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The thief-catching committees…
There are different breeds including those labelled as ‘cautious thieves’. They are not the bold type and, therefore, steal when no one is looking. However, such thieves are not lucky because they do not have the qualities of the spider. When you think no one is looking, someone might be looking from an angle acute to your left ear.
Some thieves realise the fact that they do not have eight eyes and, therefore, adopt the bold strategy approach. Such a type would walk straight into your house and tell your wife that you’ve sent him to come and service the television and video-deck.
The deck and telly are all in excellent condition and your wife will express a bit of doubt about why you’ve sent a repairer but…
“You mean Mr Osei sent you?”
“Yes. He says the integrated circuit needs to be changed to improve picture quality. A taxi is waiting outside.”
The wife is bound to believe this because the man is bedecked in the working gear of a TV repairman and holds a tester in hand.
Moreover, he walks like a radio-mechanic, smiles like an electronic engineer and has a transistor-like nose. And he is talking knowledgeably about something called integrated circuit which is a scientific term not akin to the vocabulary of housewives.
“When will you bring it back?”
“Before six o’clock. Lest I forget, he says I should take GH¢6,000 from you for transportation and incidental expenses.
So the guy is smart enough to take away all your electronic equipment in addition to GH¢6,000 for beer and khebab.”
Another brand of thieves comprise those who use force. They arm themselves with rifles, semi-automatic weapons, machets, kitchen knives and grenades. They are called armed robbers or jaguda (Nigeria parlance), and they normally operate gangs.
In some cases, there are certain requirements one must meet before he can be a member of a gang. For example you’re below a certain height you’ll not be eligible for admission because when it comes to making an escape you may be found wanting.
You must have the kind of muscles that can help in street-fighting and your face must be distinguished on the negative side, meaning that you must be looking hard and satanic-looking.
After you’ve been robbed, armed robbers can also kill you if they see a possibility of you identifying them later. Dead men don’t talk too much!
The day I really got angry with thieves was in 1985 when one of them professionally stole my Mum’s corn-dough. The old lady had soaked corn and had it grinded out of which she prepared dough in a large rubber container. That night the door to the kitchen was not locked and in the morning we discovered that our dream of having banku that day would not materialise.
Well, I guess the wife of the thief was overjoyed because for two weeks corn-dough would not be a problem to her. She’d only have to “claim’ some okro and tuna and if the husband had been able to steal some crabs, then it must have been a festival.
Stealing has become a profession, albeit an infamous one. It is counter-productive to the progress of society and that is why thieves are enemies of mankind. You can be a millionaire but a thief can make you a penninaire in five seconds. For this reason, the idea of watch-dog committees became laudable sometime back and even now. It was even fashionable for communities to inaugurate their watch dog committees and swear to crush the balls of petty thieves and armed robbers.
But the question is whether some of these thief-catching committees are just existing in name or are really functioning?
I was just asking my younger brother, Edward Alomele, alias Alor, who is an Organising Secretary of a Watch- Dog Committee, what exactly they are doing to combat theft in the community. We are doing a lot,” he said
“But I’ve never seen you in action? I’ve never seen you attending meetings and organising strategies.
You’ve never attended patrols.”
Well, it is normal for everybody to defend the group he or she belongs to, and so I was not surprise that Original Alor, sorry Duplicate Alor, was trying to defend organisation.
“We are always alert and we normally do not advertise ourselves. All our members are always on the lookout for suspicious characters and you’ll be surprise that any thief who ventures would be caught,” he said
I wasn’t quite convinced, though. However, Alor is confident that the committee is alive and kicking. Perhaps, some logistics would make them a bit more revolutionary, and more aggressive (General Quainoo, please accept my apologies for now).
That also brings to mind the police, Ghanaian policemen, in spite of their numerous short-comings have been commended of late. They are breaking up criminal syndicates, but I guess that they would be more effective in dealing with robberies when they work hand-in-hand with watchdog committees.
I’ll recommend that all watchdog committees be re-inaugurated and revitalised and taught how to work better with the police. They must also be given incentives without which commitment to work will run down to zero. The committee members must also receive some sort of training to make them more disciplined and purposeful.
I guess it wasn’t only my mother’s corn-dough that has ended up in a thief-man’s cooking pot. Others too have suffered the loss of more valuable items like TV sets, car tyres, windscreen, cash, sound system and chamber-pots.
My former classmate, Kwame Korkorti, does not like thieves at all. He started hating them since 1961 when some palm-nut soup laden with goat meat his mother had prepared disappeared rather mysteriously from the coalpot. A thief quietly relieved the coalpot of its burden and made Korkorti’s stomach tumble and groan.
The article was first published of Saturday, October 16, 1993
Walk into any supermarket in Accra, Kumasi, or Tamale today, and you will see the modern Ghanaian diet packaged as ‘progress.’ You will see breakfast cereals with cartoon mascots, fruit drinks that are mostly sugar and colour, and snacks promising energy and happiness in bright fonts.
Even products loaded with salt and unhealthy fats often wear a health halo labeled as fortified or natural, while the real nutritional risk is hidden in tiny print on the back. This is not just a consumer inconvenience; it is a public health blind spot. Ghana is living through a silent surge of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like hypertension, diabetes, and stroke.
These conditions quietly drain household income and steal productive years. According to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates, NCDs are now responsible for nearly 45 per cent of all deaths in Ghana.
We cannot build a healthy nation on a food environment designed to confuse people at the point of purchase. Ghana must mandate simple front-of-pack warning labels (FOPWL) on high-sugar, high-salt, and high-fat packaged foods because consumers deserve truth at a glance, and industry must be pushed to reformulate.
Why Back-of-Pack Labels Are Not Enough
In theory, consumers can read nutrition panels. In reality, most Ghanaians shop under pressure, limited time, rising prices, and children tugging at their sleeves. The back label is a relic that requires a high cognitive load to interpret—essentially, the seller knows what is inside, but the buyer cannot easily tell.
This ‘information asymmetry’ is not fair. It is not consumer choice when the information needed to choose well is deliberately difficult to find.
Simple warning labels like the black octagons used in the Chilean Model act as a ‘stop-and-think’ nudge. They do not ban products but they simply tell the truth so people can decide.
Reshaping Our Food Environment
A generation ago, Ghana’s meals were mostly home-prepared, like kenkey and banku with soups and stews. Today, ultra-processed foods have become the norm, especially in urban areas. Children are growing up with sugary drinks and salty snacks as everyday items, not occasional treats.
If Ghana is serious about prevention, we must act where decisions are made—thus, the shelf. Warning labels protect parents from sugar traps and pressure the market to improve. When warning labels are mandatory, manufacturers start to compete to make healthier recipes to avoid the stigma of the label.
Addressing the Pushback
Industry will argue that labels create fear or that education alone is enough. However, health education is slow; labels work immediately. While the informal street food sector is a challenge, regulating pre-packaged goods is the practical starting point because the supply chain is traceable. We cannot wait until the whole system is perfect; we must start where action is feasible.
A 2026 Implementation Roadmap for Ghana
To move from talk to action, Ghana needs this 5-step plan:
- Issue mandatory regulation: The Ministry of Health, Food and Drug Authority (FDA), and Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) must define the label format and nutrient thresholds for all pre-packaged foods.
- Simple, bold symbols: Use plain language and clear symbols, such as “HIGH IN SUGAR,” designed for busy families, not experts.
- Transparent thresholds: Adopt technically defensible standards adapted to the Ghanaian diet.
- Transition and enforce: Provide a 12–18 month period for manufacturers to reformulate, followed by firm enforcement at ports and retail centers.
- National literacy campaign: The Ghana Health Service must pair labels with public messages explaining why high salt or sugar increases disease risk.
Conclusion: Truth Is Not a Luxury
Prevention is cheaper than treatment. A warning label costs little compared to the price of dialysis, stroke rehabilitation, or lifelong diabetes complications. A black octagon on a box of biscuits is more than a label; it is a shield for the health of all Ghanaians. It is time to put the truth where we can see it, right on the front.
By Abigail Amoah Sarfo
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Natives of the Kenkey Kingdom were mad with joy. They were still recovering from the hangover of the kingdom’s loss of the African Cup when their spirits were rekindled. Their great warrior, Zoom Zoom, stormed Melbourne and made sure that every Australian refused food. And that was after he had drawn contour lines on the face of their idol, Jeff Fenech.
Not only did the terrible warrior transform Old Boy Jeff’s face into a contour map useful for geography lessons, but he also accomplished the feat of retaining the much-envied super-kenkeyweight title against all odds. The warrior had not been eating hot kenkey for nothing.
The Fight Against Fenech
When Jeff Fenech bit the dust in the eighth round, I was tempted to consider if Adanko Deka could not have faced him in any twelve-rounder, title or non-title bout. Adanko has improved tremendously, and soon he would be facing Pernell Whitaker.
Sincerely, I was pessimistic about Azumah’s man, who the last time took him through twelve grueling rounds of rough boxing. I expressed my fears to my colleague Christian Abbew, alias Gbonyo, who surprisingly had total confidence that the Australian brawler would fall, predictably in Round Five.
Gbonyo gave reasons for his contention, all of which I counteracted using the age factor. Fact is, I didn’t know that contrary to the laws of nature, Azumah was all the time growing younger.
When Fenech fell briefly in round one, I asked my brother whether it was the same Fenech that fought Azumah in Las Vegas. Sure, it was the same Fenech, all out to beat Azumah before his countrymen.
But the African Professor had no intention of making the Australian a hero. As he spun round the desperate Aussie, dancing and stinging out his jabs, it was not too long before I realized that the end was near.
The Eighth Round Showdown
Two minutes into the eighth round, the African ring-master proved to the whole world that he was a true son of Bukom. He himself was cornered, but like the tough nut he is, he managed to break free before overwhelming the panting Australian with several blows that made him crash headlong.
Moments after, the referee, expressing fatherly sympathy, stopped the fight to prevent an obituary. After the ordeal, Fenech’s fairly handsome face was full of newly constructed hills, valleys, ox-bow lakes—whatever. I noticed that his nose was very tired and had a miniature volcano sitting restlessly on it. Obviously, Jeff’s wife will have to nurse that nose back to its normal shape—but I’d advise her not to use iodine, otherwise her dear husband will wail like a banshee.
Reflections on Boxing
Because Mohammed Ali was the kind of boxer kids liked, many school-going kids often entertained the wish of becoming like him. I remember one day when I told my father I wanted to become a boxer, and he advised me to first complete my education to the highest level. Then, if I decided to become a boxer and was knocked out a couple of times, I’d fall back on my degrees and make a living.
Boxing used to be interesting when bouts were fought more with the mouth and tongue than with gloves. You had to brag well, psychologically belittling your opponent before beating him up physically. Mohammed Ali became a very successful pugilist because he also managed to become a poet. He often blew his horn across America, calling himself the “pretty boxer” and opponents like Joe Frazier “the gorilla.”
Ali made a living fighting hard fists like Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Jerry Quarry, George Foreman, Leon Spinks, and Trevor Berbick. Twice he came back from retirement to fight just for money. It was Larry Holmes who finally pensioned him, and since then the great Ali has never been himself.
The Path Ahead for Azumah
When Azumah nailed Jeff Fenech on the cross and barked almost immediately that he was after the head of Pernell Whitaker, I was happy but concerned. I would have been happier if he had announced his resignation there and then—he would have been more of a hero. Beating Fenech in Australia is more newsworthy than facing Whitaker in the States.
With Whitaker, it might be a little difficult. The “Sweet Pea” is agile, has a crooked body like a snake with diarrhea, and stands awkwardly as a southpaw. He is known for having the fastest pair of fists and the rare ability to dodge punches no matter how close they may be.
Much as I do not doubt that Azumah can take his title, I also don’t want him to retire beaten. I want him to retire as a hero and live a fuller, healthy life.
As Azumah himself said after dishing Fenech, he is now a professor and has something to show for it. Like a true professor, I think it is time he resigned and took up training young talents who could draw inspiration from him and become like him in the future.
Closing Thoughts
I must say that although ageing boxers like Larry Holmes and George Foreman are making a name for themselves, boxing is not like the Civil Service, where you can even change your age and retire at 74. Zoom Zoom has delighted the hearts of the natives, and Sikaman will forever hold him in high esteem—but only when he retires as a hero.
This article was first published on Saturday, March 7, 1992.
