‘Managerial-sneeze’, cobweb clearance?

For my generation of retired military officers who were commissioned over 50 years ago in the early 1970s, we humorously pronounce pepper, “peypey,” as our late contemporary/colleague characteristically pronounced it, no matter how much we teased him. 

So, when pepper (“peypey”) triggered a great sneeze from my “Manager,” I instinctively said “bless you!” Smiling, she said: “The sneeze has cleared all the cobwebs from my head!”

So, what is the connection between a sneeze and cobwebs? 

Coincidentally, a TV documentary that night on March 29, 2025 on “COVID-19 in Ghana,” took me down memory lane to my 2020 article written at the beginning of COVID-19, titled “Presidential-sneeze and cobweb clearance!” I wrote:

As children, when we sneezed, our parents smiled and said: “Good luck!”

A good sneeze made one feel good! With time, “Good luck” got upgraded to “Bless you!”  Indeed, one of the finest sneezes I have been a witness to, and to which I said “Bless you”, came from a former Head of State.

Uganda

From 2008-2009, I lived in Uganda as the UN Senior Military Adviser to former President of Mozambique, Joaquim Chissano. In 2006, Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, appointed former President Chissano his Special Envoy (SESG) for the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)-Affected Areas of Northern Uganda, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Central African Republic (CAR).

Kampala, Uganda’s capital, where I lived, had a fine Ghanaian restaurant. On this occasion. I had invited President Chissano for lunch. Unlike us West Africans who eat lots of pepper, East/Southern Africans do not eat pepper. I therefore warned Kofi the chef to use very little pepper for the tilapia light soup for Course One. 

‘Presidential sneeze’

As soon as Mr President swallowed the first spoonful of soup, I could tell from his countenance that the pepper was too strong for him.

No sooner had the second spoonful gone down than Mr President sneezed heavily.

I gave him a reassuring “Bless you!”

Looking at me intently, he said: “General, this sneeze from the “piripiri,” as he called pepper, has cleared all the cobwebs from my head” to which we all had a good laugh at his sense of humour. He added, “it is hot, but it is good!”

So how come a delightful nature’s act like sneezing which was met with “good luck” and “bless you,” and which could clear cobwebs from a President’s head, suddenly be met with disgust and hostility?

COVID-19 changed the rules of the game in 2020!

Now, if one sneezes even into one’s elbow as prescribed by WHO, one still feels guilty enough to say “Sorry.” Indeed, if this is done in public, the ugly looks at the sneezer cut sharper than any verbal rebuke.

This reinforces what has now become a cliché that, “we are not in normal times” and that COVID-19 is going to change the world. One aspect of our culture which must certainly change is that of funerals.

Funerals

Funerals in Ghana have become a very expensive activity fuelled by the multi-million-cedi funeral industry.

Event planners, bankers, transporters, caterers, printers, musicians, textile designers and morticians as well as many others have all cashed in on this lucrative industry at the expense of bereaved families.

So much time, energy and money are wasted giving the deceased “fitting burials”, which leave families in huge debt and in endless litigations and fights over such debts incurred.

In some cases, corpses are kept in mortuaries for months, while “preparations” are made for expensive funerals.

This Ghanaian phenomenon is completely different from my experience in Kenya.

In 2017, I worked in Kenya as the CEO for the African Peace Support Trainers Association (APSTA).

The Chairman of our Board was a renowned Kenyan diplomat Ambassador Kiplagat, probably the Kenyan equivalent of our Kofi Annan. 

Unfortunately, soon after my arrival in Kenya, Ambassador Kiplagat died.

After a week, I asked my secretary to arrange a visit for me to visit the bereaved family on behalf of our organisation. To my surprise, she replied: “he was buried yesterday!”

She then educated me that in Kenya, funerals are generally held in one week.

In extreme cases where children of the deceased have to fly home from overseas, a maximum of two weeks is allowed, but nothing beyond that! 

So, why are we so fixated on expensive funerals? Ghana must learn from such simple and inexpensive practices.

Attitudinal change

While not decrying the need to import machinery/vehicles, COVID-19 must teach us to stop the importation of frozen chicken wings, toothpicks, tilapia, toilet roll, tomatoes, low-cost textiles and basic food items such as rice and corn.

In the 1970s under Gen. Acheampong’s “Operation-Feed-Yourself,” Ghana became a net exporter of rice and maize.

Dawhenya rice was special both in taste and aroma. 
We must learn to eat what we grow, and grow what we eat and develop the “do it yourself” (DIY) culture.

Discussion

A common question asked regularly on radio/TV is, “What is wrong with us Ghanaians?” 

For our relatively small country with a population of slightly over 30 million people, given all the human and natural resources God has given us, why have we been to the IMF seventeen times?

Meanwhile, during the week, radio/TV reported acute water shortages in Kumasi/Tamale /Ho and their environs.

While surgeons at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) suspended all surgeries because of lack of water, students at Ho Technical trekked long distances to fetch water from a well.

The problem is that there is no consequence for crime. Thus, impunity, stealing, “galamsey” and corruption thrive.

How can 1346 containers of ECG equipment vanish from Tema Harbour by “land, sea or air?” and an individual steal money to buy 27 houses? 

Meanwhile, like it happened in the 1979/1982 coups when successful businessmen were labelled thieves and persecuted by the revolutionaries, genuine businessmen like the pharmaceutical giant Dr Michael Agyekum Addo (KAMA) had their investments callously destroyed in government’s 2023 DDEP, leading to his death.

I cannot forget the words of my Ugandan General colleague in 2008-2009:

“When laws fail to be applied because of political influences, indiscipline and impunity take over.”

“When people know they can get away with murder because nothing will happen to them, they will kill with impunity.

But when they know they will also be killed for murder because the Law works, they will not kill!”

Government, let the Law work! May you have a good sneeze to clear all the cobwebs from your heads!

Leadership, lead by example! Fellow Ghanaians, wake up!

Read  a fuller  version online.

Former CEO, African Peace Support Trainers Association,
Nairobi, Kenya/Council Chairman, Family Health University,
Accra.                        
E-mail: dkfrimpong@yahoo.com