Yaw Boadu Ayeboafoh: Futility of man
All problems become smaller if we do not dodge them but confront them. William F. Halsey
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There is an Akan saying: “Se yeduru amanfooso a, na yakae yaanom,” meaning whenever we come across old abandoned settlements, we remember our ancestors.
Wednesday, June 3, 2015, will forever be etched in the minds of Ghanaians. That was the day the worst disaster in terms of fatalities occurred as many of us slept soundly unmindful of the lurking danger, again affirming the proverb, that “Yada nanso yen nnan gu abonten,” to wit; although we are asleep, our legs are on the street.
Yes, we woke up to realise that some of our relations, friends and colleagues came face-to-face with death. To those who perished, we can only pray to God to keep them safe. The fact is that what happened to the nearly 200 people who innocently lost their lives could have happened to anybody as they took the most rational decision to seek shelter while the rains persisted.
As we keep counting the numbers, we need to soberly reflect upon the tragedy and consider the most effective measures to avoid a similar mishap in the foreseeable future.
It must tell us a lesson, that when it comes to matters that affect our being and touch at the core of our lives, we should do away with partisan politics and confront issues head-on.
The situation where in the interest of votes we fail to do the most sensible thing cannot be allowed to continue. It is because of politics that the Odaw River and the Korle Lagoon are what they are today.
One of the most successful attempts in recent memory to keep Accra healthy, clean and secure by Nii Adjiri Blankson got frittered away because of a by-election. When the veritable E.T.Mensah attempted to clear the CMB area, he was confronted by protestors including women who stripped naked.
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Even Dr Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije made inroads until protestations scuttled his efforts. Some within the National Democratic Congress branded him an enemy of the party because he did not contest any election to get his position just as some New Patriotic Party members lambasted and lampooned Nii Adjiri Blankson.
Indeed, Nii Adjiri did not just remove people from the streets; he constructed the Odawna Market at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, to resettle them.
It is because of our craving for votes irrespective of the consequence on our comfort that today, commuters have to spend hours travelling to and from Kasoa, when human lives were nearly lost removing traders from the roadside to the new market on the Bawjiase Road.
The traders were not only allowed to return but some were granted permits to construct permanent buildings to the anguish of those who originally occupied the place, before they were evicted to the new market.
As I watched television footages of the hapless victims of the flood and fire, the lack of sensitivity and professionalism with which the bodies were handled and those with multiple burns, my mind went back to a profound story given by the Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, Rt Rev Emmanuel Asante, about the futility of man as enunciated by Alexander the Great.
Rt Rev Asante said he received a text message from a friend which indicated that before Alexander the Great died, he summoned his military generals and laid before them three wishes: that when he dies, his coffin must be carried by the most outstanding physicians and surgeons, that all his wealth including gold should be strewn along the way where his coffin would pass to the cemetery and that his arms should be stretched on both sides of the coffin.
Vanity you may think, but when one of the generals asked him to explain what the rationale was for this seeming extravaganza, the king explained that first he wanted the world to understand the inevitability of death and that when it comes, no doctor could save you; that he also wanted the world to know that no amount of wealth could buy human life and that lastly, he wanted the world to see his empty hands and understand that when we die we will take nothing out of this world.
How true! All those who perished left home that Wednesday full of hope but none could be saved by whatever wealth or power they had amassed. That must underline the futility of man.
We, therefore, have to do what will benefit all, rather than pander to the interests of individuals in the name of partisan political interests, influence of power or wealth. We must let this tragedy galvanise us to act with a common objective to make Accra a national capital worth its salt, safe, secure and hospitable.