Cock-fight to conclusion?

To call last week a week of road traffic accidents (RTA) /accidents/violence and drama will not be far from the truth.

• Atwedie — A RTA on Friday, October 11, 2024 at Atwedie, near Juaso on the Accra-Kumasi Highway involving a VIP bus and a Sprinter bus resulted in the death of eight people.

• Kwapea — At Kwapea near Obuasi, an Enchi-bound VIP bus veered off the road into a river killing 17 passengers on Sunday, October 11, 2024.

• East Legon — At East Legon on October 12, 2024, an over-speeding 16-year-old boy crashed into a vehicle killing two who were burnt beyond recognition.

• Budumburam — Rocks being blasted in for the construction of a road on October 14, 224, killed three persons with over 40 injured.

• At Mamobi on October 14, 2024, what started as “health walks” ended up with shootings as supporters of the two leading parties clashed resulting in injuries.

Are these accidents/violence a self-fulfilling prophesy of mishaps that plague election years?

Before discussing violence, the Black Stars, once the pride of Ghana under Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah when we were little boys in the 1960s, lost 0-2 to Kwasi Appiah-led Sudan in Libya, home ground of war-torn Sudan on October 15, 2024!

As David bemoaned the death of Saul and Jonathan at the hands of the Philistines, he stated, “how are the mighty fallen?”

Ntinda

Violence/intemperate language as the December 7, 2024 Elections approach reminds me of my first sojourn in East Africa.

For 18 months between 2008 and 2009, I lived at Ntinda, a suburb of Kampala, capital of Uganda. What took me there?

In 2007, the Secretary-General of the UN, Kofi Annan appointed former president of Mozambique, Joaquim Chissano, as the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General (SESG) for the

Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) Affected Areas of Uganda, South Sudan, DRC and the Central African Republic.

The LRA was a nondescript pseudo-religious terrorist group led by a primary school dropout Joseph Kony, which terrorised the four countries mentioned. Rape, maiming and gruesome killings were their trademark. I was the UN Senior Military Adviser to President Chissano.

A relatively insignificant event one morning involving two cocks caught my attention, resulting in my article in 2023 titled “February 24th…” part stated:

Cock-fight

Minutes after I left home on February 24, 2023 for my morning walk, I saw two cocks fighting around a nearby preschool compound.

They reminded me of a similar cock-fight close to my home in Ntinda-Kampala, Uganda in 2009 early in the morning as I went for my walk.

When I came out of my gated community in the suburb of Ntinda, Kampala, early that morning of February 24, 2009 for my walk, I saw two cocks engaged in what I reckoned was a temporary duel.

So, with the few stones I threw at them, I thought I had brought an end to their fight, and continued with my walk. On my return an hour later, I was surprised to see them still fighting and bleeding from their injuries.

Once again, I separated them with stones I threw at them. As I drove out to my office around 8am, I saw them still fighting. This time, I chased them away. With my peacekeeping role over as I thought, I left for the office.

To my utter surprise when I returned home that evening, the two cocks were still fighting. This time, it was like two heavyweight boxers in the twelfth/last round of a world title fight.

Both were exhausted and bleeding profusely, but continued to fight with the little energy left in them. It was a clear case of “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak!”

Again, I threw stones at them to stop fighting. The following morning, when I got to the matadorial arena they had converted the school football field into, both cocks were lying next to each other, dead!

I asked myself, what would cocks whose ultimate destination is the soup pot, be so angry about, as to fight bitterly to death?

Discussion

Driving continues to degenerate into a dangerous macho activity in Ghana with the display of indiscipline at its highest.

Speed limits are disrespected, hence the daily occurrence of RTAs. An over-speeding 16-year-old killed two persons at East Legon, a residential area, and not a highway/racing track.

Where is parental responsibility? Where is law enforcement? A clip of the father of the 16-year-old killer-driver has him bragging that while the law works in the US, here he drives a vehicle without a number plate and without a driving licence.

He adds sadly that when the police see him, they defer to him and salute him! Such impunity, as he adds “who born dog?”

Do drivers of the VIP buses undergo any rigorous training that drivers of State Transport Corporation (STC) buses underwent yesteryear?

The spate of VIP bus accidents does not suggest so. So, what are the agencies for road safety doing? It is obvious that while death of “celebrities”/big-people in RTAs makes headline news, VIP deaths are reduced to mere statistics!

For the Mamobi fighters and their ilk foot soldiers, does it not occur to them that they are only cannon fodder for politicians achieving power?

Do they ever ask themselves where the children/relatives of the politicians are during such confrontations?

Perhaps, but for the serious involvement of some politicians in galamsey, as the Speaker said, their defence of the destruction of the environment, Ghana would have been a more developed country, given our human and natural endowment!

In my recent article titled: “Peace-time scorched-earth policy?” I concluded as follows…

“Remember Shakespeare’s quote, “the evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones!”

Deliberately polluting/poisoning water is a War Crime under the Geneva Conventions. Galamsey is an existential threat to Ghana.

So, how come greed for gold for individual pockets has become more important than the lives of Ghanaians? Remember, despite his high rank/position as a Colonel in the British Army, Oliver Cromwell’s legacy is that of a common criminal for regicide in the execution of King Charles I in 1649.

We started as a great nation in 1957 under a selfless leadership. Ghanaians do not deserve this self-inflicted ‘monumental embarrassment’/disaster of drinking galamsey-water contaminated by mercury/cyanide/lead because of conscienceless/greedy/selfish oligarchs!”
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Let us treat each other with respect and not behave like the two Ugandan cocks which fought to death!

Ultimately, no matter their wealth, politicians will die, just as paupers will. Even Methuselah died at 969!! A recent clip summarised life saying, “it all ends in a box (coffin).”

So, why this canker of blatant state-capture of greedily grabbing all lands/other state assets in sight, lies, arrogance and poisoning our rivers for gold as if they will live forever? Need I say more?

Leadership, lead by example! Fellow Ghanaians, wake up!

The writer is former CEO of African Peace Support Trainers Association, Nairobi, Kenya/Council Chair Family Health University College, Accra.
E-mail: dkfrimpong@yahoo.com