‘As it was with tomatoes, so it is now with onions, and ever shall…?
One of my favourite Chaplains, known for his sense of humour, always starts his sermons with, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” after which he later adds, “as it was in the beginning, so is it now, and ever shall be!”
Believing the latter to be a biblical quote and wanting to quote it properly therefore, I decided to look for and quote its exact location in the Bible.
To my surprise, I could not find such a direct quote, linking the past, present and future.
The quote is, thus,a doxology of a “remix” of bits and pieces of biblical quotes.
With this, I felt more relaxed to proceed without fear of being accused of irreverence in my title, “as it was in the beginning with tomatoes, so is it now with onions, and ever shall be with….?”
Tomatoes
In my March 27, 2026 article on tomatoes, aka “tomantoes, “Akumadan-tomay-rose” in the words of a former minister, or simply “mantoes,” I was unsure of the rationale of sending a delegation to Burkina Faso, when it decided to pursue its national Interest of value-addition to tomatoes by processing, and stop exporting raw tomatoes.
Somehow, Burkina Faso rescinded/postponed the decision to suspend/ban the export of raw tomatoes to Ghana. The question is, for how long?
While some Ghanaians have applauded this as a welcome relief, for how long shall we depend on the benevolence of others for a basic vegetable like tomatoes?
Just when the March storm over tomatoes appeared to have relented, a new storm arose at the beginning of April 2026 with another vegetable, this time ONIONS!
From April 5-9, 2026, an estimated 60 trucks carrying onions from Niger to Ghana were prevented from continuing their journey and detained at Samia, Kebbi State in North-Eastern Nigeria.
The action was ostensibly Nigeria’s retaliation for a disagreement during which Nigerian traders in Ghana alleged that they were blocked from offloading their goods at the Adjen-Kotoku onion market.
It took a high-level delegation to Nigeria to resolve the impasse.
While this drama unfolded, TV showed pictures of onions cultivated locally in the North-East Region, Volta and Upper Regions rotting away for lack of market/buyers.
Paradox
Like the tomatoes conundrum in which over 90 per cent of tomatoes are imported while locally produced tomatoes rot away after harvest for lack of buyers, it is estimated that over 60 per cent of onions we consume are imported from Niger, Burkina Faso and Nigeria.
It is difficult to understand why Ghana continues to allow its food security to be influenced/determined by neighbouring countries in such a volatile supply-chain regime.
The killing of nine Ghanaian tomato traders in Burkina Faso in March 2026 attests to the avoidable risks Ghanaians undertake, probably because of the absence of effective agricultural policies.
The hype about constructing the multi-purpose Pwalugu Dam a few years ago to control the annual floods from the spillage of Burkina Faso’s Bagre Dam, among others, has still not materialised.
Ad-hoc solutions backed by long explanations, which do not help, continue to plague us.
Questions
Why do we still import sugar when we have the Komenda Sugar Factory?
What happened to the Asutsuare Sugar Factory?
Again, why do we continue to import rice from outside while local rice piles up in warehouses, as shown on TV, for lack of buyers?
Is it the case, as alleged, that the rice and sugar cartel oligarchs have such a stranglehold that their choke-grip over preventing local production makes us helpless?
We must not continue behaving like the proverbial vulture, which promises to build itself a nest at the beginning of the rainy season, but forgets about it immediately after the rains.
We must learn painful lessons from the Burkina Faso killings of our tomato traders, and the Kebbi, Nigeria blockade of trucks carrying onions from Niger to Ghana!
Under Gen. Acheampong’s “Operation Feed Yourself” in the early 1970s, after his 1972 coup, Ghana exported maize to our neighbours, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Niger. Indeed, we exported maize out of our sub-region to Mozambique under a UN food programme!
Vegetable growing became a routine backyard activity as households utilised every available space to produce their own tomatoes, onions, pepper etc. So, what happened?
As we were taught as cadets over half a century ago in 1972-1974, leaders solve problems, and not explain why problems have not been solved.
Meanwhile, discussions on galamsey appear to have been pushed to the back burner as it continues to ravage us.
Some have openly suggested that the fight against galamsey has been lost because those entrusted to fighting it are the beneficiaries of its proceeds.
Some water treatment plants are either operating far below capacity or have been shut down because of sedimentation/pollution from galamsey.
Recent TV pictures of the Barekese and Owabi Dams in Kumasi were distressing as galamsey has silted them, making them operate far below capacity, and under insanitary conditions.
Sadly, according to the Ghana Water Company official who spoke on TV, any time it rains, large quantities of plastic threaten the intake valves.
The sad “solution” has been to deploy a worker in a canoe to get rid of the plastics.
Why are we killing ourselves slowly as we think for those far from the galamsey areas, and aggressively in the galamsey areas?
I hope my title for this week, “As it was in the beginning with tomatoes, so it is now with onions, and ever shall be?” does not become a self-fulfilling prophecy with another vegetable like pepper following, after tomatoes and onions in this undesirable relay.
The blueprint for Gen Acheampong’s successful “Operation Feed Yourself” exists, with no need to reinvent the wheel!
Leadership, lead by example/ integrity/humility! 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:
