The Scavenger

In 1993, Sudan was in the throes of a second civil war and famine racked the south. The UN and other relief organizations had set up camps and feeding centers to try and alleviate the plight of the South Sudanese.

It’s into this misery that the South African photojournalist, Kevin Carter, flew in March of 1993. He wanted to capture images of the crisis. One day, after photographing all day in a camp and feeding center in the village of Ayod, he headed out into the surrounding bush to take his mind off the misery. He hadn’t gone very far when he saw an emaciated, little girl on the ground ahead of him. It was apparent she was attempting to crawl to the feeding center.
He had been advised not to touch the refugees for fear of contracting whatever disease they carried so all he could do was take out his camera and take pictures. Suddenly, a vulture landed right behind the child.
For 20 harrowing minutes, Carter watched as the vulture stalked the girl. As he took pictures, he hoped the vulture would fly away but it didn’t. Finally, he managed to shoo the vulture away, smoke a cigarette and leave.
Carter later sold the image of the vulture stalking the little child to the New York Times. The Times published it on 26 March 1993 as a “metaphor of Africa’s despair”. In 1994, Carter was awarded the Pulitzer prize for that image.
Two months after winning the prize, he committed suicide. He was haunted by questions of why he didn’t help the child. Even though he didn’t help the child, she made it to the feeding center and died 14 years later from malaria.

I have been thinking of that image of the child and the vulture a lot since the issue of the proposed towing levy in Ghana came up. It may sound a bit far-fetched that I would see a link but there is an underlying theme in all of this that weaves around the issues of hopelessness, scavenging and greed.

The issue of a towing levy in Ghana came up because of a problem. The problem is that drivers often abandon their broken-down vehicles on the sides of our already narrow and unlit roads. These become dangerous obstacles at night and have led to many vehicle accidents and deaths.
Most of these vehicles are not really road-worthy to start with, but people drive them anyway. They have to because in a country where jobs are scarce and prospects are hopeless due to corruption, greed, avarice and bad governance, one has to make a living one way or the other. So people drive these jalopies, eking out a living transporting goods and passengers till they break down, at which point most drivers just walk away.
Enter a man who believes he can fix the problem. He would tow away all these deserted jalopies away for a fee that would be paid through a levy that all Ghanaian vehicle owners would pay.

Now let’s compare this scenario to Sudan in 1993.
The country had a problem. Whereas the Ghanaian problem is that of abandoned vehicles on roadsides that lead to deaths, theirs was a famine that also led to deaths.
The Ghanaian is forced by corruption, avarice and bad governance to drive these death traps so as to eke out a living. The Sudanese was starving because of war.
While the Ghanaian had to drive these jalopies to a destination (the feeding center) in order to make money to feed themselves and their families, the Sudanese had to make it to a literal feeding center to get food.
Sometimes, the mode of transportation broke down and one could not reach the “feeding center”. For the Ghanaian it was that road-unworthy truck, for the Sudanese, the human body.
In both scenarios, leaving the “bodies” on the streets led to deaths. In Sudan through disease, in Ghana through accidents.
When the breakdown occurred and the mode of transport was abandoned, that is when they would appear.
The Scavengers.
In Sudan, it was the vultures. In Ghana, well!

However, scavengers like vultures are not always bad. They are part of Nature’s plan. Theirs is to remove the remains of the “vehicles”. This way, they do not cause disease in the Sudan or accidents in Ghana.
The problem arises when the scavengers stalk the living like in the Kevin Carter photo or the Jospong Group plotting to scavenge the wallets of Ghanaians, even those not “crawling towards feeding centers”.
It is such situations that if a Kevin Carter does not appear or a public outcry does not ensue, the scavengers stalk and finally pounce on their helpless prey, draining them of any life they may have had.
That is why it is incumbent on all Ghanaians to stay vigilant and voice their opposition to this towing levy. It is nothing more than a scavenger preying on the living. Ghanaians as a people need to fight the avarice, greed and bad governance that enable these scavengers to thrive and prey on the living. Like a war that brings about a famine, these vices are ravaging our society and making us seem like carcasses to vultures and hyenas.

Even if victory is apparent, the public should never fall asleep then a vulture is known to be very patient and has amazing situational awareness. It does not hunt but seizes the resources available to it. In a country racked by corruption, avarice, greed and bad governance, the vulture welcomes each day with wings wide open, facing the morning sun. It knows that each day brings new prey then the bodies will forever lie along the roadsides that stay narrow, dark and unlit.