Understanding the Ghanaian, and the starter pistol phenomenon
What is it about people, or should I say Ghanaians, that makes us so difficult to understand or typify; predictably unpredictable?
Related to that, what is it about negative news that makes it spread faster, seemingly, than national interest news or educative messages?
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The above questions tend to engage my attention from time to time.
Because, for example, as soon as there is news of something bad happening, or the emergence of an inexplicable or untoward development, its alarming effect spreads nationwide.
It’s as if a starter pistol has been fired or a whistle blown.
Yet, our governments or other authorities usually spend vast sums of money to educate the public on critical, national good matters but the compliance with directives is normally very low, to the despair of those charged with that assignment.
Take the current ‘mask up’ campaign by health officials and partners such as the National Commission for Civic Education.
The aim is to get people to wear nose masks when out of the house as a vital protection against the Covid-19.
Equally importantly, they should wear it properly – and not as a ‘chin mask’ or, as Rev Father Vitus Mensah of Effiakuma humorously put it recently, not ὰ la Otto Pfister.
The Spectator of March 13, quoted Father Mensah, Parish Priest of the Christ the King Catholic Church at Effiakuma, Western Region, as cautioning congregants against wearing masks in the “Otto Pfister style”.
Christians need to help fight that bad habit to stop the spread of the disease, he stated, explaining that “Mr. Otto Pfister was a Black Stars coach whose trousers belt was always below his waist.”
Despite all the publicity, the warnings and even threats of jail terms, it’s still a struggle to get everybody to comply with the mask-up directive.
These are the same Ghanaians who even in remote places, without any announcement or prompting by the Government or local authorities, instantly cease patronizing any food item when there is the slightest whiff of unfavourable news about that product!
One doesn’t even have to go far for an illustration.
What happened last week, when the news broke about scores of dead fish being found on the seashore in parts of Greater Accra and the Western Region, can be cited.
As reported by the Daily Graphic of April 6: “More than 120 dolphins and a large number of different species of fish were washed ashore at Axim-Bewire in the Nzema East municipality in the Western Region and Osu in the Greater Accra Region.
“Expert teams noticed that there were 10 species of small dead pelagic and demersal fish at Osu, while in Axim dolphins were found dead, with some alive but weak.”
After this very strange development made the headlines, fishmongers in many places started complaining about poor sales, evidently because people had become suspicious of any fish in the market, fearing that maybe what was on sale was part of the fish washed ashore.
No official information had come that the fish found on the shores had been poisoned, but fish traders were suddenly experiencing low sales!
Nevertheless, it also emerged that some of the coastal people apparently didn’t care if eating some of the mystery hauls could pose a danger to health.
According to reports, probably seeing it as the answer to their prayers, some of them right away began processing the fish, notably the dolphins, for consumption and for sale.
However, even if those coastal people had no fears about the wholesomeness of the fish washed ashore, as stated, there was a different attitude elsewhere.
According to reports, others began to shun the fresh fish sections of markets, even in the hinterland.
A few days ago, some fishmongers in Accra interviewed on a TV station were complaining bitterly about a serious drop in sales, which they attributed to the washed-ashore-fish occurrence.
I also remember how a few years ago, because of the Ebola outbreak in parts of West Africa, bush meat (also known as smoked game), suddenly became taboo meat because it was said that some of the animals, such as bats, were carriers of the Ebola virus.
Thus sales of bush meat reportedly went down dramatically, all over the country.
Similarly, there was a negative effect on the palm oil trade in 2004, and again in 2015, when the United Kingdom authorities banned the importation of red palm oil from Ghana because many of those delivered there had been found adulterated with the Sudan IV Dye – which can cause cancer – to boost the oil’s red colour.
Immediately, as if a starter pistol had been fired to tell every Ghanaian to stop consuming that oil, all over the country palm oil traders were recording reduced sales.
Obviously reacting to the news, people had stopped using palm oil in their cooking, unless it was homemade.
Then also in 2015, following a number of avian influenza (or bird flu) cases, traders in poultry products had a hard time getting customers for their chickens and even eggs.
Generally, when official directives or notices are ignored, critics usually put the blame on insufficient public education.
However, going by the phenomenon, it seems that people do get the information, but they choose to accept what they think is beneficial to them and disregard other official communication.
The curious aspect of the phenomenon is that it has the habit of ending in the same way it began.
After a period, things return to normal.
Although no reverse announcement will be made, traders will begin to see customers again.
So how does one explain this characteristic of the Ghanaian?
Perhaps this is a subject for academic study and a doctoral thesis!
The heading of such a study could be ‘Understanding the predictable unpredictability of the Ghanaian’; or, better still, ‘Understanding the Ghanaian, and the starting pistol phenomenon’.
Any university students interested in taking up this national interest challenge?
