SURELY, ALL HUMAN LIFE IS OF EQUAL VALUE?

Some Ghanaians can be pretty funny. Yesterday evening, I had an irate phone call from a gentleman, who called after reading an article I had posted on my online web-blog: and in which I had stated that I owed my landlady a huge amount. That ‘well-mannered’ gentleman poured insults on me for daring to constantly criticize the profligate Kufuor & Co. when I could not even pay my rent: let alone build a house. After a string of expletives too profane to reprint here, I told that ‘cultured’ gentleman exactly where to get off: I neither needed his pity nor deserved his contempt, I would have him know.


It is so typical of these “My-party-my-tribe-right-or-wrong” myrmidon-types, whose blind support of Ghana’s political parties, is slowly destroying them, to be contemptuous of those they think are poor people. Well, I coolly informed him that like most honest Ghanaians, I am also often strapped for cash. However, since “Onyame entise Alata ni enti,” God, in his munificence, had blessed even a foolish old man like me (who is further burdened by also being senile!), with a few assets: worth at least a pesewa or two. Although I could have done what some do to survive, I did not sell my conscience to grab zillions, under the Rawlings regime. Neither did I do so under the Kufuor regime - nor will I do so under the Mills regime: so I will continue to be strapped for cash, from time to time, like many of the honest Ghanaians who struggle to get by, daily.


No matter how tough life becomes, I will continue to hold on to my core values: and will always live a life underpinned by ethical considerations, and guided by compassion for all my fellow living creatures, on the planet Earth. For his information, and for the information of others like him, in the end, I did actually secure an interest-free loan against the title deeds of one of those selfsame properties that I mentioned earlier, God, in his munificence, had blessed an old fool like Kofi Thompson with. As it happens, dear reader, a very good and reliable friend came to my rescue in the nick of time: and stumped up the required amount – and I have thus now done right by my dear landlady: who really has the patience of a saint, I must say.


One wishes that such tiresome geniuses would understand that in our democracy (as opposed to the old traditional system which prevailed in the pre-colonial era, and which, incredibly, these tribal-supremacists still believe in!), all human life, is of equal value. That is why even cash-strapped folk like poor old Kofi Thompson also have the right to criticize those who rule our nation, at any given point in time: surprising though that might be to him and those of his ilk! Let such misguided and blinkered souls understand clearly, that no matter how powerful an individual might be in our society, no human being on the surface of the planet Earth, can stop me from taking part in our nation’s discourse, because I am a poor old fool – the stratospheric nature of their personal net worth notwithstanding! A word to the wise…



Tel (powered by Tigo – the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109 & the not-so-hot and clueless Vodafone wireless smartfone: + 233 (0) 30 2976238.