In 1981, as a student of the School of Communication Studies, University of Ghana, learning communication and journalism, I had cause to criticise the President of the Republic of Ghana, Dr Hilla Limann, over an uncanny commentary he made about a number of Ghanaians who were cruelly murdered in Nigeria, under inhumane and undignified circumstances, for lack of air, in the infamous Black Maria incident.
A number of Ghanaians, suspected to be criminals, were arrested and kept in a truck, taken to court to face justice.
There was lack of ventilation for the suspects.
The vehicle with its content of human beings, suspects, was kept within the precincts of the court waiting for their case to be called to defend themselves.
However, by the time their case was called for the suspects to appear before the judge, they were all dead for lack of air, suffocated by the scorching sun.
It became bad news in Nigeria and the Nigerian government did not have a defence.
However, in Ghana, when the sad news broke out, all that our President could do, was the sad commentary that "the Ghanaians would not have died if they had remained at home and not travelled to Nigeria."
Incensed by the reaction of President Limann, which I considered not only for lacking fellow feeling, but equally demonstrated a betrayal of trust and respect for the dead, I took my pen and wrote a letter to the editor, which was published in the authoritative "Legon Observer".
In the letter, which I considered to be a triumph, my first published work, close to 45 years ago, I described President Limann as a sadist and without conscience for virtually condoning the dehumanising situation.
I noted that what happened to the Ghanaians was degrading and that if President Limann did not have sympathy for the dead, he should have kept quiet or restrained his comments.
That publication marked my encounter with criticism of authorities and public officials in their dealings with innocent and ordinary Ghanaian citizens, especially, where they are treated unjustifiably and cruelly in foreign lands.
Regret
I have since lived to regret the reactions of our people and governments in the handling of such dastardly acts. One of such cruelties involved the killing of the son of our astute sports analyst and commentator, Dr Kwaku Ofosu Asare, in the United Kingdom.
That was why when the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, pursued justice for the Ghanaian student who was killed in Ukraine it marked a turning point and a new approach aimed at protecting and defending the interest of Ghanaians, dead or alive. It was different from how we pursued the mass killings of Ghanaians in The Gambia under President Yahya Jammeh.
I am seeing the same lack of enthusiasm about the 15-year old Jarvits Frimpong.
My heart is troubled about the latest killing of Frimpong in New York by his classmates, who are noted to have bullied, hounded and haunted him until they murdered him.
He cannot be restored to life, but as a nation and people, we have not shouted and protested loud enough to draw the attention of the government and people of the United States of America to the fact that the life of any Ghanaian matters and we will not sit idly by and watch such bestialism from a so-called civilised nation.
If an American deviant, even of proven criminality, had been so inhumanely killed in any country, particularly in Africa and Ghana as such, the American government, particularly President Donald Trump, would have jumped through the roofs to draw attention to how beastly the people of Ghana are.
Therefore, we should not be appeased that such murders are common place in the US.
If we take it for granted that the nature of the American society is violent and that is how it has and should be, we would be demeaning and not defending the lives of our citizens.
Just as Dr Limann demeaned the values of the lives of the innocent Ghanaians who perished from the Black Maria incident in Nigeria, it cannot always be true that our compatriots who find their way into foreign lands are there because of economic necessity for anyone to suggest that if they stay at home they may never encounter such horrible developments.
By all means, let Ghanaians and Africans in the US, as well as other conscientious Americans of diverse nationalities, demonstrate their abhorrence of such bestiality, but we as Ghanaians need to mobilise and demonstrate to the world that we care about the life of every Ghanaian and we are ready to fight at all cost to safeguard Ghanaian lives, including the interest of Frimpong.
We must act beyond "ehuru a ebedwo" and put the world on notice that when you attack a Ghanaian anywhere you are involving yourself in an intractable conflict.
The US government must be told in no uncertain terms that American citizens are not more human or cherished than any other citizen of the world.
It means that whilst we want our government to lead in such protests, there must be active and diffused citizen involvement in mass demonstrations to underline our willingness and readiness to fight such beastly and bestial murders.
We cannot leave the parents alone to mourn the unfortunate and avoidable death of Frimpong.
Giving the mother visa and money to travel to the US to observe his funeral is not evil but that cannot resurrect him or compensate for what he could have grown to be and contributed to the upkeep of his parents and country of origin.
Like peoples everywhere who rise up to show their angst against cruelty to humans, let Ghanaians with one voice rise up to mount protests over Jarvits Frimpong, to let the world know that we too can shout and protest "efiri se, yenim dee emako ko a eye yen ya".
