When I was a curious, capering child street-sauntering at Achimota School, there was an obliging, octogenarian gardener with no known name. People called him "La-pour". La-pour taught me many things, including how to count from one to ten in Ga.
The backstory goes that, many years earlier, La-pour had played along with his fellows at work, while they pilfered bags of flour from their employer. Then, La-pour (the man) promptly turned to 'do la-pour' (the snitching), and his mates were fired. Good man! He received ridicule from his community, lost his real name, and got a shame-name.
The other day, an obviously loved MP was brutally bayoneted to death at home.Between a former prisoner, a phone repairer and the police, a suspect was arrested in a half-blink. These people went to 'do la-pour'.
That's where we are, now, in Ghana. With crime and cruelty cruising at abandoned altitudes, it's time to make observation and la-pour-ing to the police a way of life.
