When individuals are sentenced to death by the state for any criminal offence, the mode of their transformation into ghosts to meet their ancestors in the other world is often pronounced by the state.
So here in Ghana, we know of death by firing squad and death by hanging.
Elsewhere, there is death by the electric chair.
Indeed, thousands of years ago in ancient Greece, Socrates is said to have been sentenced to death by drinking poison from the hemlock plant, for the crime of opposing the thinking that the earth was flat.
What I have not yet heard of officially is anyone “sentenced to death by food!” However, recent reports on TV, radio and the print media make me think that probably food is the most common death sentence in Ghana, although not pronounced directly.
Vegetables
Some years ago when the first PANAFEST was held in Ghana, reports that vegetables used were flown in from neighbouring countries were greeted with anger.
How dare the organisers do that when we had vegetables grown in Ghana, we fumed! Really? Well, we certainly have vegetables, but do they meet basic hygiene standards?
It does not take any stretch of the imagination to see the polluted water from gutters some vegetable growers in Accra use.
Indeed, it is a common sight.
While some of our neighbours use clean water from dams, others water their vegetables with clean water from wells.
Instead of getting angry with importation of vegetables, please let us humbly correct our current unhygienic methods of growing vegetables.
Fruits
Fruits have fared no better. In my article titled “Coconuts, Watermelons and Tomatoes“ (cwt), published in the Daily Graphic of May 22, 2018, I decried the unhygienic manner in which fruits such as oranges, tomatoes, mangoes etc are spread on the ground in the markets during the bumper harvest.
Meat and abattoirs
Recently, top officials of state visited Accra’s biggest abattoir. Watching the carcasses lying on the floor that night on TV killed my appetite for kebabs with immediate effect.
How could we in the 21st century still be operating the same old abattoir we had in colonial times?
Of course, I am aware there are a few new and modern ones here and there but generally, our abattoirs are an apology to decency.
When I saw a modern abattoir on a visit to a sister African country, I bowed my head in shame for our situation.
The centre
Some years ago, I patronised the guest house/recreational centre of a prominent state organisation and loved their goat-meat kebab.
One day, I passed through in the morning when service had not started and the goats were being prepared for the afternoon.
To my shock, car tyres were being used to singe the goats! When I questioned the seller, he looked surprised and told me it was cheaper and faster than using firewood.
The look on the face of a senior official whom I made a report to suggested the question “have you just arrived from the moon?”
This was long before the education not to use tyres as they cause cancer. Now state officials are paid to ensure food safety for us.
The question is, how efficient are they?
Contamination
It has been reported that palm oil is often laced with chemicals meant for tanning leather to give it a very reddish look. Our popular salted fish “koobi” is said to be preserved with formalin to give it longer life and to drive away flies!
Fruits such as pineapples, bananas and oranges are forced to prematurely look ripe when they are not, by the application of chemicals on the skin.
Watermelons are injected with red dye to make the inside look redder and more appetising!
Conclusion
With all these, is it surprising average life expectancy for the Ghanaian hovers around 60 only, as against over 80 in some countries?
It is the responsibility of the state to protect individuals through the numerous institutions.
It is not enough to join us the vulnerable in complaining, and do nothing on the job for which you are paid.
Please, state officials, do what you pledged to do for which you were appointed and enjoy all the perks to your office, and stop sending us to meet our ancestors prematurely, by being ‘sentenced to death by food!’
The writer is a former CEO,
African Peace Support Trainers Association (APSTA) Nairobi, Kenya and the Council Chairman, Family Health University College (FHUC), Teshie,
Accra.