11-year old boat ‘pilot/captain?’
Week two of September 2025 was eventful both at home and internationally. “
Pink October,” previously dedicated to breast cancer education, was upgraded to education on all cancers.
New lawyers (824) were called to the bar, bringing the total since 2020 to 5,194.
In Madagascar, a “Gen-Z”-led revolt resulted in the President escaping from the country, and a military take-over.
In Kenya, 80-year-old opposition leader Raila Odinga died.
Galamsey will simply not go away! As I listened to the 13-year-old’s graphic/harrowing account of trying to maintain menstrual hygiene with dirty water from the polluted stream as she cannot afford sachet water, I bowed my head in shame as a Ghanaian adult!
I heard myself say, “our love for gold over human life has made us fail 13-year-olds!” At the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) research on 4,000 placentas revealed the presence of Cyanide, Arsenic, Lead, Mercury (CALM).
However, in view of my word limitation, I will discuss only a few topics.
Meanwhile, there is a thriving industry of young prostitutes deep in the galamsey jungle as was shown on TV recently.
Indeed, it is alleged that some Blue Water Guard women supposed to be fighting galamsey have been impregnated by rich galamsey miners!
Incidents
The Black Stars qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup after a nail-biting 1-0 win over Comoros.
The Indian Ocean Island of Comoros, with a population of less than one million, inflicted one of Brutus’ “most unkindest cuts of all” in Ghana’s football history, when their 3-2 win over us in Qatar 2022 contributed to sending the Black Stars packing home in the opening round of the qualifiers.
Is it true that Ghanaian-born foreign-based players who rejected call-ups to play for Ghana in the qualifiers are now harassing the coach for inclusion to the World Cup?
Following demands from their “foot-soldiers,” some politicians suggested that the age limit of 30 for recruits into the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) should be increased to 35, and possibly 40! Reason?
Some 35/40-year-olds are fit, and therefore, can be recruits.
Amazingly, notwithstanding all Ghana’s problems of galamsey, food security, schools under trees, perennial floods etc, they spent time doing “research” on militaries of other countries, findings of which showed some 35-40-year olds fit, and able recruits. Probably deeper “research” would have shown that some 50-year-olds are very fit.
Should recruitment for private soldiers therefore cover them?
Did they think of Ghana’s very young median population of 23-years as against the world’s average of 30-years?
As breaking news on TV, Ghanaians learnt of the boat accident in the Volta Lake, Oti Region that claimed the lives of 15, including eleven children.
The “captain/pilot” of the ill-fated boat tragedy was an eleven-year old boy.
Boat disaster
One of the coinages of the English language we created as naughty little students was “flabber-whelmed,” a crossbreed of “flabbergasted” and “overwhelmed.”
The discussion on Peace FM on the boat disaster was difficult for both interviewer and interviewee.
As the Oti Regional NADMO Director gave details of water transportation on the lake by canoes, the usually unruffled interviewer, the Chairman-General, sounded “flabber-whelmed!”
It was particularly so when the director confirmed that the “pilot/captain” of the ill-fated boat was an eleven-year-old boy! Particularly shocking/disturbing was the revelation by the Director that the island-dwellers display a total dislike for life-jackets even when available.
Incidentally, unlike the official silence on the Obogu Church, Asante-Akyem road-traffic-accident which also claimed 15 lives, on her visit to commiserate with relatives of the boat tragedy soon after the incident in Oti Region, the Vice-President sent them life-jackets and exhorted them to use them regularly for their safety.
Recruitment of foot-soldiers
The statement by the MPs asking for the age limit to be moved from 30 to 35, and possibly 40 caught many people by surprise.
This is on account of the strenuous and physically-demanding nature of military training.
As Maj-Gen Henry Anyidoho (Rtd), former Deputy-Force-Commander for the United Nations Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR) stated on GTV in an interview by Kafui Dey, “protocol soldiers” pushed into the military by politicians do not make good soldiers.
He opined that, no protocol soldier could have gone through the ordeal proper Ghanaian soldiers went through in Rwanda.
Indeed, this development brought back memories of my friend veteran journalist/Chairman of Ghana News Agency, Nana Kwasi Gyan Apenteng, who was laid to rest on October 4, 2025. Nana would constantly tell me,
“General, please don’t blame us civilians when we make ill-informed statements about the military. It is simply because we are so ignorant about the military.
What judgement we make is based on the misbehaviour of a few young private soldiers exhibiting youthful exuberance in town.
What you must do is to get your Directorate of Public Relations to educate Ghanaians out of our ignorance about the military!
I am told, death of trainees during training is not told the public! Why? We must know to realise that soldiering is not a walk in the park!”
How I wish Nana were alive to educate the MPs! A point Nana totally endorsed was my submission that, all MPs must do a six-eight week basic military orientation training before starting their work in Parliament.
We joked that an initial 10 mg shots of the vaccine Humility Enhancing Arrogance Demolition (HEAD) will be reinforced with booster shots after six weeks.
Basic “discipline,” which will exorcise arrogance aside, “Word Choice and Tone” will help promote the use of decorous language, we agreed.
Discussion
Like the Biblical story of a prophet not honoured in his own country, while some politicians might not realise the value of the Ghana-Armed-Forces, it is a highly respected institution internationally.
Any attempt to tinker with it will therefore attract both local and international ridicule and opprobrium!
A jab I had was, “General, are your politicians converting your armed forces into an ‘old-people’s home’ for their foot-soldiers?”
After KNUST’s Head of Pathology, Prof. Sampene’s disclosure of over 500 cases of “spontaneous-abortions,” due to heavy metal concentrations in the placenta of pregnant women, and his appeal to “put aside partisan battles and confront the deadly effects of galamsey,” Ghanaians wonder when we shall “cross the Rubicon” to say “enough is enough,” to galamsey, and declare a state of emergency in the affected areas.
Finally, there is an organisation called the “Retired Commissioned Officers-Association (RCOA).”
It is a veritable storehouse of knowledge, expertise, experience and wisdom. Please make use of them as countries you “research” from, do! Support this with the advice in Proverbs 3: 5-6.
May the souls of the 15 who perished in the boat accident on the Volta Lake, Oti Region, and the 15 Obogu, Asante-Akyem RTA victims RIP!!
Leadership, lead by example/ integrity! Fellow Ghanaians, wake up!
The writer is a former CEO, African Peace Support Trainers Association
Nairobi, Kenya; Council Chairman, Family Health University,
Teshie, Accra
E-mail: dkfrimpong@yahoo.com
