Chronicles from Ogyakrom - 2005

Chronicles from Ogyakrom 2005

Beloved, I’ve found my way back home, and boy does it feel good. For the first time, I’m actually doing a whole lot of resting – if you know me, you know I’m the energizer bunny to the nth degree. This time around, I’ve been home for the most part, trying to polish up a paper and do little more than eating and sleeping. It’s relaxing to be here – out of all the people I’ve spoken to since I got here, only one person has warmly said “welcome home”, and I loved that. So far what I’ve been getting has been a constant barrage of “what are you doing here? I keep asking them ei, can’t I come back HOME where I’m from and belong? All because it’s not been too long since I was last here – we (those of us out of the country) make our people get used to not seeing us often, and when they do, it’s unusual. I keep getting asked whether it’s because I’m coming home to get married – I’ll talk about that later – the pressure that people are putting on sisters here about marriage etc…. harrowing. I’ll get into that later … … Anyway, it’s been raining heavily since I got here, and it brings to mind one issue that’s been problematic for the longest time – drainage systems. Ei! I tell you, there are swimming pools and rivers all over the place, and it’s not even funny, hmm. Allow me to digress just a little bit…

The last time I came down, I kept saying one of the top priorities government should have is the re-organization re-planning and addressing of our towns etc … metropolitan planning. When I said it, some people thought “aaba” – there are way more important [economic] issues to be dealt with. Let me illustrate how crucial this is, starting with the sale of land, which tends to be haphazard at best because we have chiefs and other entities chopping up land for sale and re-sale without proper zoning or distributing of the land. People are buying plots that sit right in the paths of waterways, and cut right into roads, and sadly, it is not unusual to find the same piece of land sold and resold multiple times. We can begin to address some of these problems by starting with collaboration between the lands department, chiefs and others who sell land (clan/family heads etc), metropolitan authorities and urban planners. The approach must be along two levels – reorganizing (with the least damage), the existing unplanned neighborhoods, and planning the newer settlement areas. If we plan neighborhoods, we can put into place an addressing system that will facilitate mail and delivery services (a whole industry out there), identification and tracking of people (think of the functions and advantages of using driver license information, finding people etc), facilitating the work of our security agencies – police, fire, ambulance ….

They naa they’re struggling already, but can you imagine giving the fire service directions to your house when there’s a fire? “yessir, so you come down the main road aah, and make a left in front of Afariwaa House – it’s the house with the lions on the walls; and then you go aah till you see the Petrol Shell on the right, make the immediate right turn after the Shell; you’ll see a big gutter – drive towards it and make a left by the huge rubbish dump … …” (believe-you-me, they may show up as they’ve done in the past, to tell you that they have no water, so they’re going to find water and will return. Surely, they will return, but it may just be 2 weeks later… and these are not mere anecdotes/toil - stuff like this have happened.) Even if they have water and we assume that they respond on time, it will take centuries before they find you. I hope I’ve made my case for proper urban planning and addressing. Lemme change gears then …

One trend I’ve noticed, which bothers me to no end is the disappearance of vernacular programs (performing arts) and their replacement with English movies. The current vernacular programs on t.v. are the news and sports programs, and that is indeed laudable. However, there is nothing left in the area of pure entertainment except for Concert Party/Cantata on Sunday evenings. GTv I believe has realized this, and on Thursday evenings, they have started showing some of the old favorites – Osofo Dadzie, Obra etc… I miss those paa oh, and it’s so refreshing to watch them now – the acting was so natural and the plots were well put together. Seeing O.D., Dr. Rokoto, Maame Doknoh, Bea Kissi, Auntie Adjoa, Adjoa Smart, Kwadwo Kwakye, KK-Adjos, Waakye Boakye and all the others is such a pleasure. We never take care of these people who’ve entertained us for so long, it’s sad. Some have died or continue to age in poverty, and there seems to be no place for them in contemporary theatre because it’s mostly non-existent. What we have are movies – no more plays as we used to have etc, and that really saddens me. Besides the loss of the entertainment value, a bigger impact is the alienation of our non-English speaking brethren in the area of entertainment.

Raising this issue brings me to Nollywood. As I type, I’m watching an Indian movie on TV3 – Bollywood in action. Earlier on, there was a VOA (Voice of America) program on the Nollywood industry, with a Nigerian writer, an actor and a film producer. The Nigerian movies have eclipsed ours in such an overwhelming way that … hmm. Because the market for Nollywood movies is quite large in Ghana, they are essentially producing for our markets, and the more they act, the better they get. Their Ghanaian counterparts are forcing to compete, and when I say forcing, I mean just that … because of the appeal of Nigerian movies, we have more Ghanaian movies and television series being done almost entirely in pidgin English from the entire cast, giving it a Nigerian flavor, while some producers are casting Nigerian actors as well. I remember the old movies where the casting, acting and everything else was just wonderful – I Told You So, The Road To Kukurantumi, Love Brewed In The African Pot, Heritage Africa etc…. If you’ve never watched I Told You So, please look for it and watch it – priceless!

Our legal system … … I was just reading the paper, and Ataa Ayi, the armed robber who was caught for leading a gang in many armed robberies in Accra is suing the police for contempt. Yes, … he’s taking them up on the fact that they abused the legal clause that says publishing or saying anything that may prejudice a pending case is prohibited. Since this case has been so widely discussed, he’s found a legitimate reason to sue. Anyway, will see how it progresses, but it does make me wonder … is this necessarily an indication that people are recognizing their rights and being proactive in safeguarding their rights? In that case, it’s a good thing. Or is it a frivolous attempt to capitalize on the media attention and generate more sensation? I wonder. It does remind me though of instant justice in Ghana and I daresay Africa at large. I remember the days when as soon as one heard “e djulor e!” it meant trouble for the identified ‘djulor’ (thief). In places like Awudome, if you were a thief and you were caught, the safest place to hide was the police station – at least there, you’d be beaten etc, but would be left in “counter-back” to live. On the streets, thieves have been burnt alive, beaten to death, nailed in the head, dragged alive …. As gruesome as it may seem, I would like to think that some of these tactics made thieves fearful of being caught. Gone are the days when a loud “hei!” would have sent a thief running. These days, things have changed – they come armed, so even when you scream, you do so in vain. Yep – recently they showed some burglars on t.v. with pistols – we have moved from burglary/robbery to armed burglary where neighbors may even hear the commotion but may be too scared to come and help. We have moved from petty crimes to armed, premeditated and well-planned crimes. A sad regression.

On this issue of armed burglary, more often than not, the blame is quickly placed on the Nigerians in the country – the source of these crimes, but come on now … they work with Ghanaians too, hellooo! From the airport, they follow people to their homes, stake their houses out, and attack later on. I know some people refrain from going straight home because of this, and drive into military and restricted neighborhoods so they can lose any potential armed robbers. The scary part of this is the availability of guns on the streets – some may blame the former commandoes and other unsavory characters who had access to arms, and others may blame Nigerian crooks in the country. There’s enough blame to go around – who’s doing what or not doing what. I think the search for a solution must be prioritized – encourage trade-ins of arms, and encourage discreet whistle-blowing. I’m sure there are other ways of tackling the problem, and we must explore these. I believe strongly in self-help initiatives, and this is where neighborhood watchdog initiatives etc can be set up etc …

Talking about the legal system, a 16 year old boy was sentenced to 10yrs in prison with hard labor for raping a 14year old girl whom he says is his girlfriend. He was also made to compensate her with 3 million cedis. In the same court, a 25 year old mechanic raped a class 6 girl, left her bleeding, and got the same sentence. (3 million cedis is just a little over $300) Shouldn’t the sentences be different? I don’t know much about the law, but I would assume that juvenile and adult punishment for crimes differ; and besides, 3 million cedis is barely enough to repair the damage caused – especially when many times these girls get pregnant and drop out of school? … something doesn’t seem right. Anyway, lemme get off this bandwagon and take care of a few other things. Will continue later …

One really important issue that I haven’t talked about is NICU and the “mattress room.” Recently, a lot of media attention was given to the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit at the Korle-bu Teaching Hospital. This is the unit that houses premature babies in their lives inside and outside of incubators. Up until recently, they had many babies who were all there well beyond their premature admission periods, but were not allowed out of the unit because their bills had not been paid. With some of the fees, mothers who could not afford it had to keep their babies in there till … till … eerrhmm, till … ummmm … till … you get the point now, don’t you? Through the personal experience of some public figure, the issue came to light, and some philanthropist offered to pay for all the ‘past-due’ babies so they could be released from their prison. Hmm – read that as a sigh of relief in gratitude for the end to the babies’ and families’ ordeals, and a sigh of disappointment and frustration with the system as it is.

We may blame this on the effects of the ERP and SAP programs that imposed user fees etc on health services and limited people’s access to health care. Fine, we have a system that does not work too well, suffering from many complications including the flight of our doctors and nurses because we do not take good care of them and rather subject them to working in desperate and frustrating conditions, the lack of facilities/the physical infrastructure to support the system, poverty that reduces access, the lack of vision on the part of leaders and managers of the system in finding innovative ways of addressing these problems etc …. I am sick and tired (truly, I am) of hearing lots of yik-yak about these issues just for the sake of sounding like something is being done about it ---- ACT NOW!!! To use a few examples – we talk about the ‘brain drain’ in many fora, write about it, lament it etc, but I honestly don’t see any concrete efforts being made to address it. What is the Ministry of Health doing about the flight of doctors? I can’t blame them for seeking an environment that is supportive and has the equipment that facilitates their work. The typical response to this problem, not just in Ghana, but in Nigeria, South Africa [and I bet many other African countries] is to alienate these medical professionals further by telling them to shut up and do the work, threatening to withhold the certificates of graduating medical students, or importing Cuban doctors (donations made possible by Uncle Fidel’s move towards solidarity and need to find allies). I ‘ll leave this conversation alone for now – I wrote an entire thesis on the “brain drain” of doctors from Ghana to the U.S. – see me for more ‘apor’ on that.

Still talking about health matters … we really need to clean up around here – so much ‘borla’ all over the place – one way the govt. is trying to deal with the sea of ‘pure water’ and ‘wiase ayeh sum’ rubber bags is to send them abroad for recycling. Ei!!! Send borla abroad in order to recycle – is there no way of learning to recycling here? Is it not better to bear the expense of recycling borla here – providing the necessary equipment and making it a long-term solution rather than sending borla abroad? Oh Africa! My Africa!!! Hmm…

Anyway, talking about Africa, I’m heading to Senegal for a conference, so get your ears ready for more filla. This time it’s filla from across the border oh …. Looking forward to the trip, and will do my best to take you with me – get your imagination spiced up and ready!!!

Before I continue … lemme boss you about my latest love … a terrific new hiplife song that’s causing some villagers to go crazy. Tuabodom! … Lyrics first – “ye firi tuabodom, the capital town Nkyenekyene, benko Kumasi djoo, benkodi Congressē. (2x) Adieh bi tuuum, benfaso yorrr, benko Kumasi djoo, benkodi Congressē!” The song tells the story of Tuabodom, a village in B/A (Brong Ahafo region), where they speak twi with prefixes of ‘ben’ before their words (benkoto, bensore, benkor etc…) anyway, … a busload of students went to Kumasi for an “inter-school congress” event, and having never seen “coal tar” and having never experienced the smoothness of a tarred road, they exclaimed … adieh bi tuuuum (something black!) benfaso yoorrrr, (we passed on it smoothly (yorrr)). Hilarious. However, the chief, queenmother and some “Tuabodomians” are not happy with the ridicule it’s bringing to the village and are calling for the song to be banned. In the name of all that is funny, they have to let it go! Grow a sense of humor, let’s laugh over it and move on with life. It’s djama that’s been sang for a long time in many of our secondary schools. Sang by Nkasei (literally, thorns, or bones), the lyrics, the music video and the beats are just great! Part in black-and-white picture, it shows students dressed in white shirts and shorts with ties on a school bus singing etc.. hahahaha lol. Lol. Saw them in concert also, and just looooved it.

The other song I fell in love with is “I and my shordy are one” ….. says to the girl he’s interested in … your father works at the ministries, and my mother bakes cakes and biscuits, known as pastries … we have something in common …. I and my shordy are one! ….. hilarious. Okay, now onto more serious business …. Senegal.

Alors, voilà! I enjoyed the trip, and would love to go back if and when I get the chance to do so. What was I doing there? I presented a paper at a bi-annual conference organized by the National Forum for Black Public Administrators – they try to have the conference on the continent each time, and it’s been in Ghana, Ethiopia, S. Africa and a few other countries. It’s on Public Policy Management and Development. A quick word about my paper – it focused on ‘capacity building,’ illustrating that a lot of ‘capacity building’ efforts basically mean training, training, and more training. I drew examples from Ghanaian training institutes and other African ones. This ‘training bias’ is also tilted heavily towards management personnel, neglecting the civil servants who actually work with citizens and do the actual work. My proposal was to re-examine the target group of senior-level managers and begin to recognize the importance of ‘street-level’ civil servants such as traffic controllers, public school teachers, customs officers etc…… the presentation went well by God’s grace, and I got some pretty good feedback and questions. The more I thought about the paper and addressed the questions asked, the more I saw my dissertation topic crystallizing before my eyes. So! This will be my dissertation focus. Alright, enough about all this academic stuff. … … …

One of the things that really stood out [to me] was the mentality/’awareness’ of many Senegalese. There’s this sense of pan-Africanism that I kept coming across, and this is something I have not seen in Ghana. A lot of the conversations I had with many people – cab drivers, photographers, lecturers, students, the tour guides, hotel attendants, other hotel guests etc… seemed to generally reveal a certain cultural awareness – a more universal consciousness that I admire. The pride and ‘awareness’ that I noticed, I would personally trace to their ‘patriarch’ Leopold Sedar Senghor – like Nkrumah, he believed in and pushed for a united Africa with a people who were proud of their heritage, not forgetting their past, but moving on beyond it through their own ingenuity etc. Many of the conversations ended up with a sense of “after all, we’re all one, and we have to determine our own destiny/future and so we better work together.” I see this African consciousness also in their president, who’s like the big brother, elder statesman of West Africa …, though some may disagree with that.

This is in contrast to the sense of helplessness and hopelessness that I observed back home, and which bothers me to no end. I am not joking – there’s this pervasive attitude in Ghana right now that nothing will change anyway, and so the status quo is ok. … I’ll talk about that later on. For now, we have Senegal on board. Lemme start with the flight there – maaan! Plus ça change … ! The more we change, the more we stay the same. The flight that was supposed to leave at 12:50 left almost 3 hours later. The annoying thing is … there was absolutely NO announcement to say that the flight was running late. This was the case when returning from Senegal; I guess they assume you know they’ll be late, and it’s all okay, and so there’s not a single courtesy announcement, and in the case of the delayed flights, when asking the people who were supposed to know – airline workers etc, they all had no clue when the plane was going to arrive and then take off. I went on Bellview airlines, a Nigerian-based airline that is really capitalizing on the vacuum created by the loss of Ghana Airways and Air Afrique. The west coast market is more than ripe, and maan are they cashing in on that. It runs like a trotro – from Lagos to Accra, on to Freetown, Dakar and then heading back east with all those same stops and sometimes adding Conakry. In fact, this bad habit of not even alerting customers of the change or delay is so pervasive, and this was the case at a program I attended – the 1001 Laughs show – it did not start on time, and not even a soul came to announce and apologize for the delay, while we waited for the 8:00pm show to finally start at 9:20 or so. Nothing, zilch, niet, nada, hwee. Problem is – we accept it and don’t protest. While sitting there I was saying to my sister – what if a whole lot of us boycotted the program by reason of its tardiness and went asking for a full refund? I heard other people saying the same thing – but of course we did nothing. See, that’s one of our issues – in many public and private companies, we accept poor service, we do not question things or assert ourselves, so service providers begin to feel they’re doing us a favor, though in reality, without our patronage, their businesses etc will collapse. Talking about this program … it was really neat though, ‘cos I got to see a live performance of my song (Tuabodom), and some of the performers were fantastic – specifically, Basket Mouth, a comedian from Nigeria. Wow – he had me in stitches! People did not hesitate to ‘saas’ Abeiku Santana, who kept referring to his recent trip to Yankey – became too much at a point, I must say. Made me realize that when it comes to entertainment, I think there’s a certain authenticity and richness that the Nigerians have (music is often more ‘conscious,’ movies are of better production and acting quality, the comedians, if they are representative in some way of the comedy industry in Nigeria reflect good quality, etc… …) perhaps this is something Ghanaians can learn from.

Anyway, back to Senegal … … on the way, at the airport, (Kotoka), it was not uncommon to find workers sleeping on the seats in the departure hall – sleeping on the job, and doing so, pretty shamelessly. Why should we have janitors, supervisors and other clerks sleeping at 11am in the airport? Perhaps if they were paid by the hour, it would make a difference? Our on-the-job work ethic is appalling, I must say. While I talk about this, I might as well vent on one of my pet peeves… the use of personal cell phones on the job. Maaan! You go to offices, and people’s phones are lying on their desks, and in the middle of working – talking to customers etc, the looooong musical ringers go off, and they have the nerve to pick them up and talk!!! Unacceptable!!! It’s true that cell phones have become the principal means of communication not only in Ghana, but all around the world, and in our case it’s even more so because we may not have access to land lines; but that is no excuse to pause during ‘work’ to chat with a friend on a cell phone – if you’ll do it, at least, at least, at least, the least you could do, is to make it discreet. The rudeness of it all just irks and kills me! – in the workplace, let a personal gadget such as the cell phone be inconspicuous – keep the ringer low, or better still leave it on ‘vibrate’ or a beep or something. When it rings, you may take the call quickly and discreetly so long as it does not mean the customer is waiting and watching you while you chat with your buddy about stopping by their house after work to pick up some VCDs to watch. Just annoying! Hmm… back to Senegal (will I ever get to it!? Well, I intend to …).

Okay, so we eventually left, and my ooh my, Freetown “International” Airport? A sad memoir of conflicts and echoes of tales of war. My, what a disappointment … the airport is located in Longi (unsure about spelling), and from the air, it looked very rural. Along the runway, there were watch-posts made out of sand bags with guards in them. Destroyed planes and helicopters on the ground as well – like I said, sad memoirs of war. I noticed that the coastline up to Sierra Leone was mostly marshy/swampy, and hence had very few settlements, giving it a very rural appearance. It had me thinking – generally, across the continent, we have sooo much land – fly over Ghana for instance, and you see lots of green areas. With the rapid expansion of urban areas, and much rural>urban migration, perhaps we should start focusing on developing satellite cities in relatively remote areas where people can get good access to the amenities and basic necessities that are available in urban areas like the Accra [metropolis] – yes, with Accra spreading northwards into Dodowa, Aburi, Amasaman, Pokuase; eastwards to Akuse, Akosombo, Prampram and westwards towards Sowotuom, Anyaa, Weija and Kasoa, perhaps the minister for the modernization, beautification and …??? … of the capital city (no sarcasm intended) can add that to his projects. Look at Cape Coast – a shadow of its former self – a shell of its past glory. I am told that efforts are being made to develop Cape Coast, but maan, think of one of the oldest cities in Ghana, and it’s pathetic how run down it’s become. Many of these towns have very prominent people coming from them …. What stops them from setting up a fund, pooling resources together and going back to take care of ‘home,’ be it in Bolga, Wenchi, Peki, Esuekyir, Abodom or elsewhere? This applies not only to Cape, but to the entire country! Accra is like America – the land of migrants. I don’t see what would or should stop these very migrants, among whom there are civil engineers, lawyers, doctors, nurses, politicians, professors etc, etc… from returning to really do some ‘development?’

Like we have it in the international context, remittances to the village will only provide fish – how about people getting together to provide the accoutrements to fish with and equipping the people to do that? Perhaps we could do one thing … set up resource centers in some of these towns, where migrant sons and daughters can return, and perhaps volunteer medical services, legal counsel, tutoring etc, etc. on a regular basis. If you support such an idea, then let’s talk, and I’ll introduce you to an organization of which I am a part – our missions lies in setting up family resource centers where people can go to access resources that are otherwise beyond their reach. Done on a volunteer basis, this would be more than a blessing, if you ask me. If you’re interested in sharing and nurturing this vision, let’s talk. You may visit our website at http://supportafricafamilies.org. Alright, retournons au Senegal …

Right after touchdown and getting into the airport, I was truly impressed by something… we stood in line to have our landing documents checked, and some white man tried to cross the line, calling someone on the other side. The officer on duty quickly asked him to step behind the line and wait with the rest of us amidst protests from the oyibo man. I almost (in retrospect I should have) burst out in applause. When I see how we do the opposite in Ghana, it drives me nuts. In my 2003 ‘chronicles’ I believe, I narrated a story of white folks being put ahead of the rest of us in line at the airport and the ensuing protests that broke out. I felt so proud of this officer, I can’t explain it – you know, I don’t see why we naa treat each other like second class citizens when we have white people around. I am not being racist when I say this – I see a problem that is endemic and indeed destructive to our own psyche. How we perceive ‘others’ – white, yellow, brown, orange etc, translates into how we relate to them, and how we place each other at unfair advantages and disadvantages all because of what … skin color? Intimidation by other’s achievements? Sense of dependency? Inferiority complex? Fear of repression? Stupidity??? I believe the answer to my question lies in these and many other reasons. Okay, retournons au Senegal …

At the airport, we had to produce our international health cards, and I realized I didn’t have mine. We had to show proof of meningitis immunity, or have to take the shot there – serious case of ‘gyina hor gye.’ Others like myself where herded into a small room where we had to either take the injection or show proof of having taken it before. The fee for either option was $10 on the spot. This is where I gained a fresh appreciation for being able to communicate in diverse languages. There was this clueless Sierra Leonean old man for whom all this was going on so fast, and he was clearly drowning in the confusion – he was made to sit, and the syringe taken out … he then realized he was about to be injected, and I’m sure he was wondering what the hell was going on, as someone tried to explain it to him. It was funny, but I had to mind my own business and make sure I didn’t burst out laughing. In the most serious situations, I always find something amazingly hilarious, and whether this is good or bad… I know not. If and when you meet my crazy brother, you’ll understand this ‘disease’ of laughing at things “irregardless” of the situation. Anyway, … I almost asked whether he was an immigration official who was administering this, or whether he was a health officer for real. Anyway, I swallowed my ‘impudence’, and told the officer that I have immunity, but don’t have my card. Well, he said he’d give me a temporary card, and I had to pay the fee. I had to go out of the airport to change money while they held my passport, and then come and pay. When I got back the ‘salone’ old man had disappeared, and I wondered what had become of him. My take on the experience? … I still wonder whether it’s just another ploy to make money or whether there is a serious health concern … oh!!!, and let me tell you about Senegalese mosquitoes!!! Never in my life have I seen such big, fat, juicy and aggressive mosquitoes! My goodness. I thought the fat and juicy ones were the ones who were too loaded to be aggressive/quick, but I was wrong. Having so many moustiques around was surprising, especially because it was not rainy, or even post-the rainy season - it was relatively dry. Those mosquitoes were every where, and busy chewing on people!

Anyway, because of our almost 3hour delay leaving Accra and our stop over in Freetown, the cabbie the hotel sent for me had been waiting all afternoon, and was everything but pleased to see me. Long and short … had to pay for the ride, and the parking fee. Hmm. Nice little no-frills hotel. The conference was held at the Le Meridien President hotel – where the nightly five-star rate was about $191 before tax. Well, guess what … my student, bargain-loving self found this little hotel for about $21 a nite. No frills, like I said, but it also gave me the opportunity to interact with people outside of the conference circles. Met a quiet but nice Zambian lady who was attending a conference at Le Meridien as well, but opted for Hotel les Mamelles, where we were. Met two Senegalese traders who spoke twi … lived and schooled in Kumasi.

I enjoyed the ‘environment’ … from the airplane, it was refreshing to see that compared to Accra, there were signs of proper urban planning of Dakar … you could see the grids of roads, and this was also minus all the bright ‘red’ laterite roads you see meandering in and around Accra. Also, it was relatively cleaner (in comparison to Accra) and this reminded me of the borla recycling issue, which I’ll leave for now. Later on, as I noticed and appreciated the national pride of these people, I wondered how all these were tied together …. That perhaps their self-respect and pride motivated them to keep their surroundings neat, and this put them ahead of us in one way or another. The way we can live in and with filth out here is terrible oh…. Ei! People throwing Pure Water ‘rubber’ bags in the middle of the road, black ‘wiase ayeh sum’ bags all over, and more – rubbish thrown in the middle of roads. Why!! The annoying thing is this – when there’s a huge international conference or we have foreign dignitaries coming in, then we’re quick to whitewash Accra, especially the parts they’ll see, and we clean it all up. So I take it that what we’re saying is that the filth is not fit for visitors, but we can and will live in it? Poverty does not in any way provide an excuse for uncleanliness. Maybe to our leaders, this is not a main problem, but I tell you they need to take it up and if they were visionaries …; if they were people who saw themselves as drivers of our progress, then perhaps they’d first of all realize that 99% of our problems lie in our mentality and attitudes, and they’d make efforts to address that. Honestly oh…. It’s all upstairs – if we can conscientize our people and get them to understand the importance of the little and big things, then we can truly be on our way to making some decent progress.

A ray of hope though … my brother tells the true story of a sensible trotro driver he saw – in traffic, between Obetsebi and the Kaneshie market, some woman drank Pure Water and threw the rubber out onto the street. A trotro driver stopped, went and picked up the rubber and handed it to the woman asking her to take it home to throw it away. Now that’s something that deserves attention. Another last ray of hope … the traffic lights at the El-wak stadium intersection hardly ever work, and one day while driving up from the Cantonments Post Office, there was just utter mayhem – a jam with all the cars honking and no one willing to let the other person go ahead. I was impressed when a bicycle rider put his bike down (it was drizzling, by the way), and took his position in the middle of the road and started directing traffic. Now that deserves attention too!!! These occasional occurrences make me feel there’s hope. And oh … while I’m still on that topic, here’s one strategy to use… for all of us, and especially those been-tos who return home and complain about poor service, etc, etc, etc…. like I said earlier on, it’s the mentality, and that can’t change overnight. One way of encouraging and reinforcing the positive is to really pay attention to it and provide the praise when it’s due. If you go somewhere and a bank teller, government official or salesperson does a good job – efficient and courteous etc, be sure to bring their attention to it – compliment them to their hearing, and if you can, ask for the manager and let them know that so and so person was very helpful etc… You may think it’s unnecessary ‘cos after all they’re doing the job their paid to do … yeah, but if your compliment will improve things, then go ahead, what have you to lose? Let them know that it makes a difference how they relate to their customers. I use this strategy, and it’s worth it, I tell you. Okay, retournons au Senegal … … …

The road from the hotel to the Dakar-proper was along the coast, and had some breathtaking views along it. Beautiful mosque in the valley, a millennium monument, stone sculptures, …. Just beautiful. I loved the colorfulness of the Almadies/Mamelles/Ngor area, north of Dakar – flowers all over – never seen so many flamboyant trees in my life. Saw flowers I haven’t seen in a looong while … flamboyant, bougainvillea, hibiscus, forget-me-nots. Reminded me so much of growing up – there’s a tree that bears off-white and yellow flowers … dunno the real name, but we used to call the tree ‘lotto mataata’ and use to race to climb it. Anyone who knows what I’m talking about, please educate me. … tenk you.

Oh, one thing I simply cannot forget! Senegalese women and hair!!! My ooh my! Majority of the women I saw all had wigs or weave-ons, and the latter were done so absolutely conspicuously with no effort to make them look natural. You know, I noticed this and kept wondering why there was this high affinity for fake hair. Some colleagues also commented on it, and I realized it was definitely not in my imagination. One colleague said she was talking to a shopkeeper who actually in mid-sentence raised her wig to scratch her scalp, and then slap it right back on. Maan, did I have a good laugh at that! Hahahaha. Talking about appearances etc… I didn’t notice much skin bleaching, especially ‘cos I’ve realized that our afro-francophone sisters tend to go after ‘beau teint’ a little more than others. However, some people I spoke with mentioned it as a serious problem there. Someone asked me – are the Senegalese as dark as the stereotype suggests? The answer is … generally, maybe. Influence of Sahelian climate? Maybe this has something to do with the affinity of the sisters to north African and Caucasian men – saw a lot of such unions with many mixed children. Was just wondering whether there was link … … ?

Talking about this … very often, when they asked and I told them my age, they were surprised …. “but you look so young,” they often said. Hehehe. Never seen a full-grown mosquito masquerading as an ayoungie, eh? Anyway … I was asked by the men whether I was single or married, and my response had them puzzled – why would a nice young lady like you be single? No kids at all? How come? Why, Ghanaians don’t marry at an early age? Etc, etc, etc… Met these Moroccans at the hotel, and one of them actually said if I were his, he wouldn’t allow me to go outside. Ha! It was certainly not uncommon to find very young Senegalese girls who have babies with older men (esp. foreigners). One guy asked me why after living in the U.S. for so long, I hadn’t found myself an American man …. I asked why it had to be an ‘American?’ and I added that I still believe there are some good African men out there, so I do not see the need to look outside of ‘home’, and better still, I believe there are still some good Ghanaian men out there, so there’s no need to look outside of ‘home’ either. The paddy was pretty impressed at what I thought was absolutely nothing to write home about, and through the rest of my stay there he looked at me like I had just dropped out of heaven. It was not ucommon also for much older men to be hitting on me – one actually asked whether I’d return to visit Senegal – I said yes – like the place, would like to visit, and he asked if we could maintain a friendship and maybe get married later on …. Hehehehe. No comment; retournons au Senegal … …

I commuted by taxi a lot, and I must say … there was only one single cab I sat in, that did not have a cracked windscreen and didn’t ruthlessly jostle my bones. I am compelled to think that it’s only when cars are old and no longer wanted that they are turned into taxis. There were all rickety, dusty, and … all the same. Oh, and taxi drivers!!! I’ve concluded that they’re the same everywhere oh – drive like there are no laws – overtaking and then ‘sitting’ in the other lane, etc… etc… reminds me of a joke my brother told me – be sure not to repeat it to a cabbie driver, or else you just might lose your head. Here we go … this guy died and went to heaven, and God said his time wasn’t yet up, so he had to return to earth. However, he needed a new brain, so he was taken into a room where he had to pick brains. Of course he asked for the room with the brains of Einstein and all the smart people he could think of. …. Boy was he disappointed!!! These brains were all tiny and definitely not appealing, so he asked to see bigger brains. He was taken to a room with entirely fresh brains – new and hardly used. Wow, he was impressed. He asked how come these brains were so fresh, and the angel taking him around said … well you see, the tiny brains you saw at first are the left overs of brains that were used to full capacity by Einstein and co. These fresh brains belong to taxi drivers from around the world – they never used them while on earth! (like I said, let no cabbie hear this…. Hehehe. Lol)

Oh, and they have trotros called ‘car rapide’ – ironic, huh? Fine name for trotro that stops every time it sees passengers. They reminded me so much of trotros back home – with the aplankey ‘mates’ hanging out of the back doors hollering their destinations, passengers packed like sardines. They mostly had inscriptions of ““Alhamdoulilahi” on the front, meaning ‘Dieu merci/thank you God’ from the Quran, I believe.

Well, on that note… … thank God for the opportunity to go home and for being able to share all these experiences with you. I’ll save more filla for later. This time around, I’m doing most of my writing back here in the U.S. to be continued … be on the lookout for closing remarks from Senegal, and for more on our ‘bloated’ Ghanaian middle class, all the talk about legalizing prostitution in Ghana, the openly gay and lesbian presence in Ghana, and Liberian refugees selling land in Gomoa. Na wao!!!

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Segment III

Okay, now back to Senegal. … no, wait … before I get on that, lemme vent on this debt relief we’re hearing about incessantly. My view on this debt relief is this --- it does not do anything, and plus ca change, … let’s say all the debt owed by ‘poor’ countries is cancelled, regardless of the definition of poor … we will have national revenue that can be chanelled into other things alright, BUT one thing we’re neglecting is that the policies that recycle poverty – the trade policies that put us in a position where we will still have artificial dependency on the wealthier countries will not go away. Lemme explain … regardless of debt-freedom, if international trade policies pry and force our markets open and force us to import products like corn as part of the strategy to rid the wealthier nations of their surplus, what happens? … we kill our domestic industries, and out farmers are the ones who suffer. If wealthier nations are subsidizing their farmers heavily, they bear fewer costs, and stand to profit more especially when their products are forced down others’ throats. If we don’t have any leverage as regional blocs, as a continent etc… a continent that produces significant amounts of the world’s cocoa, gold, diamond, bauxite, timber, etc, then nothing has changed, and nothing will change. If I forgive your debts and still dictate the terms of our relationship, what have I accomplished? Nada, zilch, niet, rien, hwee. These are the more crucial issues our ‘leaders’ need to pay attention to – turn the attention from asking for zero debts to renegotiating terms of trade and international relations. The ‘exploitation’ of one entity over another is a mere function of capitalism, and there’s little we can do about that. If I make a profit off your back, what incentive have I to alleviate your troubles? Capitalism creates a dog-eat-dog situation, and it’s all about the survival of the fittest. Which raises one concern about how quickly we open our arms to these neoliberal open market policies. The disparities that exist are soooo stark on such a large scale that we have to be careful, or else we’ll end up with a country with the very few, rich and powerful elite, and masses of the abject poor.

This actually brings one thing to mind – I noticed in Senegal, (at least the little I saw of it), that the socioeconomic disparities aren’t as stark as we have them in Ghana. Yes, you do see wealth and poverty, but the Ghanaian scenario gives you Trassaco Valley versus people living in 4x4foot kiosks, people driving 2005 Jaguars versus people trying hard, walking miles to work, and still barely surviving, and that’s sad. As we focus on the private sector (which is good), and neglect the public sector, saying government can’t accomplish anything, then we will merely aggravate the problem and create wealth within a very narrow segment of society. I don’t think it takes any special kind of genius to realize this as a problem.

Frankly, I get sick and tired of this whole ‘playing the victim’ game, whether it’s Africans at home or in the Diaspora, etc… The blame-game has to end oh. It’s our problem in Africa and in the Diaspora at large. If I push you into a ditch, you can stay there and make all the noise you can about how unfair or mean I have been, etc, etc… sure, you’re right – I did push you, but you’re wasting your energies in playing victim rather than figuring out how to get out of the ditch. It is not in my interest to get you out, and why should I care anyway? I can throw you some ‘aid’ while you’re down there, but that does not solve your problem, does it? Okay, lemme come off that one – I have no intentions of oversimplifying complex economic problems, but maaan, even me krraaa mpoh, a mere mortal who can’t fully wrap my brain around micro and macro economics mpoh, I know the solution to our problem lies far beyond ‘aid.’ We shouldn’t be sitting around begging for aid the way we do – especially when that ‘aid’ only ‘aids’ some select pockets and services their needs. Go ask about Abacha, Mobutu and others, and you’ll know what I’m talking about. No one is going to stop and sympathize/empathize and spoon-feed us, and this is where we really have to realize that more often than not, the way international relations, trade and otherwise go, we are set up against each other, and we’re yet to wake up and realize that we’re merely fighting over the crumbs under the table while the rest of the world sits at the table wining and dining in style.

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Haven’t gotten around to writing on these issues yet. …

Senegal … …

bad teeth – sweet tea? Chinese gunpowder… senghor and missing visionary leaders

centreville cleanliness> self-respect> progress

Nationalism and pride

Slave prices …

On-the-run… chicken inn, pizza inn, creamy inn, nandos

Children = a mirror

Men over 60kg, a barrel of rum, same for virgins.

Pan-africanism… national language in Africa. Literacy rates … wolof.

Tourguide … unlike our cape castle guide, he made no excuses. African’s perception of the slave trade

Church – eglise de la vierge de la mere du sauveur – rousing praise and worship

White-haired Jesus and priests. Song … wonhye Nyame ennyoumonyam oyeh ohen, 2x … oyeh ohen, ohey ohen, ohey ohen, wonhye Nyame enyimuonyam oyeh ohen. Halleluyah ee!! 3x…. yebetow allelu, allelu, alleluuu, halleluyah eee… white hankies

Unity in the church universal – oh worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness

Respect for things sacred – church entrants and passersby making the sign of the cross…

One observation I’ve made is our growing middle class – perhaps I should rephrase that and say our ‘bloated’ middle class. Capitalism has taken root and is bearing fruit in Ghana, and it’s evident in the growth of the middle class and the industries that support it. However, it’s really disturbing – very disheartening to see that the gap between the haves and the have-nots is not closing in any way. It’s a good thing, but I wonder how we can sustain

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Panafest International airlines – discrimination. emirates taking over the market, north American airlines.

El-wak traffic light, trotro driver and woman with pure water rubber

PARLIAMENT AND DRESSING – JAPAN AND KENYA. PARLIAMENT OWES THE ELECTRICITY CORP. so need to cut back on air conditioner.

NAGRAT impasse

SSS

Investment opportunities

Legon – Asenso-Okyere – unjust politics

Recruiting efforts of Legon – insufficient Legon

Cattle around the runway, someone shunking.

Talk-talk too much. Even taxi drivers are sick and tired of all the yik yak and turn their radios off. Call in programs…

Gomoa budumburam residents selling land

Cape coast road

Mentality about aburokyire

The cedi appreciated against the U.S. dollar today – it remained stable. Buying, $8,9??, selling $9,122.

Giving the vote to Ghanaians in the diaspora

Debt relief

Legalization of prostitution

Question on talk program – young man whose boss won’t give him a reference ‘cos the young man … … people’s recommendations – 95% of them say he should pray about it. Don’t report it ‘cos police kraa won’t do anything. Let it go, and move on.

Ghanaians’ helplessness and hopelessness. Fa ma Nyame.

GIMPA – forming business groups – advantages of making money and providing jobs

Whatever you want to do in Ghana, be doing where you are.

Space to space

Tap into the system where you are – learn the American, British and other systems so your linkages will help those here. Be familiar with the system

It takes creativity to tap into this system

Dual citizienship – how many people understand how the govt works? How parliament works? Who’s representing their interests? Form lobby groups, etc

Avoid ivory tower intellectualism

UPS – teaching, Miss Ansah…. Alumni societies for primary schools etc…

Service delivery and corruption – accountability. Improvement at the airport, for example. Ports and harbours. Lack of insistence on what is right – service delivery.

Bottlenecks on the La Paz, mallam, cape coast road. Myopic way of making double roads which suddenly convert to single-lane roads