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Where are the gatekeepers?
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The passion for freedom is ineradicably ingrained in every human breast. In fact, when you see children displaying any streak of rebellion at that tender age, it is an outward manifestation of an inward disposition for freedom. But they soon realise, regretfully though, that there is a limit to their freedom. That is when their parents rightly heed the advice from the Holy Scriptures to not spare the rod. I know this from experience.
In God’s opinion, “Foolishness is bound in the heart of the child, but the rod of correction shall drive it away from him,” Proverbs 22:15. I do not think that back in the day, there was anyone as effective as my mother in applying this time-honoured catchphrase. Talk of a thoroughbred matriarch! That refers to my mum, Auntie Aggie, as she was popularly called.
She was as indulgent as she was penalising in her approach to nurturing. Her penetrating gaze in your direction while you misconducted yourself, was enough warning. That space meant grace for you. But to persist in your indiscretion implied courting trouble and reaping the due recompense. The rod would definitely be applied without any more grace. How I miss her!
Without any doubt, democracy thrives on liberty whose roots are in the freedom of the press, including freedom of speech. Professor Wole Soyinka, the man whose political activism made him a constant thorn in the flesh of Nigeria’s military dictators, once said: “The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.” But as scathing as he was in his publications, the Nigerian Nobel laureate who became the first African south of the Sahara to be so honoured in 1986 in the category of literature, did not just use his pen or voice to fight for the oppressed. He did so responsibly because he knew the implications of default.
In the former Soviet Union, a fresh wave of freedom hitherto unheard of in that rigid, iron-clad regime, blew across the republics of the federation when Mikhail Gorbachev, emerged as the new head of state. He quickly moved towards reform highlighted by his policy of openness whose core features were “glasnost” and “perestroika,” the terms for political and economic reform respectively.
In the process, he turned out to be the unlikeliest of leaders to become a proponent of free speech. “How can we live if not through criticisms from below, correcting our policies, fighting negative phenomena? I cannot imagine myself living without this form of democracy,” he famously said as he embarked on his bold agenda to dismantle the suffocating culture of silence under which dissent was a crime. No wonder, he also won a Nobel prize for peace.
Just as in the Soviet Union, maybe in less severe terms, a culture of silence prevailed in Ghana. Various governments, right from Ghana’s early days under colonialism, through to Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s post-independence era, as well as the military regimes that followed, hid behind the criminal libel law to hound and punish people for the slightest hint of opposition which was synonymous with pointing out wrongdoing. Given the latitude and scope of the law, Ghanaians were deprived of any safeguards against excesses of that draconian statute. You criticised the government at the peril of your life. Extra-judicial killings were rampant.
Editors of private newspapers were tortured. Notable among them were Dr. Chris Asher Snr of the Palaver who blazed the trail in the struggle to entrench freedom of the press before the likes of Tommy Thompson and John Kugblenu, publisher and editor respectively, of the Free Press, took over with Haruna Atta of the Statesman, Kweku Baako, Kwesi Pratt and Ewusi-Brookman of the Pioneer.
Also deserving of recognition are columnists such as Professor P.A.V. Ansah of the Chronicle, who was the Dean of the School of Communications Studies, University of Ghana, Legon; Professor Adu Boahene, and Lawyer Obeng Manu who wrote for The Pioneer.
Gradually, the struggle yielded dividends reaching its climax with the repeal of the Criminal and Seditious Libel Act by Parliament on Friday, 27th July 2001. This was in fulfillment of a pledge by candidate J.A. Kufuor of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to do so if he was elected.
The dismantling of the harsh law immediately led to a proliferation of the media in all its forms. More private newspapers have since been established. Radio stations have sprung up in every nook and cranny of the country, leading to a very vibrant and robust media free to voice views contrary to that of the government. Social media platforms are also inundated with all sorts of contrary opinions that have all served to make Ghana one of the most media-friendly and free countries in Africa, and indeed, the world.
Unfortunately, a section of the media appears to be on a downward trajectory. Some are taking this newfound, hard-won freedom farther than it was intended. They are behaving as if the floodgates have been opened for irresponsible journalism. To them, freedom of the press has no boundaries. They misconstrue freedom of the press to mean the right to venture into prohibited territory at will without any scruples. That is a false paradigm.
Madam Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and the longest-serving American first lady, (1933-1945), who was a great champion of freedom, disagrees with that notion. She says, “Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect.” That responsibility is to be law-abiding or face the consequences of your breach. Pope Paul II puts it this way: “Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought,”
Many unscrupulous people, taking undue advantage of the decriminalisation of free speech and the ensuing liberal media climate, have resorted to crass disregard for ethics and are unprofessionally spuing messages that are obviously defamatory and seditious, all in the name of freedom of the press.
And people who should know better are rather leading the parade of coup mongers to beat war drums. When you willfully cross the line to challenge the boundaries of the law, that is presumptuous trespass. It is as if you are testing the limit of what is tolerable, and you must not blame anybody if you find yourself in an unpleasant embrace of the long arm of the law.
Governments are ordained by God to regulate society. In fact, governments are described by the Holy Scriptures as ministers of God for the praise of those who do well and the punishment of those who breach the law. God says they do not bear the sword in vain. In other words, governments have punitive powers. For that matter, we are told to expect punishment when we fall foul of the law.
Thomas Jefferson, the primary draftsman of the Declaration of Independence of the United States, America’s first Secretary of State (1789–94), its Second Vice President (1797–1801), and the third president (1801–09), extolled the importance of the press by stating: “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
His reasons: “The people are the only censors of their governors: and even their errors will tend to keep these to the true principles of their institution. To punish these errors too severely would be to suppress the only safeguard of the public liberty. The way to prevent these irregular interpositions of the people is to give them full information of their affairs through the channel of the public papers, and to contrive that those papers should penetrate the whole mass of the people. The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right.”
An Akan proverb says: “Nnfa mcmcne nnhy3 m’anum na wonnka s3 m’anum bcn,” to wit, “Do not sneak stinking fish into my mouth and charge me with having foul breath,” Do not misbehave and charge the government with high-handedness. Let the press grow up as Mrs. Roosevelt advises, otherwise we are not worthy of Jefferson’s encomium; otherwise, we justify the stance of those who opposed the repeal of the criminal and seditious law. Before freedom, gatekeeping was the watchword. Where are the gatekeepers now?
By Tony Prempeh
Contact: teepeejubilee@yahoo.co.uk
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
