In the advanced jurisdictions, issues of monitoring and evaluation, and health and safety are never joked with. I once worked at a cheese factory and later a meat processing factory in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

It was a common practice to have officials from relevant State inspectorate agencies pay unannounced visits to ascertain how quality standards were being strictly adhered to.

They would come with all kinds of gadgets to monitor and record standards of practice, environmental cleanliness, and safety of employees. Even fire extinguishers are checked for normalities and functionality or otherwise.

Health and safety:

I worked with a logistics company in Milton Keynes England, and the practice was not different. Indeed, the European Union has common rules and regulations in respect of safety standards so that was not even a surprise.

In developed countries, matters of food and drug safety are not joked with. So when it happens that there is a breach in the chain of quality assurance, the source is immediately isolated, the public duly informed and the product appropriately withdrawn from the market.

This even happens when it involves vehicles, other gadgets, and consumables. So you would hear a particular batch of vehicles, mobile phones, etc., being withdrawn from the markets due to manufacturer's defects. And even those who have bought the products are being compensated.

Divergence:

A juxtaposition of this to what pertains in our part of the world, Africa, with Ghana in focus, presents a completely divergent picture.

According to the banner headline of today's (September 17, 2024) edition of the Daily Graphic newspaper, there are 500,000 herbalists in Ghana, whose operation is not licensed.

And these herbalists, operate under the farçade of herbal hospitals and clinics and dispensing all sorts of toxic concoctions to people.

I have always said: that in the Asante region, particularly Kumasi, there's an herbal center in almost every building, and they openly advertise.

Vital organs:

These herbalists who claim to have a complete cure for every illness in the human anatomy, rather end up damaging the vital internal organs of the people.

The Daily Graphic has put out this publication, and as expected, that's where it will all end. The appropriate state agencies would simply stand aloof.

Our herbalists claim their medicines are prepared with herbs, leaves, roots, and backs of plants; when the forests are contaminated by galamsey?

People consume deadly concoctions dished out by these herbalists, and we don't know why kidney disease has become rampant in Ghana these days.

We lose sight of what's causing our internal organs to fail but turn around to complain about the inadequacy of dialysis and other facilities in hospitals.

Mallams:

Ghana is experiencing economic challenges and we're before the IMF for $3b support, yet, we have Mallams conjuring trillions of dollars on Television.

We all know it is only the Central Bank (BoG) that has the authority to issue cedis as legal tender, yet, these 'Mallams' openly engage in such acts.

Attention:

The things that must engage our attention, as a people, are rather pushed out of the way, and expend time and energy engaged in egregious cacophony.

With the revelation of such a gargantuan number of illegal herbalists plying their trade, not in secret but openly, the best thing to do is for relevant State agencies to take immediate action to close them down and deal with them according to law.

However, the will be dead news by tomorrow morning, we will continue behaving as if nothing is happening, the illegality of these 500,000 herbalists we continue dishing out deadly concoctions, and people's vital organs will continue being damaged.