By: Kwame Twumasi-Fofie

Not so long ago the Akan saying that ‘Dinpa yè sen ahonya’ (literal translation: ‘good name is better than riches’ used to be the one useful piece of advice no well-meaning and responsible parent would leave out when giving a pep-talk to a child or ward. As to exactly when this saying got relegated to the background I have no idea. What I know for sure, though, is that in Ghana of today, the saying is no longer relevant. The situation we have now is that: ‘both the mother crab and the baby crab are crawling; so who’s going to teach the other how to walk?’

What is happening now is parents actively encouraging and supporting their children to engage themselves in whatever means to get whatever they want, damn the consequences. Not only are female students in tertiary institutions rumoured to be sleeping with lecturers in exchange for good grades, the practice is said to be taking place even in second cycle schools. There’s a wide perception of so-called ‘Men of God’ playing all sorts of games with the private part of female church members under the pretext of ‘redeeming’ them from all their misfortunes, real or imagined. In short the moral fabric of the Ghanaian society has been degraded to such an extent that the only thing that matters now in everything we do is what we get not how we get it. In short, the end always justifies the means!

Scratching Each Other’s Back For the Wrong Purpose

Now parents and guardians organise themselves to connive with teachers to let their wards cheat at exams in pursuit of a win-win situation where the students obtain good grades and the schools enhance their reputation. So if later on at the tertiary level, this same girl decides to help herself attain higher heights by offering her body to her teacher/lecturer why should we blame her? Or should it surprise anyone if later on in life, some irresponsible employee demands sexual favours from this same girl in exchange for a job or promotion?

In the same vein, what ‘professionalism’ do you expect from a Police or Military officer who got recruited into the service after paying a bribe? Again, if indeed it is true as is always alleged that the junior police officers who collect money from drivers do so with the blessing of their superiors and in fact share the booty with them how, realistically speaking, do you expect the latter to order the former to stop the practice?

‘Peer Pressure’ Now Replaced by ‘Parental Pressure’

There was a time when a parent would insist on demanding full disclosure of the source of sudden wealth of his/her son/daughter and discourage him/her from getting involved in any ‘unconventional’ means to get rich. Not so anymore. Perhaps there may be no better example of this than the personal experience I heard from a 40-year old Nana Adwoa who used to live in Austria.

After 10 years abroad Nana Adwoa was visiting home for the first time. Unfortunately she didn’t bring ‘anything’ or at least that was the feeling of her mother. Not at all amused by this, Adwoa Maame didn’t mince her words at all in telling her daughter how disappointed she was in her, scolding her for having neglected the people she had left behind. To illustrate her point she made reference to a neighbourhood girl who within five years of travelling abroad had not only visited home on three occasions, each time with a container load of items, but was also putting up a ‘mansion’. In shock, Adwoa queried her mother whether she had bothered to find out how the lady she was referring to came by her wealth. The sharp response of her mother was: ‘And what about that? Aren’t you also a woman? So what stops you from engaging yourself in whatever other women engage themselves in to get what they want?’ This is a true story! Nowadays, parents, particularly women, not only actively encourage their seriously attached or even married daughters to flirt with other married men, they also find nothing wrong seeing them engage in prostitution. Over the years many Ghanaians have been made aware of the terrible risks many young Ghanaians go through in their attempt to get to Europe by travelling over the Sahara and crossing the Mediterranean in canoes. Years gone by, parents would have used stories of the ill fate of others to advise and dissuade their own children from engaging themselves in such risky ventures. Not so today. Even when these young men and women call home from North Africa and recount their ordeal in crossing the great Sahara including even how many of their colleagues must have perished in the process they’re still encouraged by their parents to forge ahead and risk crossing the sea in a canoe which under normal circumstances they themselves wouldn’t fancy crossing River Tano with.

Are Radio/TV Adverts Not Subjected to Any Regulations?

I really don’t know if there’s any authority responsible for regulating the content of advertisements especially on radio. But sometimes I do wonder if some of the adverts on the airwaves would be allowed on air in even the most liberal societies we know of. One particular advert for example directly appeals to young people who want to become football stars like Michael Essien (he’s mentioned by name) to contact him (the ‘spiritualist’) for assistance. This, I think, is not only an insult to the hard work and dedication of Essien and others like him who have worked so hard to make a name for themselves but also a conscious effort to pollute the minds of Ghanaian youth that the way to stardom or prosperity is not by hard work but rather through the power of some spiritualist. I believe many of us have heard of adverts by self-proclaimed ‘spiritualists’ claiming to possess the ability to secure visas for prospective travellers as well as solve all immigration problems of those who have already travelled.

As a matter of fact it appears that so long as it is an advert any form of profanity, vulgarity and outright deceit is acceptable. And the situation gets even worse when these know-it-all mallams, ‘doctors’ and priests have the opportunity to promote themselves on live radio programmes. And I’m talking about prime time adverts on public radio. Perhaps the least said about lyrics of some of our musicians the better. The point is that not even in the more developed and open societies is every word and comment acceptable on radio but apparently, in Ghana everything goes.

And what about so-called health facilities claiming to have some wonder machines capable of detecting every hidden illness in a person’s body by merely placing that person’s finger-nail or hair sample on the machine. Not only that, it’s also claimed that after detecting whatever illness a person may have, the machine also prescribes medicine for the illness. I wonder which country this wonder machine originated from and whether that country still trains medical doctors. Knowing how gullible many of our people are, don’t such misleading and obviously untrue information circulating on our airwaves pose a serious threat to the society?

A Country of the Sexually Weak?

Is it not ironic that in a country where malaria and infectious diseases are the major causes of hospital attendance what one is more likely to hear being advertised on radio from morning to evening is some ‘gin bitters’ or herbal mixture that enhances sexual prowess, interestingly for both for men and women? And the way they do it you may even be tempted to believe that the male and female sexual organs are interchangeable in a way that a medicine that’s good for one is necessarily good for the other. One is likely to learn more about sexual weakness, premature ejaculation and problems with childlessness from FM stations in Ghana on a given day than perhaps a week spent in the clinic of a specialist Urologist or Gynaecologist. The obvious impression any foreigner gets from all this is that it’s sexual weakness in men, rather than defilement and teenage pregnancy that are the major social problems affecting the youth of this country.

Where Indeed Have Our Morals Gone?

Lawlessness is a serious problem in our society, and for me this is a direct result of our morals having sunk so low. For example I happened to be in the office of a Police OFFICER one day when a young man came in with a sack-load of pirated CDs and DVDs for sale. By the time he left the office this young guy had done good business and it was obvious from all indications that this was a routine business visit to the office. That this Police Officer could engage himself in an obvious illegality in his office, during working hours, and in the presence of a member of the public not even a personal friend of his says it all about the moral degradation in our society which is a contributory factor to the corruption that is fast engulfing us.

Any time I see a policeman/woman openly collecting monies from drivers in the full glare of passengers and passers-by; any time I hear of politicians who only yesterday were distributing cash and other items in exchange for votes claiming today that they’re going to fight corruption; any time I hear of traditional rulers turning themselves into visa contractors and so-called ‘men of God’ bathing married women or raping young girls I ask myself: where have all our morals gone?

Kwame Twumasi-Fofie