Features
Where is their honour? (Part 2)
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In the Bible, specifically in Mark 6:4, the Lord Jesus makes a very poignant statement when He says a prophet is not without honour except in his own country. Jesus makes this remark to the people of Nazareth, the town where He grew up, as they refused to believe in his teaching because they considered him one of themselves and, therefore, without authority to preach to them.
When Jesus makes that assertion, what He simply means is that people are highly regarded for their talents and accomplishments everywhere except in their own country, among their own people. If you still did not get the picture, do not look far. Just check Ghana’s record.
The nation’s penchant to consign its heroes to oblivion once they leave the stage is, to say the least, mean. It seems the rule in Ghana is, out of sight, out of mind. The list of national heroes who have been so shabbily treated is long and still growing.
In the previous article, I mentioned some of them including globally acclaimed Ghanaian doctors like Professor Felix Konotey-Ahulu and Professor Kwaku Ohene-Frimpong, whose pioneering research and findings about the dreaded sickle-cell disease, have led to breakthrough treatment options for anxious patients and medical institutions hoping for some advancement in the search for solutions.
And what have we, as a nation of their birth, done to acknowledge their feats? Apart from periodic invitations for them to come and deliver lectures, what national monuments have been mounted in their honour? Can we not establish research centres at the teaching hospitals and name them after these icons of international stature?
In collaboration with international partners, Prof. Ohene Frimpong helped establish a pilot project for newborn screening for sickle cell disease in Kumasi and Tikrom, the first such screening in Africa. He died on May 7, 2022, after a very illustrious career during which he rose to become the President of the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America. He is gone. Where is his honour?
Last week. I mentioned also Professor F.K. A. Allotey, a Mathematical and Nuclear Physicist with a worldwide appeal,who has gone into the annals of global greatness with the discovery in 1973 of a technique named after him. It is known as the Allotey Formalism, a technique that is used to determine matter moves in outer space. Are we educating our youth about such great men now that they are no more? Where is their honour?
Other great people I referred to in the previous article included D.K. Poison, the first Ghanaian professional boxer to win the world featherweight title who, instead of being honoured, was robbed of his purse of $45,000, (not $40,000 as I said last week), by the government of the military junta led by General I.K. Acheampong.
According to the government, Ghana had run short of foreign exchange to import essential commodities for its citizens, and so it was taking the money as a loan. Gen. Acheampong was overthrown by Gen. F.W.K. Akuffo in a palace coup. And even though Akuffo, as a member of the previous government, was aware of the transaction, did not refund the money before he himself was overthrown by Flt. Lt. J.J. Rawlings.
For 45 years, Poison chased his money in the corridors of power to no avail until the current president, Nana Akufo-Addo instructed the Finance Ministry to refund it to him and listen to this:“on humanitarian grounds.” What? That is ruining an apology with an excuse.
I talked about the need to name the FIFA project at Prampram after C.K. Gyamfi for his pioneering role in the development of football in Ghana. Today, the emphasis is on former Ghana international, Anthony Yeboah, a football ambassador who took Germany by storm, and became the first black man to win the Bundesliga goal king title twice on the trot, raising aloft the image of Ghana.
Anthony Yeboah played for Eintracht Frankfurt from 1990 to 1995, scoring 68 goals in 123 matches. He started cautiously with 15 goals in the1992-93 season, placing a respectable fourth on the Bundesliga goal king chart, before exploding with more goals.
The next season, that is, 1993-94 season, he won the Bundesliga goal king with 20 goals. The following season, he scored 18 goals to retain his goal king title. That was the time when top strikers like Ulf Kirsten were at their peak, but Tony Yeboah still came tops.
His exploits on and off the field have left an indelible imprint on the hearts of the lovers of the beautiful game in Germany, especially in Frankfurt. High rise buildings and iconic structures have his murals splashed conspicuously on them in a kind of cult worship which has not abated even after about three decades that he ended his career in Germany. Some of his followers have tattooed his iconic number 9 on their bodies.
What makes his achievement even greater is the fact that Tony Yeboah accomplished all this greatness against all odds, under severe intimidation and discrimination, including monkey noises and other racist chants as he touched the ball. Anybody could have been too demoralised to continue under such antagonistic atmosphere, but not Tony Yeboah. He persevered and won them over with his goals and his pen.
He wrote a very scathing letter criticising racism in German football as evil. He roped in his compatriot, Tony Baffoe and another African player, Souleymana Sane to support that worthy cause.Thankfully, the letter received publicity in Germany’s leading sports paper, the Bild and subsequently in other papers, too.
It was like a tsunami, and it shook German football to its foundation and led to changes in the system. The German Football Federation embarked on a campaign with the catchphrase: “My friend is a foreigner.” Tony Yeboah even went on to become the captain of Eintracht Frankfurt, a black man for that matter, who was previously reviled. Call it from zero to hero.
On May 18, 2022, Eintracht Frankfurt sponsored Tony Yeboah, the only black man among a group of legends of the club to Seville, Spain, to watch the finals of the Europa Cup final between his former team and Rangers of Scotland.
Frankfurt lifted the trophy, its first such major cup in 42 years, and honoured Tony Yeboah by presenting it to him briefly. It did not end there. The team took him to Germany for about a week to celebrate with the players and the people of Frankfurt. Talk about remembering heroes! This is how.
In 1914, at the outbreak of the First World War, Lawrence Binyon, an English poet, wrote a poem to honour the soldiers at the war front. Now, countries all over the world, including Ghana, read portions of it during Remembrance Day parades to commemorate when armistice was signed to end the war.
Portions of the poem read as follows:
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
As the stars are known to the night;
As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.
Tony Yeboah continues to remain a star in Germany. Eintracht Frankfurt continues to remember him. But in Ghana, the rule still holds: Out of sight, out of mind. A prophet is, indeed, without honour in his own country.
By Tony Brempeh
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
