Features
When I visited the cemetery…
Yesterday, I had to visit the cemetery in connection with an impending event and as I stood there and looked at the various graves, I involuntarily started to reflect on life in general and it was a humbling experience.
All those people whose mortal remains were in the graves had been alive a few weeks, a few months, a few years ago, just like me and you, full of life and vitality.
There were men and women both young and old and I guess if we were to look into their backgrounds, would find diverse status in terms of financial muscle, academic achievements etc. and it was really disheartening.
One thing that really humbled me was the close proximity that all these people shared with each other, despite the differences that existed between them in terms of tribe, social status or whatever.
At the cemetery, you do not have the power of choice of your resting place, someone makes the choice for you and it was a very sobering moment for me.
I started wondering about what the attitude of these departed souls would have been in terms of how they would have related to people they came into contact with in their daily lives during their existence on this beautiful planet.
I wish it was possible to witness the look on the face of a very snobbish person who after his or her burial realised that she or he has been buried beside a mentally ill person, or a prostitute etc.
I really would have loved to behold such a sight, if it were possible. Just imagine for a moment that death is like falling asleep and this person who thinks she is better than everybody suddenly wakes up after being buried to realise that her permanent neighbour is a person with no qualification together with all the other attributes she despises.
Just use your imagination for a moment and picture her look of frustration, disgust and helplessness in the situation she finds herself.
A thought run through my mind about the value in monetary terms the ideas the people in the graves had that they could not implement. Books that were not written due to procrastination, business ideas that could have helped eased the unemployment situation in the country, a gift that could have transformed someone’s life but was not given, an advice that could have benefited someone but was not given, a life whose full potential could not be realised, souls that could have been won for Christ had the desire to preach the gospel been implemented and the cascading effect it would have had on society.
What I picked from this reflective moment was how much procrastination can cost us as well as the need to be each other’s keeper so we can fulfill our divine purposes.
A few days ago, the balloting for the presidential candidates was done and there were 13 candidates. We woke up to bad news yesterday the 29th of October, 2024 and the candidates have now become 12 because one of them is no more.
If you had a grudge against her, it is of no use. In the same vein, if she also had a grudge against someone, it is also of no use. We need to constantly remind ourselves that somebody created us and that like a manufacturer, he alone knows our expiry date.
Reflecting on how we will end, I believe, would help us live a much more fulfilling and fruitful lives. The selfishness and the greediness will reduce our society would be better managed.
The dependence on foreign aid, I believe would drastically reduce, if selfishness and greediness is reduced through the realisation that we brought nothing into this world and we shall certainly carry nothing out and that our final resting place, shall in most cases be determined by others.
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
Features
New family head for Nii Otu we/Kweifio We
A 56-year-old driver, Ibrahim Nii Darku Amponsah, was last Saturday installed as the 6th family head of the Kweifio/Nii Otu We at Ayikai Doboro in the Ga East Municipality.
He succeeds the late Ibrahim Alhaji Adjah, who performed that duty from 1998 until his demise in August 2024.
Ibrahim Nii Darku Amponsah’s installation was performed by Nii Ashittey Tetteh, head of the Okortshoshiehsie families at James Town and Amamole.
He admonished Nii Darku Amponsah to be a good family head, and resolve family issues with justice.
Nii Ashittey Tetteh, who poured libation and slaughtered animals to pacify the ancestors, said there was nothing fetish about this millennia-old traditions.
Nii Darku Amponsah expressed his profound happiness for the confidence reposed in him, and promised to work diligently to promote the interest of family members.
He called on the youth to avoid violence and negative behaviour during the December 7, polls.
Nii Darku Amponsah paid homage to the five previous family heads and extolled the good works they performed to keep the family interest and unity over the years.
The previous family heads were Nii Oblenteng, Kwaku Amponsah, Kweitse Nii Otu, Nuumo Otinkorang, and Ibrahim Alhaji Adjah.
Caption: Nii Ashittey Tetteh congratulating Nii Darku Amponsah through handshake
A family member pouring powder on NIi Darku Amponsah’s head, while Nii Ashittey Tetteh (left) and other family members look on
By Francis Xah
Features
Ghana, Seychelles deepen bilateral cooperation
The recent state visit by the President of the Republic of Seychelles, Mr Wavel Ramkalawan, has deepened and taken to higher notch, the bilateral relations between the two countries, says Mr Kwame Acquah, the Consul of the Republic of Seychelles in Accra.
Mr Acquah told The Spectator that Ghana and Seychelles have signed seven Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in sectors including culture, trade air service agreement, tourism, aquaculture, and education for the mutual benefit of both countries.
He said there were Ghanaians living and working in Seychelles with about 500 of them working in the fisheries sector in Seychelles with a sister Tuna Company in Tema.
Seychelles is a tiny Archipelago Island in the Indian Ocean, off East Africa with a population of a little over 100, 000. It achieved Independence from British colonial rule in 1976.
The Archipelago Island has a historic relations with Ghana dating back to 1896 when Nana Agyeman Prempeh I, the 13th King of Ashanti Empire, and others were exiled to the Seychelles Island during the colonial rule where he spent 27 years, before the British colonial administrators allowed him to return to Ashanti.
By Alhaji Salifu Abdul-Rahaman
