I don’t know Apraku my daughter personally, never met him. Heard of him through the media. Learning from his story from start to finish, I have come to the conclusion that God didn’t kill him like what people are suggesting, I don’t believe he killed himself as the public is speculating.
I have come to a firm conclusion that we, Ghanaians, killed him, our actions killed him. Just take laughing at him, making mockery of him, pronouncing judgement and curses on him is enough to kill him. He is a Ghanaian, we are Ghanaians and that makes us a family. But what kind of family are we if we couldn’t look for our lost brother?
Despite the negative news about him, I believe he was born a good person just as any of us were. He had good intentions, started well and might have lost his way along his journey.
He is not alone, there are many brothers and sisters who lost their way day in and day out but sadly we don’t look out for them. Be it a blood relation, be it Christians, be it Ghanaians as a whole.
We hardly reach out to our lost brothers and sisters. This is because we are quick to judge people and slow to forgive them, yet we are not saints. We condemn people without listening to them. If by any chance someone mistaken you for a thief in Ghana, no one will care to find out the truth before meting out to you what they call justice. What kind of justice does not follow the rule of law?
I have come to believe what we call instant justice is rather instant killing. We have lost great country men to this illness of ours. One example is Major Mahama of blessed memory.
In the same vein when someone takes you to the public, be it the street, market or media as an evil person, no one cares to find out the truth before pronouncing judgment. On a daily basis we kill innocent persons with our ill actions.
God gave us a family to take care of us and be there for them. God gave us brothers and sisters to pick us up when we fall, to hold on to us till we can stand on our feet, but unfortunately, we do the opposite.
Every child experienced this cycle during their childhood but what lesson do we learn from that? If for nothing, we all know that none of us is perfect and none of us is an island. It’s hard for a brother or sister in need to reach out for help.
We are interested in what happens to others but we don’t care about them. It was heart breaking to hear from the family of Bishop Bernard Nyarko that, before his demise, he didn’t want anyone to come closer all because people will take pictures of his condition and then make him a laughing stock of the society.
It seems we enjoy the downfall of our own and make mockery of them. I was shocked when pictures of former Boss of UT Bank, Prince Kofi Amoabeng popped up on the internet and people were laughing at him because he was broke. How mean can we be.
We are teaching others to isolate, telling them it is better to be alone than to belong to a big family. We are just insensitive. Our existence is to be felt. God blesses us to be a blessing to others, He forgives us so we can forgive others, He never gives up on us so we won’t give up on others.
There is a lot of anger out there because we are slow to listen to others but quick to speak. Today, look out for someone out there. If we fail to be there for our brothers and sisters, we should not expect God to be there for us. Our actions can give life to them or take their lives.
In conclusion, “”The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed; those who help others are helped” – Proverbs 11:25 (MSG).
Columnist: Frank Edem Adofoli
