Talking instead of trashing the mentally ill

September 2nd, 2007 · No Comments

By Abena Amoah Gyamfi with files from Trish Estabrooks

Kwadwo is like many mentally ill people on the streets in Kumasi. His clothes are dark, his hair matted, his toenails overgrown. He talks to himself and asks people for money when they walk by.

Most people avoid him. He’s difficult to ignore though. He sits in a heap of clothes, paper, his own feces and urine. He says he’s a lawyer, writing about the world and is ready to issue licenses for a variety of services to anyone who needs an official letter or permission from a lawyer to rent a bike, join a club.

Ask anyone who lives or works in Adum, Kumasi and they’ll tell you about him. They won’t know his name or where he’s from or why he sits, sleeps and eats by the cement wall everyday, but rather that he’s there.

Kwadwo lives around the corner from the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly. If he yelled loud enough city officials sitting in their offices with the windows open could probably hear him. In many ways he couldn’t be farther away from city officials.

In preparation for the African Cup of Nations KMA is carrying out what they call “decongestion exercises” activities to rid the streets of clutter, trash and rubbish. In many people’s eyes Kwadwo is all of these.

In an effort to better understand some of Kumasi’s mentally ill and the causes of mental illness Luv/Nhyira news reporter, Abena Amoah Gyamfi, prepared this report.

Psychiatrists say mental patients are more decent on our street than sound people who litter them

Have you ever spotted a half or completely naked mentally ill person on the streets or at a corner? What was your initial reaction? Did you wonder what may have gone wrong with him or her?

Some people attribute madness to witchcraft, while others think it is punishment for wrongs committed by individuals or even their ancestors. Generally the public sees the mentally ill as trash.

In the following report Abena Amoah Gyamfi of Nhyira FM tells the real story behind the mentally ill on Ghanaian streets.

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