I recently visited Ghana in the 2nd half of October for my mother's final funeral rites at Dormaa Ahenkro and was quite surprised by the alarming rate of deaths and funerals.

The death rate has been so high and continue to rise that you dare not even want to enquire of the whereabouts of an acquaintance you've not seen for quite a long (to avoid reviving griefs and embarassment). One particular case shocked me. This middle-aged woman came to present her condolences to me the Saturday of my mother's burial and funeral rites. She looked in very good shape physically and very jovial. The following Thursday I learnt she was dead after only a short illness. And I was made to understand that wasn't an isolated case but a common 'thing" throughout Ghana.

Hasn't something gone awry? I, for one, beg to suspect that the food eaten in Ghana is wreaking such a havoc. The rampant and indiscriminate use of chemicals in treating all types of food (vegetables, fruits etc) is contaminating the food. You see tomatoes very red on the outside but when they are cut open the inside is green. You see bananas ripe (yellow) but the inside in hard (not ripe). And other examples abound.

Secondly, how can any sensible person or the Ghanaian society in general accept to use chemicals to clear or "kill" the weed on a farm land on which edible crops are supposed to be planted? However, that is exactly what is happening in Ghana due to laziness. If the land is polluted, wouldn't the crops be likewise polluted? And nobody seems to see the inherent danger. And adverts continue to run on all local radio stations to promote this bad habit without anybody raising a finger.

Thirdly, aren't all these chemically-induced and toxic plastic materials used in covering, packaging or serving hot food stuff (rice, kooko etc) releasing poisonous substances into the steaming food people buy and eat? In the west and particularly in Canada, people are advised not to drink anything hot in a plastic bottle or container and the use of toxic substances to "kill" weed even at the backyard completely prohibited. Why are the authorities or the more knowledgeable people in Ghana being passive, callous and unconcerned instead of advising our ignorant brothers and sisters to discontinue such disastrous conducts?

I just want to throw this issue to the general public for their honest opinion/discussion leading to a proposal to the government for a quick action to arrest a possible calamity.

Ben Kwame Poku

A native of Dormaa Ahenkro (resident in Toronto).