Dead Men Don’t Talk…

It is not for nothing that certain societal values and norms have remained what they used to be despite this age of modernity.

Generations have come and gone but such values remain unchanged not for the fun of it but for the protection of human dignity and respect.

Even in the media, people cringe and hurl insults at journalists when lifeless bodies of deceased persons lying at the morgue are published.

This alone tells everyone that death is and continues to be a leveler-despite your class, status, political affiliation and religion, you will also die someday.

It is for this reason that the paper perfectly agrees with the concerns of Journalist Paul Adom-Otchere over Prof Kwamena Ahwoi’s comments in his controversial book about the late Kow Nkensen Arkaah.

In his ‘Working with Rawlings’, Professor Ahwoi claimed that the late Vice President had a slippery zip and could not resist young beautiful girls at the Presidency.

According To Paul, this remark is in poor taste as the person in question is not alive to defend his reputation.

To him, the Ghanaian culture frowns upon publicly speaking evil against the dead person.

“The one that was very disappointing to me was the Kow Nkensen Arkaah one because I thought it was anti-cultural.

“This is a man who has died and he was a Vice-President and you come out and make such flagrant uncomplimentary remarks about him.”

“You have to make complimentary remarks about the dead that is our culture. If you want to make uncomplimentary remarks about the dead you don’t make is widely published when the man cannot respond,” he explained.

It is the respectful view of THE NEW PUBLISHER that the good Professor has goofed on this score because his posture is a clear departure from conventional wisdom and a rebuke of tradition.

We opine that there is none righteous under the sun, the very reason he should not for political expediency point accusing fingers at people who cannot be called to defend their actions. Dead men don’t talk!

Whether the dead person did nothing deserving of praise, if the dead, during his or her life was mean-spirited, greedy, selfish, inconsiderate, odiously acquisitive, ruthless and disdainful, is totally unacceptable and does not lie in Professor Ahwoi’s mouth to tell us.

If Professor Ahwoi would not bow in the temple of those who shower praises on the dead, he should not be the first person to publicly chide the dead.

As Professor Ahwoi sits in judgment today, maybe he would pause for a minute and wonder how he would wish to be remembered when he is no more.

What is good for the goose is definitely good for the gander especially when dead men don’t talk…!