In reading entries about Obama, you could be forgiven for thinking that everyone was singing along the same hymn sheet, for the political and tourism implications of his visit had been re-hashed, re-heated and served as entries—and this was not without good reason: Obama, no matter what we would like to admit about the man, is a “super-star” president: anytime he speaks, people stop what they’re doing to listen.

Small wonder, then, that ghanablogger Esi Cleland would paste the entirety of his speech on her blog a day after he made the speech. However, this would not be without a post the day of his arrival questioning “the three things Obama really hopes for.”

In the post, she explained these three things to be:

1. Improved standards of living and security
2. Integration with global economy
3. That a young person growing up in Accra can say: I can stay here and succeed, and through my success, my country and my people will get stronger.

In a characteristically-insightful post, she uses her entry to answer the third questions, which she describes as “the most powerful; the most measurable; and the most important.”

She explains why the third has resonance for her, explaining that these were some of the questions that were going on in her mind when she moved back home form the US. She hopes that if Obama were ever to read her entry, he might smile because:

…there are already young people in Africa who think they can stay here and succeed and that their success will strengthen their people. Case in point myself! And at least I can count 2 more…great friends of mine: Nyoko Muvangua who was in South Africa the last time we spoke and who when I told her about moving to Ghana, told me to go home and lift up my people. At the time we spoke about how no matter how relevant work I did in the US was to Africa, we needed more people on the ground to execute…and that without execution, all money, all policies, all institutions are worthless. And finally, Kimmie Weeks of Liberia, who challenged me more than 5 years ago to do things that, affect my people. So there are believers out here in Africa.

She laments, however, that despite this sense of optimism, “we’re definitely sorely outnumbered by the unbelievers.”, but concludes that “So it is time to look inward. It is time to trust in ourselves. To believe in Ghana and its possibilities. Which is why, as inspirational as you are to many, this is a job we have to do ourselves.”

Esi’s sentiment is echoed by broadcast journalist Obed Sarpong in a title that is perhaps a reflection of hope. In his entry “Obama is an Energy for the Youth”, Obed, in what one might consider a mere narrative of his Saturday morning, goes on to explain how disruptive it was on account of the fact that he could barely move out of the suburb of Osu because of the security logistics:

There were few buses at the lorry station and none of them would move. So what happened? The roads that would get me out of Osu, a suburb of Accra holding almost everything that has to do with governance, has been blocked for Barack Obama. I was already fuming. I considered alternative route. None was available. Now i felt quarantined in my own town without a virus in town.

That he had to go to work made the irritation all that more real, but a quick call to his news editor transformed his frustration into a story:

None of them hated the idea that Barack was around. They just felt some of the road blocks were unnecessary. For instance the one from Osu R.E. leading to the airport area could be opened to traffic while the American president was away dining at the castle. The cars could be lightly screened too.
So I couldn't attend my classes neither was I able to get to work. I poured my frustration first on facebook. I kept posting on my status till i could do something else. I just hope all was worth it.

If his entry is anything to go by, perhaps it was! Obed makes no bones about the fact that he enjoyed Obama’s speech, adding that he enjoys the fact that “he speaks with less reference to a document on his hands.”

Though he was energized by Obama’s reference for the youth to “claim the future that so many in [Obama’s father’s] generation never found”, he writes that he is disappointed by the inability of past Ghanaian governments to step up to the plate to actually implement existing youth policies:

For me, we're all too good at saying that the youth are the future leaders of this country. Without doing much to help realise this great statement, it's almost useless to mention this. Barack has seen it and he's a great man. We the youth have on several occasions demonstrated that we can make things happen for us by any means necessary.

But Obama’s speech spoke to the Malcolm X-esque phrase “by any means necessary” that Obed was unwittingly writing about. At least, this is the impression that Emmanuel K Bensah, of Trials and Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen might have been giving when he alluded that Obama “has come to represent the epitome of a post-modern African personality.” He describes this personality as one having been “advocated and promulgated” by the Osagyefo Dr.Kwame Nkrumah, who spearheaded independence for Ghana in 1957.

Emmanuel elaborates on what he calls the “post-modern African personality”: “To wit: be well-educated and have a good marriage, where the woman is supportive despite being herself a professional.” He goes even further suggesting that there are no longer excuses for the Black man:

With Obama, no longer will it be cool to skip school, to feign helplessness in the assistance of those less fortunate than you; to pretend that your communities do not matter. With this man, no longer will it be cool to display machismo, disrespect the concerns of the opposite sex, and be polygamous in a marriage. With the “yes, we can”-grandmaster, no longer will it be a uncool for the Black man to be happily married, with a supportive wife by his side, who might also be educated. Nor will it be an issue for his progeny to be “only” girls.

He returns to the issue of Obama energizing the youth against the backdrop of news that:

the AU declared 2009 to be the beginning of a decade that celebrates the youth of Africa.

Finally, former local news anchor Boakyewaa Glover , now a consultant in Atlanta and a novelist, guest-blogs on local news reporter Ato Kwamena Dadzie’s blog about Obama arguing that it’s alright having an Obama, but Ghana needs its own Obamas:

We cannot live, grow or develop based on this one speech alone. It just became very clear to me we need our own Obama. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be a President, it would be nice if it was, but doesn’t have to be. It can be, and should be, anyone. “We cannot live, grow or develop based on this one speech alone. It just became very clear to me we need our own Obama. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be a President, it would be nice if it was, but doesn’t have to be. It can be, and should be, anyone.

Obviously, it is better if political, religious and media personalities were this inspirational and motivating. Too often, personalities in the limelight bathe in negativity and discord. Obama made one thing painfully clear for me, I really can’t stand such negative and divisive talk anymore. Even throughout his campaign for Presidency, Obama never spoke negatively, because he knew he was coming from a disadvantaged corner.Obviously, it is better if political, religious and media personalities were this inspirational and motivating. Too often, personalities in the limelight bathe in negativity and discord. Obama made one thing painfully clear for me, I really can’t stand such negative and divisive talk anymore. Even throughout his campaign for Presidency, Obama never spoke negatively, because he knew he was coming from a disadvantaged corner.

Perhaps, if there is any enduring legacy that Obama’s speech evinces, it is what Glover refers to here:

From Gandhi, to Nkrumah, to Mandela, to Martin Luther King to Obama, they’ve changed history and lives through their words. Let’s think about it for a minute, would Ghana really have won independence if Nkrumah wasn’t such a powerful and inspirational orator? Maybe, maybe not. Whatever the case may be, Nkrumah inspired the people of Ghana to take control of their future. And as Obama said in his speech, we need to do that again.

Let’s begin with Ghana Barbz, who, though not an ardent fan of football, decided to welcome readers of her blog to the three-week tournament:

Welcome to Ghana football. The Ghana Black Stars are Ghana's football team. And yesterday was the opening game of the African Cup of Nations, which Ghana is proudly hosting. In our brand new Ohene Djan Sports stadium in Accra, the Ghana Black Stars took on the Syli Nationals of Guinea. And with a last minute (really, absolutely last minute) goal by Sulley Muntari, won the opening game with a score of 2 to 1.

She confesses elsewhere that she is “not such a big fan of soccer”, but

How could you not love a country that loves it[s] national team so much?

She talks a bit about the opening game of CAN2008, which saw the hosts – Ghana – playing their West African neighbours of Guinea. She, however, was far from impressed with the quality of the game:

anyway, for most of the game, I found it fairly boring. The whole first half, Ghana attempted to score and missed a number of times, thanks to a great Guinea goal keeper. Finally, Ghana scored, and the whole stadium went wild. And not only the whole stadium, but the whole country! There was yelling and cheering and car honking that went on and on for about 10 minutes after the first goal. It stopped only when Guinea scored the equalizer.

Criticisms by her family of the Black Stars over their apparent lethargy towards the game nothwithstanding, it was going to be fairly impossible to avoid the noise emanating from Ghanaians as Ghana scored the winning goal in the 90th minute:

I mean, even if you didn't own a television or have a radio handy, you would absolutely know exactly what was happening in the game, the collective cheering or booing or even sighing was impossible not to hear.

The jubilation was nothing short of awe inspiring. And that was only the first game.

The first game—indeed! Abocco—of Ghana Conscious—was a tad disappointed by the Ghana-Guinea game, but was emphatic about what it meant to Ghana:

After seeing my favorite Black Stars agonisingly hit the goal post three times in the opening game of CAN 2008 and remain deadlocked with Guinea, I began wondering if this victory was to be. We finally scored and then the Syli Nationale replied almost immediately. Just when I was about to give up, Sulley Muntari produced a moment of magic two minutes to time and scored the winner. Ghana's biggest newspaper, the Daily Graphic, said sometimes one is tempted to believe that God is a Ghanaian. Apparently, God was on our side, and Esther Smith would agree with her song ‘Yesu wo m'afa'. No matter how many heartbreaking missed chances we suffered, we would win in the end.

Abocco, however, took the celebrations to another level, by wondering whether it was possible to extrapolate Ghanaians’ attitude and devotion to the success of the Black Stars to their own private attitudinal change. His post is yet-another-reminder of how excessively-attached to religion Ghanaians are:

Ghanaians need to follow this Black Stars example. If a single game can drive us to change church fashion for a day, we need to embrace more important things like attitudinal change, discipline and patriotism. Churches should declare Ghana days, where we'll pray for God's mercy on oil, gold, cocoa and timber prices and ask God to touch the hearts of those who are embezzling our money. We should pray that God makes sure that our taxes and tithes are used in our best interest. We have seen the result of hardwork backed by support of onlooking citizens and loved ones. The same people who had fasted and prayed for the victory took to the streets upon affirmation of the victory to celebrate and praise the Most High God.

Finally, Maximus writes an open letter to the late Osagyefo Dr.Kwame Nkrumah, about the ongoing CAN.

He starts off providing a history of the CAN:

The 26th African Cup of Nations begins in your homeland on Sunday and is the source of my excitement. Allow me to be late to congratulate you on your shepherding Ghana's Africa Cup of Nations triumphs in 1963 and 1965.

The point he makes goes to underscore—no pun intended— his sentiments about where the first President was going with his vision of sports, and the inspiration he had for the country’s football team:

You are really great, all the tournaments that Ghana took part in your tenure as president resulted in glory and more glory

That MTN is the headline sponsor of the Cup of Nations is no news for observers of the soccer fiesta. What is little-known is how other mobile operators in the country have sought to capitalize on it, prompting speculation in quarters of the media of so-called “ambush marketing”:

Osagyefo, there is nothing like opportunity. Every company and their competition has fine-tuned its marketing campaigns to suit soccer-crazy fans. According to Tigo, every sport has some football genes as per their “Be a true fan” campaign. The new celebration for goals is a shiver. Kwame, abi you can shiver like ripples in a river, it goes like “Brrrrrrrrrrrr”. Football is connecting us all like OneTouch and Ghanaians are hoping the Black Stars onetouch all their opponents on the way to victory. You know that bicycle kick that is affectionately called Milo? Nestle is hoping Ghana nestles the ambition of raising their game to championship heights. Guinness is still celebrating greatness. Zenith Bank even has a special account for the Black Stars because you can bank on them as winners. There is no stopping you Black Stars, GO! You gotta love MTN, they may very well be emptying their competition with their marketing.

He also makes a point about how MTN has gone overboard with its advertising:

Many street lights are adorned with our colours and flags are flying and beautifying our short skylines. Osagyefo, we are selling Ghana and selling out Ghana too. There are probably more MTN (Cup of Nations) flags than there are Ghanaian flags. How did that happen? Everywhere you go, MTN. MTN, everywhere you go. Go Black Stars go. Go Ghana go. Go everywhere, MTN is there. We love corporate Ghana, we love the billboards, the beautification.

These developments nothwithstanding, what is clear is that Ghanaians are comprehensively behind the Black Stars. Maximus’s exhortation to the late Kwame Nkrumah, whom he affectionately refers to as “Osagyefo”, only buttresses the point:

Even in the absence of the inspirational tornado, the Black Stars are expected to shine and shine bright. Osagyefo, be with us, pray for us, send us some luck and fight for us. You owe it to us, we continue to make you famous. Even our official song borrows from you, “Osee, osee, Black Stars ei, forward ever”

Prayer is a powerful tool, but I also believe God has equipped us with what we need, or at least some of what we need..and what do we do? We decide not to use it. As much as we should trust in God to turn our situation around, why not use the lovely brains he's blessed us with and come together to find a permanent situation to the electricity situation??

It is certainly a valid question to ask, since it’s clear from the Christian culture that “God helps those who help themselves”. Ghana Unite adds:

You might be wondering where I'm going with all of this…basically, all I'm saying is its about time we Ghanaians start putting our money where our mouths are. This electricity situation happens basically every year. And every year we say we'll work on it, but every single year we're back at Square 1. Honestly, this is a vicious cycle we NEED to break, otherwise we're wasting both our time and money by investing in certain things when even the basic utilities of our people cannot be met. Maybe I'm just ranting and raving up in here, but seriously, even before the 2008 Elections roll in and the politicians start throwing soon-to-be-unfulfilled promises left, right and center, start thinking about which potential leaders might actually have Ghana at heart. I hope we continue to pray for our homeland

Ghana and other African countries in general. In the meantime, lets get to work!

While Ghanaians hope that the policy-makers are getting to work, others are getting to work of a different kind altogether—as exemplified by Lolade Adewuyi, a Nigerian journalist based in Ghana. He chronicles in his blog, L'etat,les situations generale how he trekked from Tema, a city east of the capital city, Accra, on foot! His trek to Tema proves to be an inspirational lesson in humility, as well as a seriously epiphanous one:

The Trials and Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen…posts an exclusive interview he conducted of Bernard Avle, the host of the CITI Breakfast Show, which won the BBC Radio Award for “Best Interactive Show in Africa”.

Bernard Avle(left) He cuts a contemplative and tall figure. Be-spectacled with some degree of seriousness etched on his face, you could be forgiven for thinking that the dynamic Bernard Avle, host of the CITI Breakfast Show is only recently a busy man. But he's not. He's been busy ever since he became the host of the young and private Accra-based radio station in late 2004.

Recently from Nairobi, Kenya, where he accompanied the station's managing-director Samuel Attah-Mensah to receive an award for the “Best Interactive TalkShow of the Year”, I took the opportunity to ask him over to my workplace, whilst he was in the East Legon neighborhood for another interactive Friday show.

I ended up agreeing on a time to set up an “online” interview with him. These are the results.

I've heard you on radio many times. You sound rather combative in your interviewing techniques. Or so your critiques say. What's with that style?

Combative might be a strong word, assertive is probably more accurate. I ask simple questions when I have to elicit information for listeners, but I sometime ask pointed questions in a bid to clarify a point or even play the devil’s advocate when necessary to ensure that all sides of an issue are articulated.

Ghanaians appear to be turned off by aggressive and combative interviewing, whilst at the same time being very vocal about criticizing their policy-makers. In your view, why is there such a disparity?

Ghanaians value respect for authority but also appreciate probing questions from an assertive interviewer who does so in a courteous way. A few listeners complain sometimes about my style, but generally, there is no disparity there; one does not have to be rudely aggressive or “combative”- a word I still disagree with - to be robust and thorough in an interview. The essential point is to ask well-grounded, relevant questions.

Interactivity is fine; topics are another. The CITI Breakfast Show has covered international topics, such as Zimbabwe, but doesn't cover that many ECOWAS or other-Africa related issues. Is this because there is no appetite for this? If not, why not?

The BBC was pleased by the broad mix of subjects discussed on the Citi Breakfast Show. Although our audience is of an international nature, pre-eminence is sometimes given to local issues because local listeners predominate.I do not agree that we do not cover Ecowas issues. My show did a live outdoor broadcast from the Budumburam camp of Liberian Refugees, during their 2005 elections. We also did many shows on the Nigerian elections. Anyhow, as we grow our audiences we would definitely put in more hours for the sub-region.

As Ghana becomes the hub, or gateway, for West Africa, what challenges do you foresee will emerge for broadcast journalists?

If your question is in reference to the Ghanaian Journalist, I think the challenge of objectivity will always be there. Ghanaian journalists will need to move away from what has become partisan and parochial agenda setting to objective coverage of the country, to give the international community a more accurate picture of the situation in Ghana.

What do you think is the future for radio broadcasting in Ghana?

Huge potential, Radio is the most powerful means of reaching both urban and rural Ghanaians. Over 70% of All Ghanaian own a radio set* as compared with less than 50% for TV. The Ghanaian is hungry for information and presently radio provides that in good, credible measure, largely because people see radio as the first port of call to channel grievances.

In the West, citizen journalism and blogging is big vis-à-vis the media, with many debates raging on the threat– or lack thereof-of how Media is changing the face of journalism. Last August, the BBC reported that 61% of Nigerians had accessed the BBC website via their mobile phones ( **). Where do you see Ghanaian journalists going with New Media?

Its obviously a big opportunity which I do not think Ghanaian electronic media owners have fully opened up to. It has more to do with where media owners want to invest in. Having said that, the Ghanaian journalist has a big opportunity to take advantage of these technologies to learn from across the globe.

* Ghana Statistical Service; Pattern & Trends in Poverty(Ghana Living Standards Survey v;2007)

We open this week’s reviews with two of such entries. The first is by a Ghanaian blogger Got Lights? who writes:

You gotta love Ghana. And after 3 weeks out of town in Liberia and Sierra Leone, you gotta love it more. In both these countries there are power outages so it's just like home. But here in Gh [Ghana] there is some semblance of scheduling even though residents in East Legon will beg to differ.

She maintains that “Ghana is changing so fast, it’s hard to keep up”, and cites this example:

I got to Shell to buy petrol after 3 weeks and the attendant asks : Super or V-Power? What is V-Power? I politely ask him: What is the difference? and he says : 1000 cedis. Well that surely tells me a lot. That V-Power fuel is within my price reach! As to what it does for my car, now that is another issue. Unleaded fuel vrs leaded fuel

The fast pace that she sees is attributed to the following:

dual carriage roads, streetlights, swept roads, collected trash and no groups of youth and men hanging around on the streets

Challenges and serious developmental problems notwithstanding, she admonishes the reader to remember that whenever Ghanaians feel like complaining:

let's keep in mind that although we are ages behind the developed world, we are also eons ahead our compatriots in the developing world

Emily, writing in her blog the Ghana Journal, writes a post that chronicles, albeit briefly, her 22-hourr stay in Togo’s capital city, Lome:

I've managed to avoid the trip, three hours away, to Lome, Togo, just across the border. Finally this week, I popped over there for an assignment, spending less than a day in a city that's a bit too much like Accra, but somehow a more run-down version

Her journey proved to be more epiphanous than expected, with the biggest being the power outages, which plagues Ghana, but in Togo, apparently, is a bit more haphazard and, well, unplanned:

Here's another thing: as much as we b*tch about the regular power outages here in Ghana, at least we know, for the most part, when they are coming. I checked into my hotel around 4 p.m. and flopped on my bed under the ceiling fan. Not five minutes later, the power cut out. It came back on around 9 p.m., just long enough for me to fall asleep under the fan, before cutting out again sometime later. It still wasn't back on by the time I checked out at 7:30 a.m.

She concedes, though, that one thing Lome has over Accra is:

a nice assortment of streetside restaurants with local food and beer, plastic tables and big fans to blow the sweat off ya.

Meanwhile, back in Accra, the fast-pace continues, what with the impending re-denomination of the Ghanaian cedi, which American blogger, Leanne in Ghana, writes about in her post, entitled “The End of the ‘Cedi Shuffle”:

We're gettin' new money! It was actually announced at the first of the year, but with the changeover happening at the end of next month, things are starting to pop! In addition to what's pictured above, there will also be one and five cedi notes. The currency is being ‘redenominated' on July 1 because, as I've mentioned before, you have to cart around buttloads of currency to pay for even small purchases.

It currently takes an excess of 9000 cedis to equal a dollar. If dinner for two costs the equivalent of 50 bucks, you have to have almost a half million cedis to pay it. If you are lucky enough to have scored ¢20,000 notes on your last trip to the bank, you still have a pile of bills too thick to put in your wallet if you expect to then fold said wallet in half.

Whilst this may no longer be any news to Ghanaians - both within and outside the country – what is interesting to note is the new website that the Bank of Ghana has set up which Leanne refers to:

You can read a lot about it (if you care) at this website, which also contains links to the audio stuff…(click on the Media and Press at the top for commercials and jingles).http://www.ghanacedi.gov.gh/

Still in Ghana, it was going to be difficult, given its proximity, for Ghanaians not to comment about the Nigeria elections. Obed Sarpong, blogging in his blog Sarpong Obed—Ready to Chew juxtaposes the French elections that saw the winning of Sarkozy as the new President to that of Nigeria, writing:

I don't know what is wrong with African leaders. I am a Ghanaian: as far as i know, we have a very good relationship with the Nigerian government. At our independence golden jubilee celebrations, president Obasanjo was the guest of honour and president Kufuor made a statement like there is a new wave of African leaders… It's a shame prez Obasanjo has betrayed that speech. He couldn't conduct a credible election. The opposition and local and foreign observers have called for a re-run of the elections. Granting an interview to the bbc which was aired yesterday, prez Obasanjo said the elections was flawed, but not so imperfect that it has to be re-run. Did you hear him.

Beyond the berating of Nigeria, he sums up:

With population of about 130 million people, only 6o million thereabout registered and about 26 million voted. Quite a scare. When the irregularities were reported and compared to that of France, most people in and out of Nigeria who in ideology sided with the government said Nigeria is far bigger than France. What a disgrace! What about nations like China and India. And if Nigeria is so big and large, how come the results were declared so soon in about 48 hours? The elections were clearly rigged! No doubt about it. What happened in Nigeria shows how outgoing African leaders elect their successors.

Meanwhile, Martin Egblewogbe of Ewomi, is more concerned about the security—or lack thereof—that was shown in April, when some students, protesting about the residential policy of university students shit-bombed the university halls of residence in Legon. Ewomi writes:

First, a few words about the s- bomb. We have to be thankful that it was not a fire bomb or some other unpleasant device. But wtf, that's no way to fight your cause. The students will lose whatever support they had from various sources if they resort to such abominations. The very thought of young Ghanaian students spending hours in planning, financing and executing such a shitty affair makes one wonder. The stuff, I presume, was carried in buckets. Enough of the stuff to knock out three large examination centres. Imagine the folks sneaking around in the dead of night with such terrible cargo.

He wonders:

So where the hell was the University Security Apparatus? Christ, one shudders to think what a really evil minded bunch could achieve.

Meanwhile the RegionsWatch Blog provides a perspective on the on-going changes in the Ghanaian banking industry, which has seen the take-over of the country’s only Agricultural Development Bank by South Africa’s Standard Bank, which operates as Stanbic in Ghana.

In RegionsWatch’s view, it is more a case of a battle between two regional blocs of SADC and ECOWAS, whereby the independent regional banking group of ECOBANK is going head-to-head with that of Standard Bank for the tag of “Pan-African Bank”. More perniciously, RegionsWatch believes it is a case of the ever-looming South African threat that is expressing itself in Ghana:

In my view, I see an interesting trend here–one of Stanbic, like South African big capital, choosing to lord it over Africa, and feeling, why not, West Africa's a good place. Once we get Ghana, we've got a springboard for the rest of West Africa. Not so fast, Stanbic! The South Africans appear not to understand not just West Africa, but its market. One thing that goes to compound this perception is an article in Friday's edition of the private Ghanaian paper The Observer, with the headline: Stanbic Offers $80m for ADB

The sub-heading speaks volumes: Workers Charge and Say “Kai!” ADB's Western Union
Inflows for 2006 Alone Was $400m

This, in fact, was reduced from $120m.The cheek of Stanbic! To think it could buy Ghana's only agricultural development bank for $80m, when Western Union's for ADB alone was clocking a good five times aaht amount speaks more about the South African chutzpah, or hubris, of feeling it can lord it over West Africa in general, and Ghana in particular.

Back to the news report from Metro news, I noticed that the following night, the station reported that the government insists it had not sold its shares in ADB, and was actually looking at an unsolicited proposal from Stanbic made last year.

It was confirmed in the state-owned Daily Graphic on Thursday, as the picture above illustrates.

I certainly hope that Bank of Ghana, and Ghanaians open their eyes to the looming threat of big capital–be it outside Africa, or on the continent itself, represented by a wolf in sheep's clothing–South Africa, always ready to please the West and its elite, yet less amenable to the interests of Black Africa.

Finally, Emmanuel, of Trials and Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen provides an exclusive interview of morning show host Bernard Avle, who was back from Nairobi after receiving an award for his show, the CITI Breakfast Show, and for the private radio station, CITI FM itself. The station won the first-ever BBC Radio Awards’ “Best Interactive Talkshow of the Year”:

He cuts a contemplative and tall figure. Be-spectacled with some degree of seriousness etched on his face, you could be forgiven for thinking that the dynamic Bernard Avle, host of the CITI Breakfast Show is only recently a busy man. But he's not. He's been busy ever since he became the host of the young and private Accra-based radio station in late 2004.Recently from Nairobi, Kenya, where he accompanied the station's managing-director Samuel Attah-Mensah to receive an award for the “Best Interactive TalkShow of the Year”, I took the opportunity to ask him over to my workplace, whilst he was in the East Legon neighborhood for another interactive Friday show.

Emmanuel: In the West, citizen journalism and blogging is big vis-à-vis the media, with many debates raging on the threat– or lack thereof-of how Media is changing the face of journalism. Last August, the BBC reported that 61% of Nigerians had accessed the BBC website via their mobile phones ( **). Where do you see Ghanaian journalists going with New Media?
Avle: Its obviously a big opportunity which I do not think Ghanaian electronic media owners have fully opened up to. It has more to do with where media owners want to invest in. Having said that, the Ghanaian journalist has a big opportunity to take advantage of these technologies to learn from across the globe.

Let’s start with a particularly interesting post by a Canadian blogger-couple A Canadian Couple Relishes Acronyms that present readers with a very serious and insightful look into what Ghana’s Accra Metropolitan Assembly’s decision to clear the streets of street vendors says about Ghana’s increasing Westernisation:

Where, then, should the blame lie for these aggressive actions against Accra’s poor? Granted, the federal government and the AMA [Accra Metropolitan Assembly] should shoulder a good deal of it, as must the global trading systems that ensure that the city, country, and continent remain in a state of poverty. But even with the regularly sighted ‘villains’ of Africa — corruption, bad-governance, and trade abuse — hauled out for their usual tongue-lashing, a piece of the explanation for what is happening on the streets of Accra is still missing. After all, the richest cities in the world, with less poverty and (theoretically) better, more accountable governments, do virtually the same things whenever the world’s attention is drawn to them.
To me, then, there is something bigger at play here: our constant striving for something that I will refer to here as ‘empire.’ What I’m referring to is our constant individual and collective desire to fulfill a limitless potential, to ‘be all we can be.’ This concept isn’t monopolised by any one part of the political or social spectrum, but is held by everyone: as corporations seek forever-rising profits, so too homelessness advocates will settle for nothing short of the ‘eradication’ of poverty. It lies at the heart of Western capitalism, and the societies that embrace it. In these societies, the word enough all but disappears from the national vocabulary, with debates between those holding opposing views becoming endless tug-of-wars, full of violence and rhetoric, in which the notion of compromise appears laughable, at best.

We get a glimpse of his standpoint when he says that the move was an “aggressive action” against the poor. It is both a very curious and discerning comment coming from a non-Ghanaian, and highly- recommended reading.

He continues:

The pace of life and work in Ghana is notably slower than in the Western world. Foreign governments and aid agencies regularly voice frustration with their difficulty in getting anything done within a meaningful timeframe. As work days move slowly, so does corporate initiative

Then, how does a country whose work-pace is slow measure up with any Western, capitalist society?:

I could repeat all the stats about North American crime and incarceration rates, depression levels, suicides, et cetera. We’ve had it explained to us a million times over. The conclusion is that Western, capitalist societies are good for the wallet, but bad for the soul

All that said, what is bad for the soul in Ghana is the energy crisis—or mismanagement—that has tainted the period after the independence celebrations of March 6, 2007.

Ewomi, explains:

In the suburb of Accra where I live, water is rationed for about 10 hours a week. Recently, we haven't had water for about two weeks, before that we hadn't for about two months. This is tha capital city, thank you. And the electricity IS on the blink. Last I checked the report, the water level in the dam was precariously, precariously, low. Ghanaians are actually taking heavy body blows.

Taking a critical look, nothing in the country really works. Yeah - lower inflation, lower interest rates, [somewhat] higher salaries - but you know, if you are honest, that all this just sounds good. If you doubt, just take a walk through Accra. Check out Darkuman official town. Madina Old Road. Etc. Oh, slums exist everywhere? OK. Check out East Legon. Osu. Squatters living in wooden kiosks around the corner from half a miilion dollar mansions. Open drains. Mosquitoes. Take a taxi. Take a tro-tro. Go to a public hospital. Live the Ghanaian experience. OK, the politicians we have are really full of the stuff - they do 1% when even 50% could have been acheived without sweat and really 1000% was required, but they want accolades and praises. And they are chronically unable to provide leadership.

Some months ago, Emmanuel argued that “Accra is in the Dark Ages” and that the country seems to be going backwards as far as energy is concerned.

Don Thieme, US blogger, writing in his blog Life Cycle Analysis, provides a historical perspective of the closing of Ghana’s aluminium smelter in the Ghanaian port of Tema:

The Akosombo Dam on the Volta River had been planned by British engineers prior to Ghanaian independence, but construction was not begun until Nkrumah secured financial backing from the United States in 1958. It became one of the first large projects undertaken by the World Bank, with most of the hydroelectric power that it was to produce promised to the newly created Volta Aluminum Company (VALCO) for its smelter to be constructed at the port city of Tema. As can be seen from the map below, the damming of the Volta River created an immense lake totaling over 8300 km² (3200 mi²). To administer the lake and dam, the Ghanaian Parliament established the Volta River Authority in April 1961 with Nkrumah as Chairman and six Board members.²As part of the deal made with the World Bank and United States corporations, Ghana gave a written promise that the Tema smelter would not be expropriated. Nkrumah and his economic advisors did envision, however, that local bauxite ore would be exploited for aluminum production in a “vertically” integrated national industry. The newly formed VALCO, on the other hand, was controlled by American investors. Particularly influential was Nkrumah's close personal friend, Edgar Kaiser, a California industrialist who built the Akosombo Dam and went on to found Kaiser Aluminum to use its power.³ Kaiser, Alcoa, and other aluminum companies making use of the smelter have found it more profitable to ship alumina from their existing mines in Jamaica and other locations than to open up new operations in Ghana. The “invisible hand” of international trade seems to have made an unsustainable mess in this case, possibly contributing to the rundown condition of the smelter which has suffered at least two disastrous fires in the past two years. In closing the smelter, Ghana apparently intends to devote the power from the Akosombo Dam to providing more stable electricity to its citizens.

The real truth is that the closing of the smelter notwithstanding, Ghana remains plagued by a serious energy mismanagement. Abocco, of Ghanaconscious, sums up the mismanagement:

I've talked to a lot of Ghanaians back home about the excitement regarding the celebration of Ghana's golden jubilee. A lot of them have complained about the amount of money being spent to celebrate Ghana's golden anniversary of independence when they do not have reliable power (electricity) and constantly have ‘lights off'. Ghana has outgrown the Akosombo dam and it cannot produce enough energy for its population

Meanwhile, The Trials & Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen…conveys his visceral disappointment about Ghana in general, and Ghanaians in particular. He concedes that the energy crisis afflicting Ghana is one that has dogged the EU, but at least it encouraged the Europeans:

Ghana is 50, yet we have an energy crisis when we shouldn’t. Let’s face it, though: energy problems are not unique to this country, for in 2006, Europe suffered blackouts, prompting the EU to factor energy as a key challenge and policy area for its burgeoning 27-member EU.

In Ghana, we have just resumed the load-shedding management programme, which started Thursday—some days after Ghana@50 dignitaries left.

In Ghana, no future prescriptions are forthcoming. He points the finger to incumbent energy minister Joseph Adda:

Had this energy crisis afflicted the UK, heads would have rolled, and incumbent Minister of Energy—Joseph Adda—would have been forced to resign. It would not just have been the opposition that would have called for it, but the buoyant and vibrant press.

Finally, two posts ask whether Ghana@50 should have been a moment for more reflection. The first one is from GHANA: WHERE MY HEART IS, who writes:

… it doesn't sound like Ghanaians at home really care too much about the Golden jubilee and I don't really blame them. There are more pressing things they have to worry about and for me the question at hand is always “should we really be celebrating?” Yes it is 50 years after independence but have we reached a status worth celebrating. Yes we can celebrate our age but I think our focus should be finding ways to move forward!

The second post goes a bit further:

I got the distinct impression, people did not have any other reason for celebrating but the fact that Ghana is 50 years old. That’s still a very good reason to celebrate, don’t get me wrong. I just wish there had been a lot more sober reflection and more concrete plans for the future.

Whatever the case may be, it is clear that the energy challenge that Ghana finds itself in is one that provides significant food-for-thought not just for policy-makers, but also ordinary Ghanaians.

So ingrained in the culture of the country is the use of English that Maximus of Ghanablogs.com finds himself:

ashamed to identify myself as a Ghanaian. Why? Because I don't know my mother tongue (Twi) as well as I know English. I can't speak, write, and read it as well as I do English. Sad I know. You want to know another shameful secret? I was born and raised in the Greater Accra Region, but I can't speak Ga. Yep, you read right. Don't worry my family and friends still tease me. I can blame the educational system and lots of people, but the number one person to blame is me. I should have paid more attention in language class

Another communication challenge is that of the execrable, or very poor, service of the leading mobile telecommunication provider in the country—Areeba, which Abocco, of GhanaConscious writes:

he interesting thing is how Areeba continues to capture the bulk of the market. Their promotions and investment in marketing a few years ago have really paid off to the point that the ‘cool' and ‘chic' phone service to have is Areeba. Compound this with the fact that it is cheaper to make calls from one Areeba customer to another than to someone with a different service, one is doomed to get an Areeba chip since most of friends use it anyway. In the meantime, they have the worst network and instead of improving it, they are focusing on becoming more ‘attractive' by sponsoring entertainment events and embarking on more promotions

He maintains that despite Areeba's problem, the other mobile provider, Kasapa, has a small share of the market, despite having the best technology (CDMA). That they have phones which he considers “ugly” doesn’t help them catch up any faster!

In the meantime, as Ghana creeps towards what may prove to be an explosive Jubilee celebration on 6 March, Ghanaian bloggers cannot help but express their opinions. The first, being Emmanuel Okyere who commends Ghana President John Kufuor for his state of the nation address two weeks ago. Two main issues addressed in the speech touched him, economic performance and ICT:

today the revolution of Information Communication Technology is fundamentally changing the way the world works and decreasing the marginal cost of production and raising productivity across all industries. The Government will continue to place emphasis on the potential of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to provide the foundation for transforming the nation’s economy.

To ensure that every District has access to high speed internet connection and promote a wider penetration of ICT services throughout the country, including distance education and tele-medicine, the Government has secured from the Government of China, a concessionary loan facility of $30 million to construct a national Fibre Optic Communication Backbone

Luke, of I’ll Alight at This Thing(Luke in Ghana), reflects on how different the capital of the Northern part of Ghana, Tamale looks after a two-month absence from the region:

There are now street signs up on the larger streets, revealing names I hadn’t know about before. However, the word Tamale is written in colour, with “Tam” in blue and “ale” in red – giving the signs a beer ad flavour.

The main street in the centre of town is being “decongested” – all the local shops, which are set up on the side of the street in small shack-like buildings, are being cleared out. Apparently they’re being relocated to two satellite markets in town, but I don’t know the details on this (nobody seems to), and I’m dubious about how effective these markets will be. The main strip was a major commercial hub for the city, and I worry that relocating all these shopkeepers will put a major dent in their sales

Whilst heaping praises about the warmth of Ghanaians, that is “unparalleled” as something that has not changed in his absence, he contends—with some degree of ambivalence—that the developments in Tamale:

…all seems to relate to Ghana’s 50th anniversary – the 6th March will mark 50 years of independence for Ghana from British rule (the first sub-Saharan African nation to gain this status), and they’re sure to celebrate. Beautification projects are ongoing across the country.

Ghana will also be hosting the Cup of African Nations 2008 – an African soccer tournament. It’s for this reason that the new stadium is being constructed.

These two events are certainly exciting, but I can’t help but wonder if the preparations leading up to them are doing more harm for the people of Tamale than good

On a very different note, a blog from an unusual quarter, EU Referendum, comments on Ghana’s independence, generalising about the country’s first President Dr.Kwame Nkrumah, without taking into account local collusion with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which has been considered the key culprit. Szamuely, the blog editor, Helen writes:

There can be no question about it, the twin causes of Ghana's downfall from its advantageous position fifty years ago are the Marxist, socialist experiment that was imposed on it in the name of something called “the African way”; and the indiscriminate aid that poured in from Western countries whose leaders were trying to assuage historic “guilt” without bothering to find out what actually happened to the money.

Finally, she uses the tenuous comparison between South Korea and Ghana (though it’s usually been Malaysia, also celebrating its Jubilee Year this year):

In 1957 when Ghana became independent it was a relatively wealthy country. Its present and future was contrasted advantageously with that of South Korea by all the pundits. Ghana was rich, democratic, full of natural resources. South Korea was none of those things and what was going to happen to the country.

Well, fifty years on, we know the answer. By African standards, Ghana is not doing too badly. South Korea has shot ahead to become one of the world's fastest developing economies and a serious threat to the sclerotic economies of Western Europe. Presumably, when Segolene Royal promised to introduce measures to control globalization, South Korea was one of the countries she had in mind (if she had anything specific in mind, that is). It was not Ghana, you may be sure.

Ghanaians are bound to groan collectively upon hearing such arguments that, sadly, might continue in any analysis of the country by non-Africans!

a dry dusty wind that blows along the northwest coast of Africa. Its time-frame, she describes as “usually show[ing] up in December and blow[ing]s itself out by March.

Harmattan is, indeed, “messy”, covering cars with “fine grit” and “bare tile floors are dusted with a layer of North African sand.” Except that this time, Ghana meteorologists claim they came from Eastern Europe.

Rob Taylor, Canadian blogger in Ghana writing in his blog A Canadian Couple Relishes Acronyms, in his characteristically humorous style, lists the ordeal of getting his passport renewed in Ghana, a process which took nothing less than 82 steps to obtain! By the time he obtained his visa, he writes, he felt:

fully welcomed to Ghana (just in time to leave again)!

Meanwhile, Elodie, now-former OXFAM Ghana Belgian intern, of Akwaaba in Ghana, Gate (Get) to Africa!, writes a contemplative and philosophical entry in French about what she thinks she learnt about being in Ghana and Africa during her one-year stint:

l’Afrique crée la chance de m’ouvrir l’étendue des connaissances (personnelles, sociales, professionnelles) ; l’Europe est là pour me rappeler mon identité et les gens dont je semble rester le plus attachée au bout du compte

[Africa offered me the chance to open up the scope of my acquaintances [personal, social, and professional); Europe is there to remind me of my identity and the people to whom I seem to be the most attached in the long run

She maintains that:

le Ghana – et l’Afrique, par extension – a encore beaucoup à m’offrir. Peut-être même que j’ai moi-même à offrir – j’espère

[Ghana—and Africa by extension—has a lot to offer. Probably much more than I have to offer].

Finally, as Ghana celebrates its Golden Jubilee, it also prepares for the re-denomination of the Ghanaian cedi, Ghanaian blogger Emmanuel.K.Bensah, of Trials and Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen…of Ghana, praises the Bank of Ghana for the pamphlet it issued mid-month for readers of the Daily Graphic with details about the new currency to be issued alongside Ghana’s existing currency, the cedi, in July this year.

Emmanuel writes:

In fact, ever since the announcement late last year of the redenomination of the Ghana cedi, such that 10,000 Ghanaian cedis will become, as from July this year, 1 NEW Ghanaian cedi, there have been a number of (silly) jingles on the radio, and a banner (quasi-permanent) on the front page of the Daily Graphic newspaper, and other newspapers so that the public becomes used to the “conversion”.

US-based Ghanaian blogger reflects on the Ghanaian worker, and the certain “pull-in” and “push-out” factors that inhibit the desire of Ghanaians to stay in Ghana and work in the country. He writes:

Ghana's successes are beginning to attract back some of her professionals. At least there are a number of people I know who are talking about returning to Ghana. But in Ghana there is one big “push-out” factor that I see. Not only are salaries too low in terms of cost of living, workers are not paid on time, or regularly, or sometimes even at all, and this includes government workers, especially outside the capitol. There are many highly skilled and dedicated people in Ghana. But if they cannot earn a living, even when they have a job, leaving Ghana becomes more tempting.

Maybe, just maybe, the combination of Ghana’s celebration of its Golden Jubilee and the re-denomination of the Ghana cedi might just do the trick of retaining Ghanaians? Only time will tell.

The first complaint lodged is by OXFAM Ghana Belgian intern, Elodie, of Akwaaba in Ghana, Gate (Get) to Africa!, who, in response to a reader from Cote d’ivoire keen to be established in Ghana, blogs about the “state of (in)accommodation”. Elodie sums up this state very candidly:

The estate sector can also be compared to a playing field with huge inequalities and no rule.

She wonders what the solution “of this lawlessness situation” could be. She believes “state regulation, implementation, control and justice” are key to addressing the very serious malpractices by landlords who demand upfront rent from one to three years!

Meanwhile, Trials and Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen continues to lament about darkness falling in the country, including Accra, but, on a positive note, is encouraged by the country’s regulatory commission (PURC) responding to the latest complaints:

Anger and frustration aside, I contacted PURC this afternoon, on account of the fact that they had switched the lights off at 5.50am this morning. When I called my parents around 3.05pm, it was still off! Philip, of PURC, contacted me around 3.22pm to tell me that a conductor was broken and that they were on it. This was after having called me at 3.17pm to tell me that he was trying to get in touch with them. He assured me electricity should be back on around 4.30pm.

There are equally more positive vibes from Luke Brown, of I’ll Alight at the This Thing (Luke In Ghana) his experience in Ghana:

I like being in a country where people are willing to go all out. Where people don’t allow Western-style social norms to prevent them from discussing bodily functions. Where, if you care about someone, you express it unequivocally (“Luke, I’ve missed you so much!” is a common sentence to me). Where you don’t allow such apparent roadblocks as lack of space to prevent an additional bag of yams to be passed deep into the recesses of a public tro-tro – indeed, lack of space a roadblock: what would cause most Westerners to give up, is merely a minor setback here. And where “lights off” is taken in extreme stride: a fact of life here in a developing nation.

Tro-Tro is a name given to public buses in Ghana.

Brian, of I’m Ghana go to Accra, writes how “nothing really fazes me here anymore.” He elaborates on this new-found stoicism by writing a humorous post about breasts…of the chicken kind; rasta men preaching vitriol against the white man in a tro-tro and a the man announcing to the rest of the tro-tro that Brian was “possibly a CIA”! :

I nodded to confirm that indeed I was and told him that I’d be sure to keep watching him.

Equally humorous is a post by a couple writing in their blog A Canadian Couple Relishes Acronyms. Rob writes a brief overview of life in Accra to help prepare his Mum who will be visiting in December. It certainly proves to be a humorous account. He touches on temperature, Tema station, sound effects [of Ghanaians] hissing, pure water, and perhaps the most humorous being “Obruni” (white person):

If you are white, you are usually fairly aware of it. I mean, you’ve probably walked past a mirror a few times in your life. Maybe you noticed that your bangs needs a trim, or that you looked good in those new jeans you bought. You probably also noticed that your skin was rather pale and deathly. It‘s not a big deal, you were born with it. It’s one of those things you’ve come to accept as the truth. The people of Ghana are a sensitive bunch, though, full of keen observations and an eagerness to help their fellow man. One of the best ways they show this is by letting you know that you are white, in case it has slipped your mind. They do this by shouting out “Obruni!” (foreigner) when you pass them.

Leanne, of An American in Africa, reminisces over what she calls “gas lines” of 1978 in her native US as a result of gas shortage that struck Accra mid-November. Lest she forget, in Ghana you do not experience gas shortage, but fuel shortage:

(don't say ‘gas' or even ‘gasoline'- you will be met by blank looks and puzzled expressions. You put FUEL in your car- or maybe diesel, but never ‘gas'.)

Finally, As US-based Ghanaian blogger, Crossed Crocodiles, celebrates over the fact that Ghana is certified polio free.

He laments that he made this discovery as a result of having to relinquish his TIGO sim card, whose signal had been “lousy”. TIGO is one of the four mobile phone providers in Ghana.

The process for TIGO for GPRS is a simple one, outweighing by far that of Areeba’s, in the manner in which it includes simply going to their website, and sending a request by text message. David wonders why Areeba is not activating the service “over the air”.

From a complaint about a mobile provider to a service provider, Emmanuel.k.Bensah, of Trials and Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen, decries the performance of Ghana's electricity provider:

Ever since the load-shedding started, the country’s electricity provider ECG, has decided to ride on the back of the “load management programme” by continuing to deliver increasingly execrable service.

Wondering, “who was truly bleeding us dry: the mosquitoes – or Electricity Company of Ghana?!,”he claims that Accra is in the dark ages:

Yesterday, on an evening that was not supposed to experience load-shedding at 6pm, the lights went out, eliciting a collective sigh of resignation and frustration all-rolled-in-one.

On a final note about bad communication, Canadian journalist Karen Palmer, of Palmer in Africa, recounts how bad communication between her and her landlady served to underscore what she has titled her entry as “culture clash”:

I'm not really sure what happened. I think it's a combination of culture clash and unrealistic expectations and the landlady's inability to separate me from the previous tenant from the previous tenant's subletters and the fact that if I'd waited until Nov. 1 to move in, I probably wouldn't have been so difficult to deal with.

Brian, writing at I’m Ghana go to Accra, writes a thoughtful and humorous piece about meeting Ghanaians in Accra. He touches on the serendipitous nature of the capital city, where you are likely to meet all sorts of characters—from a creepy Rastafarian “asking if he can have one of the women he sees me walking around with” to those from the Northern region of Ghana, like one Hasam:

who walked with me for 30 minutes to my hotel and on Sunday he unexpectedly came back to lead me back to the bus station. He invited me back to Winneba the next weekend as his guest at a ceremony at the college he attends there. This is not an unusual scenario and I suspect everyone who visits has at least one experience with this sort of hospitality. I’ve met numerous Hasam’s throughout Ghana.

Regrettably, not everyone seems as friendly to the “obruni” [white man] that Brian is. He relates an account of a potential stalker, who thankfully turned out to be more harmless than with malice:

He introduced himself as Frances and put his arm around me and I instinctively shoved it off but he kept following me asking me innocent questions about where I was from and why I was here. He followed me for another ten minutes until I deliberately began going down streets that I thought was out of his way. I underestimated his passion for wandering and tolerance for uncomfortable silence. Frances followed me around in circles for nearly an hour until I eventually told him I had to go home and he could not follow me there. He promptly pulled out a notepad and gave me the number to his and his mother’s cellphone as well as his postal and email address. He then gave me a map so I wouldn’t be so lost in the future. Frances represents a motivation prevalent in Accra and unique to any other city I’ve been: although I believe he lives on the street he has never asked me for money he seems to only want to be associated with me because of my white skin.

Being a white person in Ghana, one encouters many conflicting experiences:

Walking down the street I lower my head to a 60 degree angle and focus my attention to the grooves on the sidewalk. On the train I feel embarrassed for the woman who is talking loudly on her cell phone and frustration consumes me as I read the same line over and over again in my book, the tantalizing voyeurism of a mundane conversation invariably distracts me. I’ll enthusiastically greet friends at bars and ignore the guy I sat next to in biology everyday because I have nothing meaningful to say to him.

Summing up his experience, he notes:

They are what makes Ghana both intolerable and exceptionally pleasing, exhausting and perpetually rewarding.

Hundreds of them. As the rain eases, hordes of cheap Ghanaian road crews spread out all over town and start filling potholes. Sometimes with the asphalt-like stuff, sometimes with cement(!), sometimes with just more dirt, hard packed. Labor is cheap here and it's astonishing how much they can get done in a day

I'm Ghana go to Accra writes a thoughtful, descriptive, and realistic account of his experience with the tro-tro, which he describes as:

The generic name for anything larger than a taxi that carries passenger along a strictly adhered to route. I ride in a tro-tro about three times a day and have been in everything from small mini-vans to old school busses (no description could envelop the lot.

He claims he is beginning to enjoy the tro-tro, especially as “you could conceivably get anything you needed without ever leaving the tro-tro,” and he enumerates items that can be purchased whilst in a tro-tro in traffic. These include toilet rolls, hard-boiled eggs, fried fish, sandwiches, various cuts of meat, chilled cocoa, fresh fruits, meat pies, and plenty of other indiscernible items.

Apart from a few superficial generalities (there are no sidewalks anywhere in Ghana); and a belief that tro-tros “are the only affordable way to move about the city…”, Brian’s account is amusing enough to grab your attention on all the colourful details he provides of life in Ghana.

Finally, in the light of Jay-Z's visit to Ghana in early October, Emily, writing in her blog the (wish I was in) Ghana journal, expresses her disappointment at the announced ticket prices for the show at the Accra International Conference Centre, that were going for a prohibitive 600,000 Ghanaian cedis ($US65) for normal rate, and 1,000,000 cedis for VIP:

In Yankee bucks, that's $65 and $110. Jay-Z will reportedly be spending time promoting his UN work, too. Doesn't this seem a bit, well, I dunno, wildly inappropriate? I mean, you can be skeptical about those “people in Ghana live on less than $2 a day” statistics, but there is undeniable poverty. Sure, there are people who can afford this price in Ghana. There is a middle class there. But there's also impressions. The impressions about what it would say to your friends if you got a ticket to the Jay-Z concert. American rappers are big stars in Africa. Going to this concert will mean something to people. It'll be a status thing.