Features
‘Who say coro no dey’
In Ghana one of the popular phrases is “who say man no dey”. It is something that people often use to describe the fact that if you do not have what it takes or have not experienced something, do not insist that such a thing does not exist.
Corona virus or COVID-19, has brought this home to some people who thought it was a hoax and an agenda by people who were pushing for 5G adoption throughout the world.
Going through the headlines of news items on Cable News Network (CNN) the other day, I came across a headline that caught my attention. It was about a Pastor who did not believe that COVID-19 was real and has lost the wife through the disease.
In the interview with the reporter, the man said that he wished they had taken the COVID-19 threat seriously and that he would not have lost his wife.
The picture of Donald Trump, President of the United States wearing a nose mask is undoubtedly my picture of the year. This is a man who had said that the COVID-19 was not as dangerous as people were claiming it was and that he would never wear a nose mask and had been encouraging his supporters to ignore the call by health experts to wear face masks.
At a point it must have dawned on him that it would be foolish on his part to deny the obvious after Prince Charles and Boris Johnson had contracted the disease. Again the death that swept across America due to the virus must have convinced him that his own life was under threat.
A man called Bolsonaro associated with climate change skepticism has until recently, known to have been a COVID-19 skeptic. He is not just an ordinary man but a President of an important nation, Brazil.
He had on many occasions displayed complete disregard for it in public appearances. It appeared as if he was taking lessons from his friend, Donald Trump, President of the United States. He interacted with people in large gatherings, shaking hands and hugging children, all without face masks.
Just like his denial of the existence of climate change, he demonstrated same non-chalance towards COVID-19, until he fell sick. The diagnosis revealed that he had contracted the diseaase. ‘Who say Coro no dey’. Once again COVID-19 showed that you disregard it at your own peril.
The problem is that because the likes of Bolsonaro and Trump are leaders, some people believe in what they say and so accept their utterances without question. The sad thing, though, is that such people do not have access to the same level of healthcare as these leaders, thereby creating problems for themselves.
Just like Trump, after getting a rude awakening, Bolsonaroo needed no prompting to put on a face mask in his public engagements from then on. His statements that sought to ridicule the potency and even existence of COVID-19, gave way to a behavioural change towards the observation of the COVID-19 safety protocols.
His public appearances now show him together with his body guards wearing face masks. ‘Who say Coro no dey’.
Some countries were used as examples of good management in the fight against the disease. Countries which were overwhelmed by the COVID-19 were supposed to learn from those countries how to effectively manage the fight against it.
Countries like South Korea, Germany etc. were considered to be pacesetters in the fight against the pandemic. When their numbers in terms of daily infections decreased and clearly showed a downward trend, they became complacent.
Soon after, the rate of infection started rising and has now reached worrying levels. If you show disrespect to COVID-19, it would show you that it is a formidable force to reckon with. Recent World Health Organisation (WHO) reports indicate a decline in the COVID-19 cases in Africa and the reason is very simple; people are widely respecting the health protocols in place in many African countries.
Personal immunity is something that African countries are taking seriously. Natural immune boosting foods like oranges, rich in vitamin and others are being patronised by a lot of people hence contributing to the decline in the number of new cases and an increase in the number of recoveries.
COVID-19 has brought home a lot of prominent men in society, the effectiveness and usefulness of herbal concoctions and the need to focus on healthy diet instead of junk food. One politician who was sharing his experience on radio about how some herbal preparation helped him, advocated the paying of serious attention to herbal medicine.
Africa has a lot of herbs that have medicinal properties and it is high time health practitioners especially pharmacist, paid attention to them and utilise them for healing diseases.
COVID-19 has compelled leaders across the world especially those in Africa to look at innovative ways of doing things. African leaders have been faced with the reality and have realised that they cannot perpetually depend on foreign aid to resolve their domestic challenges and must, therefore, do something different.
Young people are now bringing up innovative products which are really contributing to the fight against the pandemic. It has galvanised the youth into putting on their thinking caps, resulting in the unleashing of their creative talents, which have started impacting on the economic fortunes of many countries.
Governments have started providing support for companies to diversify and for a country like Ghana; the “Ghana Beyond Aid” is gradually becoming a reality.Almost on a weekly basis something new is being developed and ‘who say Coro no dey’.
Countries that usually would not have cooperated, are now in various cooperation moves to address one challenge or another, all in the fight against COVID-19.
One video clip that has stuck in my mind is the Cuban Doctors, and black doctors at that, who were disembarking from an aeroplane in Italy to provide medical services to help in the fight against the pandemic in Italy, a country where racism is high. An unthinkable spectacle, a few weeks before, if not for COVID-19. ‘Who say Coro no dey’
My prayer is that we would maintain the positive things that this deadly disease has brought in its wake like the zeal to bring innovative products, the desire for herbal medicine and a new desire to be disciplined as far as rules and regulations are concerned.
AVERAGE CITIZEN
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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