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Battered, ruined by drugs …Story of 30-year-old mason
● Samuel Yao Kumah desires to get out of drug addiction
Many are of the view that once a person has passed the teenage years, there is no possibility of being influenced by their peers.
However, what happened to Samuel Yao Kumah might make many change their understanding of peer pressure.
In an interview with The Spectator last Thursday at Ashaiman in the Greater Accra Region, the 30-year-old Kumah disclosed that five years ago, he was a successful person frequenting some parts of a neighbouring country until he was introduced to drugs by some of his friends of the same age.
The mason recalled with tears that he once worked with a company which specialised in building warehouses and paid him handsomely.
He said the dramatic spiral began when some of his friends started begging him for money to buy drugs, which he did out of kindness.
Yao Kumah said that with time, as he hanged around with them, they convinced him to also have a sniff or two, and just so that he would not offend them, he agreed.
He said unfortunately, with time, he observed that he was to develop a strong ‘love’ for the drug and patronised it, especially when he was alone.
Sadly and unimaginably, with time, Yao Kumah became addicted and started investing so much in drugs.
He explained that this was because anytime he failed to take it, he experienced a serious discomfort popularly known as “turkey,” and so he had to try as much as possible to have access to it before he could feel normal.
“It affected my output at work, and I also lost interest in everything except drugs,” he said.
According to Yao Kumah, gradually he started losing so much, including his job, wife, savings and even some properties.
He said he was forever grateful to one of his brothers, who advised him to buy land and build a house when he had the means.
“But for him, I would have been homeless by now,” he recalled.
He said some families and friends had tried to caution him, but their pieces of advice came at a time when he was too neck-deep in it to turn back.
Yao Kumah said he regretted not staying away from such friends of bad influence and felt bad each time he remembered how he allowed himself to be destroyed so easily.
He currently tries to patch roads with potholes to earn some income or beg from road users to survive and take care of his three children, who live with his mother in the Volta Region.
Yao Kumah said his strongest desire was to stop doing drugs, get a decent job to take care of his children and restore his dignity.
He called on public-spirited people to help him to go to a rehabilitation centre to get professional help to get off drugs.
The mason said he had tried on his own to quit drugs, but the situation had gone beyond the use of willpower to get out of it.
He advised the youth to avoid bad company because it was true that evil company corrupted good manners, so that they would not end up like him.
“On this note, let me take the opportunity to advise families and friends not to abandon their loved ones when they become drug addicts but rather support them in any way they can to bring them out of the mess they have found themselves in.
“Indeed, I feel bad whenever I look back at how I had fallen, but I felt worse when people passed by and insulted or humiliated me,” Yao Kumah said.
He said he was ready to avail himself to talk to people to stay away from bad company and drugs, using his life as an example.
From Dzifa Tetteh Tay, Ashaiman
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GEXIM deepens relations with US EXIM Bank
A management team of the Ghana Export – Import Bank (GEXIM) led by the Acting Chief Executive, Sylvester Mensah met with the leadership of the Export–Import Bank of the United States (US EXIM) on Wednesday April 23, 2025 in Washington DC, United States of America.
The Acting President and Chairman of US EXIM, Mr. James C. Cruse and Vice President, International Relations, Ms. Isabel Galdiz received the GEXIM delegation, which included Deputy CEO for Banking, Mr. Moses Klu Mensah and Head of International Cooperation, Mr. Jonathan Christopher Koney at the headquarters of US EXIM.
The meeting offered the GEXIM team the opportunity to share the strategic direction of the Bank in line with the resetting agenda of the President of the Republic, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama for the repositioning of the Ghanaian economy into an export-led one by providing the requisite investment to Ghanaian businesses.
Mr. James C. Cruse expressed US EXIM’s eagerness to deepen its existing relations with GEXIM and proposed the signing of a new Cooperative Framework Agreement following the expiration of a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2019 to utilize US EXIM’s medium term loan guarantees to procure machinery by GEXIM for qualified Ghanaian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).
Mr.Sylvester Mensah thanked the Acting President and Chairman of US EXIM for hosting the GEXIM delegation and reaffirmed the Ghanaian government’s commitment to strengthening trade and investment between Ghana and its global partners for economic transformation of Ghana with GEXIM playing a pivotal role.
The two teams will be meeting on the sidelines of the 2025 US EXIM Annual Conference on 29th and April 30, 2025 to explore possible areas of collaboration and matching Ghanaian businesses to American companies. The meeting ended with an exchange of gifts.
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Many SOEs have been used as mere instruments for personal wealth accumulation –Pres.Mahama
President John Dramani Mahama has expressed concern over the misuse of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) for personal financial gain by individuals in leadership positions.
Speaking during a meeting with Chief Executives of specified entities under the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA) on Thursday, March 13, the President directly attributed the dire state of SOEs to their leadership, accusing chief executives, management teams, and governing boards of prioritising personal enrichment over organisational efficiency.
He pointed to bloated budgets, unjustified allowances, and unnecessary expenditures as factors draining public funds while SOEs continue to rely on government bailouts.
“Many SOEs have been used as mere instruments for personal wealth accumulation by appointees. The chief executives, management, and boards of these enterprises are responsible for this situation. Some SOEs have become perennial loss-makers, draining public funds with bloated budgets, unjustified allowances, and unnecessary expenditures while relying on government bailouts as if entitled to them. Many of these entities are at their lowest point in the entire history of the Fourth Republic,” he said.
President Mahama further noted that many SOEs have been plagued by inefficiencies, corruption, and mismanagement, leading to consistent financial losses. He cited the 2023 State Ownership Report by the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA), which highlighted systemic inefficiencies and wasteful expenditures within these entities.
He therefore reaffirmed his commitment to reforming under-performing SOEs and ensuring they serve national interests.
He warned that loss-making SOEs will no longer be tolerated and will either be merged, privatised, or closed.
“I will assess you based on your performance. If you do not align with the pace of the reset agenda, you may be asked to step aside. If that adds to the horror movie, so be it,” he added.
Source: Myjoyonline.com
