Features
Why sell your freedom to bodyguards? Part 2
As previously narrated, people who have nothing to hide or be afraid of, do not have need for bodyguards.
Usually, when your conscience is clear, one does not see the need for bodyguards for protection against harm. I talked about the former Uruguayan President, who went on retirement and was living in a small town and was using an old small vehicle.
What will cause anybody to want to attack him to steal that vehicle which is unattractive? However, if he had looted the nations coffers and living an ostentatious lifestyle, obviously he would have cause to worry about the likelihood of someone attempting to attack him.
There is an adage that ‘what evil men do, lives after them.’ A lot of African leaders go about with a lot of bodyguards because of their evil deeds, ranging from looting of national resources, harassing of political opponents, human rights abuses and sheer greediness among others.
They, therefore, have no choice but to surround themselves with bodyguards all the time.
When bodyguards become a part of your life, it is like you do no longer have a private life. Your life becomes like that of a prisoner and the only difference is that you are not confined to a particular space.
Sometimes, a person being guarded has a somewhat restricted life. Depending on the degree of threat he or she faces, some places can be a no go area.
In some instances, bodyguards determine whether he should continue to stay or leave an event immediately.
Therefore, although a person being guarded is not in prison, decisions regarding his or her safety, is always in the hands of the bodyguards.
Secrets that should not be made public, comes out mainly through these bodyguards because they are always in close proximity with all issues both domestic and official.
A very interesting case study is the President of one of the Eastern African countries, who at the age of 81, still wants to contest the Presidential elections, claiming that he has one more project to complete so the people should vote for him for the last time.
This is a man who has difficulty in walking briskly and yet still wants to occupy the high office of the land. This is a man who has been the Head of state for 39 years and one would expect that his country would be heaven on earth and yet the reality is far from this picture.
He has rigged elections, harassed political opponents and has basically neutralised the opposition. Such a person clearly would fear for his life because he knows he has enemies.
Definitely if you trample upon the freedoms of people, at some point they would like to take revenge and so if you are the perpetrator, you would like to protect yourself by employing bodyguards.
Every human being naturally wants to be alone sometimes and would not want to be under scrutiny all the time, which is the exact opposite of life with bodyguards entails. There are certain phone calls that you cannot make or receive unless you are in your room at home or in the office.
When the average person can go to a public place to interact with friends without any worries, a high profile person cannot do that so in a sense you are in prison. Only difference is that, there are no physical walls around you.
When this realisation dawned on me, l do not envy high profile people one bit, especially Presidents because I love my freedom and would never exchange it for any kind of restricted lifestyle, despite the prestige that comes with being a high profile person. God bless.
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
THE typical itinerant salesman in Sikaman is a herbalist. He is normally a slim macho with the capacity to perambulate the expanse of area covering the triangle of Accra-Tema-Ashiaman. In short, he can walk a total of 60 miles a day, marketing a product that cures every disease, including poverty. 
The door-to-door herbal pharmacist advertises his product by word of mouth. He has nothing to do with the Food and Drugs Board (FDB). After all, his concoctions do not feature on FM stations.
Those herbalists who cannot walk to propagate the herbal gospel, liaise with drivers of mass transportation and their mates. They are, therefore, given the chance to sell their products on Benz buses that ply the routes.
Normally, the herbalist starts his sales message with a prayer and Bible study. He asks the passengers to bow down their heads in supplication to God the father, the son, the Holy Spirit.
When a herbalist asks the passengers to close their eyes and bow their heads, Moslems on board naturally feel offended. They feel that the herbalist has no right to assume that every passenger is a Christian. They think such an assumption is an affront to Islam.
So a Moslem on board will raise the hand for a point of order. He’ll remind the herbalist that it would be in his own interest to mind his language.
“Be careful the way you address people in a public place. Not every person here is a Christian,” he’d state assertively.
Of course, the herbalist will promptly ignore him, but would all the same “watch” his tongue. Who knows whether or not the Moslem brother is inspired by Quoranic zeal to defend the tenets of Islam to the hilt?
When he starts saying, “Wallahi!” and “Inshallah!” it could be the beginning of proclaiming Islam as supreme, a point which must be driven home with talibanic precision.
So the herbalist must tread carefully lest he steps on fire.
The herbalist could even add a measure of mirth to it all, by announcing that Christians on board today have very interesting company on the journey, but that should not detract from the business of the day.
The Moslem brother will weigh the words carefully and offer a wry smile.
He must be careful the occasion does not degenerate into the use of semantics and proverbial oration to deride his conviction that public utterances must be mindful of religious sensibilities. He has made his point very clear and expects that it is taken in good faith in the interest of a peaceful journey.
The herbalist will now open the New Testament and preach salvation, stating clearly that salvation can come only through Jesus Christ and NOBODY else.
The Moslem brother will now start twitching his moustache. The visible and almost revolutionary reflexes of his upper lip can be an indication that sentiments have begun superseding reason, and the outcome could well be tragic now shift uneasily in his seat.
The time has come for him to also express his right to the religion of his fore-bears. He’ll put his hand into his pocket and rise to his feet. The time has indeed come!
This article was first published on Saturday, September 9, 2006
When the cause of a particular problem like sickness, disease, sudden illness, a social issue etc. are not known, it stands to reason that resolving it becomes a huge challenge.
Citizens would understand the government when public announcements are made to the effect that government is trying to find a solution to the issue, even though it is taking a while for it to be resolved because citizens are rational beings.
On the other hand, if the solution to a particular issue is known to everybody but the government for whatever reason, is dragging its feet in resolving it, citizens become frustrated and begin to lose trust in their leaders.
One such issue is the heavy traffic along a section of the Kasoa – Odokor road. A short stretch of bad road between the traffic light at the Weija Government Hospital and the entrance to the entrance of the overhead that leads to the N1, is the cause of the problem but nothing is being done about it, day after day, week after week, month after month. Thus is clearly unacceptable.
Another issue that requires urgent attention is the lack of pavements along a lot of streets in parts of the various Municipal Assemblies. Exercise is a prerequisite for long life and healthy living and for those of us who it has become a way of life, this issue of people putting up structures right to the edge of the drains beside the roads, are making life difficult for us.
We are compelled to walk along the roads, putting our lives at serious risk. Pedestrians should never be compelled to compete with vehicles on our streets and roads. Roads and streets are made for vehicles and pavements are made for pedestrians. That is the norm. Any attempt to normalise a situation where pedestrians are mingling with vehicles is insanity.
It is the road regulations that makes it so and therefore district or municipal assemblies are to take responsibility and ensure that spaces for pavements are not encroached upon. Citizens have rights that must be protected by their leaders and making pavements available to pedestrians, is one of them.
When we hear of teachers having sex with students, it appears it is something recent. It is not a new phenomenon. It has been there since Adam. Perhaps this issue is getting much attention due to the proliferation of social media. It was an open secret in times past when Teachers were in relationships with female students and some married them immediately after completion of school.
Some teachers were also known to be having unholy interactions with female pupils but due to the times that these acts occurred, human rights issues and the awareness around it, allowed such unscrupulous teachers to get away with their crimes.
Now we are in a different era and so a Headmaster is now in hot waters. He is alleged to have raped about 19 female students and as usual, some officials tried to cover it up and are also in hot waters and their actions or inactions in the matter are under investigation.
Why the man has been allowed to roam freely without being arrested is simply mind boggling. It appears that the law applies differently, depending on who you are. This issue came to public attention sometime in August this year, yet the police had not arrested or invited this man for question regarding the rape allegation.
It has come out that he is a Constituency Secretary of the ruling party and the question in the public domain is that, is it because he is a political figure that is why he is still walking around without questioning? I believe in the rule of law so let us hold our breadth and let the proper thing be done.
The police must however be seen to be active in this matter. God bless.
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