Tamara started explaining how things went.
‘You see, Yooku, quite a number of people at the fishing harbour have noticed what has been going on with your crew, but they said that Sabina hardly spoke with them, apart from the odd greeting, so they kept their silence.
As for me, I started making friends the very day I started work, so I have been getting a lot of information. They stop at a spot some distance away from the landing bay, and sell the bulk of their fish to a couple of ladies, and come back to the landing bay to sell the little left.
My assistant has been observing them, so he knows the exact location. We should be there in good time to catch them right in the act’.
‘I am so grateful, Tamara. To think that these eight people have been stealing for so long’. ‘Their time is up now. From today they will be looking for another victim’.
As they got down from the taxi, Paa Kwesi, the assistant, came over to them. ‘We are in good time. The two ladies just got here, and are walking to meet them. They should land anytime from now. Let’s go by the side route. We will pounce on them without being seen’.
The boat landed, and the crew got down and pulled it close to shore, then some porters went with head pans and carried the big fish to shore. Egya Amo, the captain, negotiated the price with the ladies, and as one of them was handing over the money to him, Tamara called from close by.
‘Egya Amo! Ayekoo! Is this where you sell our fish, you thief? The owner of the boat, who toiled and put it to sea, has determined a place for you to land, but you and your fellow thieves have chosen your own place, eh? Madam, give me the money, and take the fish away. Now, Egya Amo, leave here with your men before I call the police’.
‘Madam, can we go and collect our things?’ ‘No. Leave or I call the police. You have stolen from us for so long. Your things in the boat have no value compared to what you have stolen. Go and find another victim’. As they walked away, one of the ladies moved over to Tamara.
‘Madam, as for me, I buy fish from anyone offering it for sale. I did not know that the fish did not belong to them. I am ready to buy from you when you get a new crew’.
‘No problem. You can take my number and call me in a week. I would have got a new set of people. As long as you offer me fair prices, I am ready to do business with you’.
‘Wow, Tamara’, Yooku said as they sat in the taxi, ‘I don’t know how to thank you. I had virtually given up any hope of making any money from this business’.
‘You made a massive investment in it, and it is most unfair that you were treated this way. After recruiting your set of workers, you should also monitor them to know what they are doing. It seems that many people knew what was going on in your boat, except you. That must change. We must stay on top of the game. So in the next few days, let’s find another crew, and get them to start work. This is a good season, so we must take full advantage’.
After the new crew was recruited, Tamara went over to Yooku’s place every Sunday after church to report on the week’s business. Yooku bought her a car to make her work easier, and also as reward for her loyalty.
One morning, Pa John called to inform Yooku that Sabina and Tamara, whose applications Yooku had submitted to the bank, had been invited for interview. Sabina was thrilled to hear the news, and after thanking Yooku profusely, she called Tamara to discuss how to prepare. To her surprise, Tamara did not express much interest in the job, even though she said she would attend the interview. Sabina was even more surprised when she did not show up on the day, so she went over to her place.
‘Tamara, what’s happening? Why did you not show up at the interview? Are you telling me that you are not interested in the bank job?’ ‘Before I answer you, Sabina, tell me how it went’. ‘I think Yooku’s friend Pa John had already pulled a few strings, because they asked me to start next week.
They are opening a new department to handle remittances by Ghanaians abroad who are making various investments. We start the orientation next Monday, and we start work the following week. But I’m very curious, Tamara, why are you not taking up such a juicy offer? Apart from the attractive pay, there are good career prospects. So tell me your reason’. ‘Actually, the simple reason is that Yooku is offering me a good package for managing his business’.
‘Did I hear you right, Tamara? Is something wrong with you? Have you forgotten that I was doing that very job, and I quit because it was not going anywhere? And you agreed to take it on whilst waiting for something to happen. Now a big opportunity has opened up, and you are telling me you will stick to that useless job? What do your parents say about this? You really shock me, Tamara. We have been friends for many years, so it is my duty to help you avoid such madness’.
‘Sabina, I know you mean well, but I’m sure you also know that I’m not one to engage in anything without clearly thinking about it. Yes, I have discussed it with my parents, and they are solidly behind me’.
‘I’m going home. If I stay longer I will say something really bad. See you later’. Tamara walked her outside, and as she walked towards the gate, Sabina noticed the car. ‘By the way, has your dad got a new car? I like the colour. And it’s a Toyota. Wow’. ‘Actually, its mine. Yooku bought it for me, in appreciation of my efforts’.
‘I don’t believe it. Listen Tamara, I believe Yooku has conned you with some sweet words and actions. I left the guy because both my parents felt he was a loser, without any direction. Remember? And you are telling me he has bought you a car? I hope the scales fall from your eyes very soon’. With that she stormed out of the gate.
Features
Tears of Ghanaman, home and abroad
The typical native of Sikaman is by nature a hospitable creature, a social animal with a big heart, a soul full of the milk of earthly goodness, and a spirit too loving for its own comfort.
Ghanaman hosts a foreign pal and he spends a fortune to make him very happy and comfortable-good food, clean booze, excellent accommodation and a woman for the night.
Sometimes the pal leaves without saying a “thank you but Ghanaman is not offended. He’d host another idiot even more splendidly. His nature is warm, his spirit benevolent. That is the typical Ghanaian and no wonder that many African-Americans say, “If you haven’t visited Ghana. Then you’ve not come to Africa.
You can even enter the country without a passport and a visa and you’ll be welcomed with a pot of palm wine.
If Ghanaman wants to go abroad, especially to an European country or the United States, it is often after an ordeal.
He has to doze in a queue at dawn at the embassy for days and if he is lucky to get through to being interviewed, he is confronted by someone who claims he or she has the power of discerning truth from lie.
In short Ghanaman must undergo a lie-detector test and has to answer questions that are either nonsensical or have no relevance to the trip at hand. When Joseph Kwame Korkorti wanted a visa to an European country, the attache studied Korkorti’s nose for a while and pronounced judgment.
“The way I see you, you won’t return to Ghana if I allow you to go. Korkorti nearly dislocated her jaw; Kwasiasem akwaakwa. In any case what had Korkorti’s nose got to do with the trip?
If Ghanaman, after several attempts, manages to get the visa and lands in the whiteman’s land, he is seen as another monkey uptown, a new arrival of a degenerate ape coming to invade civilized society. He is sneered at, mocked at and avoided like a plague. Some landlords abroad will not hire their rooms to blacks because they feel their presence in itself is bad business.
When a Sikaman publisher landed overseas and was riding in a public bus, an urchin who had the impudence and notoriety of a dead cockroach told his colleagues he was sure the black man had a tail which he was hiding in his pair of trousers. He didn’t end there. He said he was in fact going to pull out the tail for everyone to see.
True to his word he went and put his hand into the backside of the bewildered publisher, intent on grabbing his imaginary tail and pulling it out. It took a lot of patience on the part of the publisher to avert murder. He practically pinned the white miscreant on the floor by the neck and only let go when others intervene. Next time too…
The way we treat our foreign guests in comparison with the way they treat us is polar contrasting-two disparate extremes, one totally incomparable to the other. They hound us for immigration papers, deport us for overstaying and skinheads either target homes to perpetrate mayhem or attack black immigrants to gratify their racial madness
When these same people come here we accept them even more hospitably than our own kin. They enter without visas, overstay, impregnate our women and run away.
About half of foreigners in this country do not have valid resident permits and was not a bother until recently when fire was put under the buttocks of the Immigration Service
In fact, until recently I never knew Sikaman had an Immigration Service. The problem is that although their staff look resplendent in their green outfit, you never really see them anywhere. You’d think they are hidden from the public eye.
The first time I saw a group of them walking somewhere, I nearly mistook them for some sixth-form going to the library. Their ladies are pretty though.
So after all, Sikaman has an Immigration Service which I hear is now alert 24 hours a day tracking down illegal aliens and making sure they bound the exit via Kotoka International. A pat on their shoulder.
I am glad the Interior Ministry has also realised that the country has been too slack about who goes out or comes into Sikaman.
Now the Ministry has warned foreigners not to take the country’s commitment to its obligations under the various conditions as a sign of weakness or a source for the abuse of her hospitality.
“Ghana will not tolerate any such abuse,” Nii Okaija Adamafio, the Interior Minister said, baring his teeth and twitching his little moustache. He was inaugurating the Ghana Refugee and Immigration Service Boards.
He said some foreigners come in as tourists, investors, consultants, skilled workers or refugees. Others come as ‘charlatans, adventurers or plain criminals. “
Yes, there are many criminals among them. Our courts have tried a good number of them for fraud and misconduct.
It is time we welcome only those who would come and invest or tour and go back peacefully and not those whose criminal intentions are well-hidden but get exposed in due course of time.
This article was first published on Saturday March 14, 1998
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Features
Decisions have consequences
In this world, it is always important to recognise that every action or decision taken, has consequences.
It can result in something good or bad, depending on the quality of the decision, that is, the factors that were taken into account in the decision making.
The problem with a bad decision is that, in some instances, there is no opportunity to correct the result even though you have regretted the decision, which resulted in the unpleasant outcome.
This is what a friend of mine refers to as having regretted an unregretable regret. After church last Sunday, I was watching a programme on TV and a young lady was sharing with the host, how a bad decision she took, had affected her life immensely and adversely.
She narrated how she met a Caucasian and she got married to him. The white man arranged for her to join him after the marriage and processes were initiated for her to join her husband in UK. It took a while for the requisite documentation to be procured and during this period, she took a decision that has haunted her till date.
According to her narration, she met a man, a Ghanaian, who she started dating, even though she was a married woman.
After a while her documents were ready and so she left to join her husband abroad without breaking off the unholy relationship with the man from Ghana.
After she got to UK, this man from Ghana, kept pressuring her to leave the white man and return to him in Ghana. The white man at some point became a bit suspicious and asked about who she has been talking on the phone with for long spells, and she lied to him that it was her cousin.
Then comes the shocker. After the man from Ghana had sweet talked her continuously for a while, she decided to leave her husband and return to Ghana after only three weeks abroad.
She said, she asked the guy to swear to her that he would take care of both her and her mother and the guy swore to take good care of her and her mother as well as rent a 3-bedroom flat for her. She then took the decision to leave her husband and return to Ghana.
She told her mum that she was returning to Ghana to marry the guy in Ghana. According to her, her mother vigorously disagreed with her decision and wept.
She further added that her mum told her brother and they told her that they were going to tell her husband about her intentions.
According to her, she threatened that if they called her husband to inform him, then she would commit suicide, an idea given to her by the boyfriend in Ghana.
Her mum and brother afraid of what she might do, agreed not to tell her husband. She then told her husband that she was returning to Ghana to attend her Grandmother’s funeral.
The husband could not understand why she wanted to go back to Ghana after only three weeks stay so she had to lie that in their tradition, grandchildren are required to be present when the grandmother dies and is to be buried.
She returned to Ghana; the flat turns into a chamber and hall accommodation, the promise to take care of her mother does not materialise and generally she ends up furnishing the accommodation herself. All the promises given her by her boyfriend, turned out to be just mere words.
A phone the husband gave her, she left behind in UK out of guilty conscience knowing she was never coming back to UK.
Through that phone and social media, the husband found out about his boyfriend and that was the end of her marriage.
Meanwhile, things have gone awry here in Ghana and she had regretted and at a point in her narration, was trying desperately to hold back tears. Decisions indeed have consequences.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’
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