What if you could look 200 years into the future and discover that, somehow, Ghana is still dealing with some of the same everyday frustrations?
That is the humorous question raised by a Facebook post from Gerrard Israel, who has imagined a future where today’s problems have not disappeared. Instead, they have apparently become much worse.
The post begins with a thought that is both funny and slightly unsettling: in about 200 years, everyone alive today will be gone and will officially become ancestors.
But instead of imagining a peaceful ancestral world, Israel takes the thought in a very Ghanaian direction.
ECG, fuel and pure water in the future
According to the joke, Ghana’s future generations will have their own version of today’s economic frustrations.
Electricity problems will apparently still exist, with ECG supposedly carrying out “planned maintenance” even centuries from now.
And then there are the prices.
Fuel, the post jokes, will cost a staggering GH₵580 per litre, while a sachet of pure water will cost GH₵720.
The figures are deliberately ridiculous, but that is part of what makes the post funny. They take familiar complaints about rising prices and unreliable utilities and push them to an absurd level.
It is the kind of exaggeration that makes readers laugh because the underlying frustrations are very real.
When the living start calling the ancestors
The funniest part of the post comes when Israel imagines what happens next.
Future Ghanaians, struggling under the weight of their problems, will supposedly gather at a shrine and call upon their ancestors for help.
“Ancestors of our forefathers, please come and help us!”
The twist is that Israel imagines himself somewhere in the ancestral realm, deliberately pretending not to hear them.
It turns the traditional idea of ancestors watching over and helping the living into a playful scenario: what if the ancestors simply decided that they had already suffered enough and were not coming back to deal with Ghana’s problems?
The closing declaration, “They will Sufferrrrr!!!!”, gives the post its final comic punch.
Why the post feels so Ghanaian
Beyond the exaggerated prices and jokes about ECG, the post taps into a familiar Ghanaian style of humour: taking something serious, stretching it to an impossible extreme and then laughing about it.
There is also a deeper idea underneath the joke.
Every generation leaves something behind for the next one. Some of those things are positive, while others are problems that remain unresolved for decades.
Israel’s post simply takes that idea to its most ridiculous conclusion.
Imagine people 200 years from now discussing electricity, fuel prices and the cost of basic necessities, while somehow still knowing the names of the ancestors they believe might come to their rescue.
For now, it is simply a Facebook joke. But it is also the kind of joke that gets people laughing because it turns everyday frustrations into a wildly exaggerated picture of the future.
And if the prediction ever comes true, whoever is reading this article 200 years from now may have one question for today’s ancestors:
“Where were you when we needed you?”
Israel, judging by his post, may already have his answer ready.
