Couldn’t we Accord them some Modicum of Dignity at Death?

I cried, in fact I wailed uncontrollably the whole day. Everyone in the house was upset at my unusual behaviour because I continued intermittently over the next three days. None of them had ever seen me cry so much. In fact, the last time anyone saw me cry in public was when my grandmother, (bless her soul), died some fifty years ago!

I received two WhatsApp messages early on Thursday, 4^th June 2015. The first message showed the late Prof. Ata Mills grinning from ear to ear, as he shook hands with one Patrick Fine. The caption of the news item of 10^th March 2012 was, “Ghana gets $795m to construct Accra drains and Western Lines.” According to the article, $95m of the money was earmarked for Accra drains, while $200m was to be used for the rehabilitation of the Western Rail lines.

The write-up went on to say that, “The Finance Minister, Dr Kwabena Duffuor and Deputy Minister of Transport, Dzifa Attivor, initialled for Ghana, while the Managing Directors of Conti Engineering and General Electric signed for their respective companies.”

Across the article, at about the third paragraph was the inscription in bold red letters, “sika no wo hen, drains no so wo hen?” Later in the day, I read an accusation by the minority in Parliament that the government diverted the money in question.

A few hours later, I read a denial by the current Minister of Finance Mr Seth Tekper in which he claimed that the said money has never hit government accounts. Yet another news report of March 2012 said the late Prof. Mills actually cut the sod for the commencement of this project.

That set me thinking that someone is not being straight with the people of Ghana, with respect to the tragedy of 3^rd June. So I decided to do some research that led me to a new revelation. On 21^st July 1996, the then Minster of Works and Housing, one Mr David Amaknwah announced that a total of “$52m ($24m from the World Bank and $28m from the Kuwait Fund) had been received by government for major drainage works in Accra. Mr Amankwah named the target areas as North Kaneshie, Mateheko, Nima and, you got it, the stretch from the Kwame Nkrumah Circle to the Odaw River. In this case the money had actually hit the government account, wow!

However, what sent me wailing uncontrollably was the second Whatsapp posting that showed the dead in the Kwame Nkrumah Circle tragedy (including women whose clothes had completely been burnt to their nakedness), being tossed into an open truck by security personnel as fellow Ghanaians stood by, some screaming, others shouting or perhaps wailing like I have been doing.

Lord have mercy! These images were being beamed around the world. So couldn’t we as a nation, accord a little dignity to our dead compatriots with even calico covering or plastic body bags? For the first time in my entire life, I felt ashamed to be a Ghanaian and I still am!

Examples from elsewhere
In January 2001, as a result of an overflow of the hospital’s mortuary and a malfunctioning door, seven dead bodies neatly wrapped in bedsheets were left overnight on the floor of the chapel of rest of a hospital in East Anglia, UK. The chapel of rest is not a place of religious worship but an unrefrigerated, carpeted annexe of the main mortuary which is used by visitors to view deceased relatives. This was a secure area, and not normally accessible to the public. But what had happened was “an affront to human dignity,” it was claimed nationwide.

Someone photographed the bodies and leaked it to local and national newspapers and there was national outrage. The public was shocked, the minister responsible was outraged and a manager was fired on the spot. Initially, when the Chief Executive of the hospital trust was interviewed, he said what had happened “was no resigning matter”, but after the public outcry and protests in the news media and near the hospital’s premises, the chief executive resigned. There was a public enquiry and measures were instituted to forestall a future occurrence.

Following the 24^th March 2015 German Wings plane crash in the French Alps, in which 150 passengers and crew lost their lives, accident investigators were lowered from helicopters into ravines and steep cliffs to pick body parts into body bags. The painstaking, often dangerous exercise was done so the parts could later be re-assembled using the DNA of relatives, so as to give each victim a proper burial.

According to anthropologists, in the animal kingdom, elephants are known to bury and mourn their dead. Elephants apparently first cover their dead colleagues with grass, and then gather over a considerable length of time, to pay their respect and to mourn the departed. Also, some bird species are known to hide their dead in crevices as far away from public view as possible.

The customary practice in most Akan areas of Ghana is that the first person that chances upon a dead person in a public place has to cover the body up, to accord them some dignity. So a man either covers the dead person’s face with his hat or some other item of clothing or in some cases, his cloth. A woman who first appears at such a scene, covers the unfortunate one with her “top” cloth or “akatado.”

About a week ago, someone sent me a WhatsApp message in which the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu is reported to have spoken disparagingly about Arabs and Black people, saying that Black people in particular, can never be counted among the human race and that the fact that we walk, talk and somehow live like human beings does not necessarily make us human. I have fought such bigotry for a very long time, but after this display of primitivism among my own kind on 3^rd June, for the first time in nearly forty years, I may have to at least, in part, agree with a bigot.

Whoever took the decision to dump 150 of our unfortunate brothers and sisters into an open truck with no attempt whatsoever at some human dignity does not deserve to be counted among humans.

Demonstration of honesty in national affairs

As far as I can remember, during the period 1995 to 2014, floods killed about 150 people in Accra. The cost in damage to private and commercial property runs into billions. With another 150 dead in the latest tragedy, it means we have lost 300 of our compatriots in the past twenty years through official incompetence, irresponsibility and criminal negligence. These tragedies that have destroyed the lives of hundreds of Ghanaians for ever as their guardians and breadwinners have been prematurely taken away, have rather become photo opportunities and meaningless political speech-making for our leaders. They appear on radio and television and before the still cameras, to shed crocodile tears and receive messages of condolences from mostly African and Third World leaders who cannot see through the charade.

Citizens have contributed to aid funds that have been misappropriated by officials of state institutions, some of which are mandated by law, to institute measures that could limit or even eliminate these preventable losses of precious lives.

After twenty years of this near annual ritual, for the people of Ghana, and especially those who have lost loved ones in past floods, it is cruel to institute national days of mourning, which only go to inflict more pain and misery on those who have lost loved ones in the past, knowing that after the fanfare, it would be back to business as usual. What we need as a people, is the criminal prosecution of the Accra city authorities, the heads of Goil, the National Standards Board and the Environmental Protection Council who are mandated by law, to regulate filling stations and restaurants in Accra.

And if the state will not do it, those who have lost loved ones in these tragedies should come together and institute a class action. If I had lost anyone, I would be touring the country today campaigning for signatures for the class action.

The prosecution must be preceded by just one hour of honesty and integrity in national politics. The three surviving presidents of Ghana, Messrs Rawlings, Kufuor and Mahama (the three Johns) must call a press conference, look Ghanaians in the eye, through television cameras and address them directly in the order, Mr Rawlings, followed by Mr Kufuor and finally Mr Mahama.

Mr Rawlings said of the latest tragedy, “he wished he had a bulldozer.” I have discovered from my research that the best and most expensive bulldozer on the market today is the “Mover Crawler 0332 320hp” model by Crawler. It sells for between $150,000 and $200,000. For the sake of argument, I am assuming that the most expensive bulldozer in 1996 sold for $200,000. That means with the $52m that Mr Amankwah announced to the world that the government of Mr Rawlings received, Ghana could acquire at least 200 of those bulldozers, with the rest of the money being spent on labour and fuel.

The questions according to the WhatsApp message are: “Sika no wo hen? Drains no wo hen? Na bulldozers no so wo hen?” Mr Rawlings should tell us exactly what happened to the money, the bulldozers, the drains or any of the three.

Mr Kufuor did some emergency desilting and drains repairs after the major floods of June 2001. But what exactly did he do for the long term protection of the poor residents of Accra and those whose loved ones were criminally killed on 3rd June 2015.

Finally, Mr Mahama should explain to the people of Ghana why he and his former boss lied through their teeth to the people of Ghana in March 2012, and why with the demise of his former boss, he has continued to lie to the people for three years, while our compatriots continue to perish.

If Messrs Rawlings and Kufuor cannot give any reasonable answers to the people of Ghana, then with all due respect, I suggest that they shut up and allow the people of Ghana to grieve in peace! As for Mr Mahama, I leave the question of whether he should resign or not to his conscience and his God.

I shall return with my beaded gourd, God willing.
Naana Ekua Eyaaba has an overarching interest in the development of the African continent and Black issues in general. Having travelled extensively through Africa, the Black communities of the East Coast of the United States as well as London and Leeds (United Kingdom), she enjoys reading, and writes when she is irritated, and edits when she is calm. You can email her at [email protected] , or read her blog at https://naanaekuaeyaaba.wordpress.com/.