The Ghanaian Media Ought To Expose Those Who Have Turned Ghana Into A Super-Lucrative Dumping Ground For Dangerous And Shoddy Goods

Over the years, apocryphal stories about corrupt regulatory officials allowing  shoddy and dangerous goods to be imported and sold in our country have gone viral - carried along the wires of our nation's toli-bush-telegraph.

Anyone who has heard some of those apocryphal toli-bush-telegraph stories will clearly understand that Ghanaians privileged enough to regularly eat food cooked with locally grown agricultural produce that was produced by farmers who farm without the use of synthetic chemical inputs, are incredibly lucky people -  health-wise, that is.

Such bush-telegraph aficionados will also probably concur that it is an absolute disgrace that our country's political class continue to insist on blindly copying a discredited farming model used by the world's advanced nations, which is thoroughly bad for humankind's well-being and extremely harmful to the natural environment.

Yet, as a people, if we are wise enough to go back to the essentials of our pre-colonial way of producing food using farming methods that are in harmony with nature, we could actually eventually end up becoming  a global power in the production of organic fruits, vegetables and other food crops, using the regenerative agricultural model of farming.

Ghana could also become a global power in the production of valuable organic cash crops such as cocoa, coffee, cashew nuts, cotton, rice, etc., etc., using the regenerative agricultural  model.

Those selfsame bush-telegraph aficianados also  point  to just how lucky those in Ghana who never have to drink the so-called "satchet-water" - which they insist no food safety authority in any serious nation on earth would approve for sale to the  public - actually are.

To such bush-telegraph aficianados, it is scandalous that water in plastic satchet bags that they say is  invariably laced with leached chemicals from the plastic that hold the "satchet-water" - and through which all manner of pollutants in the air and built-environment can apparently seep through to contaminate - is still being lawfully produced and allowed to be sold in our country.

The question there is: Why, so - when the production of  "satchet water" ought to be banned, and the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) tasked to produce safe, bottled filtered water for the masses: which the "satchet-water" producers (probably the biggest stealers of the GWCL's distributed water in Ghana, if the bush-telegraph aficionados are to be believed), could be given sole rights to distribute nationwide?

And worst of all, according to those selfsame bush-telegraph aficianados, is the untenable situation in which Ghana is experiencing a spike in respiratory illnesses - because  substandard fuel containing pollutants such as excessive levels of sulphur and particulates, is still allowed to be sold in petrol filling stations across Ghana. Hmm, Oman Ghana - eyeasem o.

The question there is: Why not ban the importation into Ghana of fuel that is not the same  specification as the fuel sold in petrol filling stations in Europe and the  U.S.?

Alas, as a result of egregious corruption amongst officials of sundry regulatory bodies in our country, sadly,  Ghana has now become a super-lucrative dumping ground for shoddy, dangerous and health-ruining products from around the globe. Pity.

In light of all the above, perhaps the question discerning Ghanaians ought to pose is: Do the more responsible sections of the Ghanaian media not have a moral obligation to expose those profiting from the vile and abominable import trade in which the health and safety of millions of ordinary people in our country are daily put at risk by greedy and selfish importers - who in effect are allowed to play
Russian roulette with our lives on a daily basis in this country?

Finally, the media in Ghana must expose all those in our nation who are responsible for turning Ghana into a super-lucrative dumping-ground for shoddy and dangerous goods from around the world. Haaba.