FROM INSIDE MY GRAVE, I WRITE TO YOU

Nurses from the Narh Bita hospital (including a female nurse) refilling my grave

From an unmarked grave in a certain cemetery in Ghana, I write to inform you of my safe arrival in the ancestral village. I had a modest send off last Friday (January 22, 2016) at the forecourt of the mortuary where my cadaver was deposited from the day my mortality was proven at the Narh Bita hospital. 

There I was in my narrow bed

I am not sure you will be surprised to hear that I didn’t even have the privilege to be sent home and displayed (mourned) as is the honour usually accorded mortals. All the same, I had what I considered a solemn send-off, and later, a rousing welcome at the gate of the ancestral village.

Before I got drained of life on Sunday January 10, 2016, I had a good feel of the Ghanaian hospitality (the kind of embrace even my own people could not give me) and that, to a very large extent, lessened the sad feeling of worthlessness in the face of the rejection I suffered from my employer and the Liberian embassy.

My nephew, Johny Johnson

I noted a few things that were comforting. My nephew, Johnny Johnson kept faith with me. He offered to leave his comfort zone in Liberia and came to turn me in my sick bed. The doctors and young nurses at the Narh Bita Hospital joined and tried their best to tie my poor soul and body together and so did the lay preachers from the Trinity congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Tema Community 4, also visit me regularly to feed my hungry soul with the living word. The presence of these people in my last days and during my burial helped to largely restore my dignity as a human being.

I left this world with missed feeling and that was because my life was cut short- I feel my exit was rushed and yet now I am happy to have found a peaceful rest from my pains and worries. Soon after my accident in that Liberian Port which got me bed-ridden, my wishes to raise my children into responsible adults started fading and now those wishes have completely evaporated but I know God will provide for my children and family.

As I write you this letter, I have taken my supine position in the confines of my narrow bed in the bellies of the earth, soon to be attended to by the termites. But before I am shredded into pieces, I wish to thank Ghanaians for your warm embrace, particularly Dr. Edward Atter Narh, CEO of the Narh Bita Hospital and all who were constantly by my sick bed. I also feel indebted to the management of Kenya Airways for accepting to flying back my nephew and which they did last Saturday; he has since arrived.

As for the Liberian Ambassador and his staff, I was hungry, they gave me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, they gave me nothing to drink; I became a stranger, and they did not invite me in, I was naked and they didn't cloth me. I was sick and they didn't visit me. For now I am resting and doing what they will each do one day. I leave you with William G. Tomer’s song:

God be with you till we meet again;

By his counsels guide, uphold you;

With his sheep securely fold you.

God be with you till we meet again.

(Chorus)

Till we meet, till we meet,

Till we meet at Jesus' feet,

Till we meet, till we meet,

God be with you till we meet again..

Signed

Moses Negbe

(The abandoned Liberian)

Pain and grief boldly written on my nephew's (middle) face

Rev Nii Naa Doku committing me to the Lord

And the nurses took me to my last resting place, while comforting my nephew

CORPORATE NEGLIGENCE: DEJECTED LIBERIAN PATIENT DIES

The Narh Bita Hospital, Tema

The Liberia national who was flown to Ghana for medical attention but ended up being abandoned shortly on arrival by the employer has passed on. He died in the early hours of Sunday January 10, 2015 at the Narh Bita Hospital where he has been on admission since October last year.

The remains have since been deposited at the Tema General Hospital but it is unclear whether the body will be interred here in Ghana or will be repatriated and who takes responsibility from this point.

Moses Negbe while on admission at the Narh Bita Hospital

Fifty four year old Moses Negbe was flown to Ghana for specialist attention by his employer, the Global Marine Investment Limited (GMI) after a workplace accident on August 31, 2015 at a port in Liberia which left him with multiple spine injury.

Due to the complex nature of the injury which could not readily be attended to in Liberia, GMI arranged for his treatment here in Ghana and brought him to the Narh Bita Hospital but abandoned him a few days later.

Despite the numerous contacts made with the GMI officials and the authorities of the Liberian Embassy (Ghana) by the hospital administration, none of the two institutions showed up since October last year.

Until his demise, Mr. Negbe was confined to his bed and could hardly move any part of his body even after the surgery which was successfully conducted on Thursday October 29, 2015.  His post-surgical care and daily upkeep became a burden not only on the facility but the nurses on the ward who contributed to put food on the table for both the patient and his nephew, Johnny Johnson, who accompanied him to Ghana for the treatment.

Presently, his nephew has been left stranded at the hospital with no money to feed or return to his home country following the expiration of his air ticket just the day before his uncle’s death.

Background

Moses Negbe was working in a Liberian port on August 31, 2015 when a log fell from a crane and crushed his colleague to death, leaving him (Negbe) in a critical condition.

He was first rushed to the JFK Medical Centre in Monrovia where he spent forty days but had to be flown out of the country for a specialist attention which was not readily available in the country.

His employer then arranged for his transfer from the hospital in Liberia and made an initial payment for the surgery with a promise to provide for his upkeep while on admission here in Ghana as well as his return back to Liberia after treatment. 

Two weeks after their arrival, the company turned it back on Negbe and his nephew who accompanied him on the treatment. All efforts to reach them including calls to the company’s lead contact who doubles as a Field Agent, one Joe Sayahway, yielded no result.

Liberian Embassy’s indifference

The Liberian Embassy which should have been responsible for Negbe’s welfare (given his predicament and particularly his status as a Liberian national), also showed no interest in the issue, describing it as a private affair despite the numerous phone calls and visits to the consulate by Mr. Negbe’s nephew and official of the hospital.

Response from Narh Bita hospital

Deputy Medical Director of the Narh Bita hospital, Dr. Catherine Larko Narh-Menkah said “We have arranged, in the interim, for him to be deposited in the morgue while we consider the next line of action. As a socially responsible corporate entity, we did our best even under the very difficult condition given his peculiar situation; it is rather sad he went through these terrible experience and died as a result”.