The case of the missing 8 GB usb

3 1/2 weeks ago I left my 8 GB usb at my local internet cafe in Kwadaso district. I had been rushing around trying to get documents printed off for the idiots at Kumasi immigration office who had seized my passport. Why would they do such a thing? Well, to put pressure on me to pay a 100 Ghana cedi bribe (55 Euros). I refused to pay so they wanted an official letter for the withdrawal of my visa extension request. So my excuse for leaving the usb behind was that I was stressed out and trying to meet a deadline. Thankfully, the staff at Kwadaso know me well as I have been frequenting there for months.

One of the staff members removed it from the staff machine, put it in her purse, and brought it home with her. That is, she was safekeeping it for me to collect whenever I came again when she was on shift. But then I came to collect it, and after the 8th time without success, I became a little unnerved whether I would ever see it or her again. 3 days ago I went to the cafe and met her. She laughed when I asked her whether she had a surprise for me. "Oh, I lost it, it's missing, she said."

"Huh? I replied"

"Yes, I gave it to a client to use and then I forgot about it. I remembered the next day when I came to work but the usb was gone."

Imagine it - she's about 25 years old, pretty, and as she tells the story she is smirking all the time, with no hint of an apology coming to her lips.

Yes, I made the first mistake. I left my property behind and so it will be pot luck or thanks to the honesty of another that I retrieve it. But the fact that she took it home, that I couldn't get it back from her for 3 1/2 weeks, and now that she is causally telling me she lent it to a complete stranger and then forgot to get it back from him has really pissed me off.
Even if I detected an inkling of regret, I think I would have caved in and put it down to my initial error. But the attitude I detect is one of 'I really don't give a fuck where your usb is nor what I did with it, there is nothing you can do about it and you're white so why not just go to your usb tree and pluck another one from it', all drive me to ask the question - "where is your manager?"

After talking to both of us the manager states that she has made a serous error in not giving it back earlier and by lending it out to one of their clients. He asks what course of action I deem fair to resolve the issue. I say that I would like an 8GB usb, whether it is the same brand or not doesn't matter. Observing her clothes and mobile phone I feel it's safe to presume she's not on the breadline. He agrees, she agrees and 3 days later I collect an 8GB usb.

So why did she not even put on an act that she was somehow sorry. Is it because she did not feel anyway responsible for it going missing? Was she hoping that I might just understand? Why do I feel somewhat guilty now for pursuing a replacement? Was I justified in seeking a replacement?

A little on Ghanaian signs and African literature

Recently I saw a classic sign on a trotro, the best since I arrived to Ghana. Even in Haiti the slogans were far more subtle. Plastered in yellow on the back windscreen of a white van was the following: 'Naked I came'. Is it possible that these 3 words are written somewhere in the bible but the owner of the vehicle mistakenly took them out of context? For example, a slogan like 'Naked I came into this world and naked I shall depart' would appear to have important connotations towards not putting too much weight on the material in life.

And isn't 'One good turn deserves another fashion store', in Cape Coast, a bit of a long-winded name for a small roadside business? Yet it certainly carries a clearer moral message than 'Naked I came'. The bizarreness behind many of the slogans on shops and vehicles here never fail to amaze.

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The latter brings me to African writers who wouldn't write such odd slogans in their works of art. There are few of us who have the talent of Chinua Achebe, Ama Ata Aidoo and Ayei Kwei Armah.

There's a few books I've been reading recently and would like to mention in case anybody comes across this blog and is interested in doing some worthwhile reading of African literature. The Heinemann African Writer's Series is where you will get a good wide range of novelists from across the continent.

I am just finishing Chinua Achebe's 'Arrow of God', a detailed portrait of the trials and tribulations of Ezeulu, a fetish priest in Igboland in Nigeria'. Nigeria's most famous novelist paints the rituals surrounding the priest's daily life with his wives and children, community members – both friends and foes, white colonists, in language than can be quite difficult to follow without an accompanying glossary. Maybe if I was living in Igboland in south western Nigeria and had a reference person it would be easier to understand the terms he uses from the traditional language. Nevertheless, for anybody interested or engaged in African studies or thinking of travelling, volunteering, working in Nigeria, it's well worth a read and contains excellent local proverbial messages to chart the opinions of key characters. A laborious read from an otherwise excellent author.

Earlier in the month I completed Achebe's brilliant 'No Longer at Ease', which follows the dangerous path a young Nigerian man takes when he rejects the corrupt practices of a government minister who initally aids him socially climb his way to big Naira and lots of female friends. Becoming active in an opposition party whilst rejecting the corrupt minister, the main character's life and position in his own community becomes increasingly vunerable as he faces a politician-gangster whose party will stop at nothing to continue their dirty business practices.

The first Achebe book I read was a number of months ago, 'A man for all seasons'. It is a vivid portrayal of one educated Nigerian public officer's fall towards corruption to depict the arrival of a debilitating age of bribery, extortion and the ruination of public coffers in Nigeria.

Achebe's most famous novel 'Things fall apart' is sitting in a box in the attic of my girlfriend's parents' flat in Warsaw, so I'll have to wait a little while before I get tucked into it.

Ayei Kei Armah and Ama Atta Aidoo are two Ghanaian authors which one should read if they have an interest in Ghana. I've little time to write about their books here at the moment but will do shortly.

Kwei Armah's 'The Healers' is an excellent portrayal of the Ashanti region prior to its fall to the British, the divide and conquer policy which many local chiefs succumbed to in their collaboration with European colonists, and the strength of some uncorruptible characters who face their nemeses with the intent of saving their people from harm.

For people interested in female authors, then they don't come much better than Ama Ata Aidoo. Her insight into how Ghanaian society ticks and the minds of ordinary people is unsurpassed. Her fantastic book 'Anowa' charts the tragic downfall of a woman who rejects her family and runs off with a selfish character who treats his wife like he treats his slaves. Anowa gets her revenge by declaring his impotency, but it is not enough to redeem her from her own mistakes.

To be continued........

When a Ghanaian driver does a 'Hit and Run'

Here's the situation I found myself in on the way back from Accra to Kumasi recently. It's pitch black outside. I'm in a 22 seater ramshackle van (nominally a Mercedes but in reality about 100 hundred machines have been tor n asunder and gelled together to make it semi road worthy). A truck is in our way. The stretch of road is quite good, but as always when night has descended, one can never tell what may appear out of the blue. Fog has descended in patches. But our driver nevertheless decides to give it a go, overtaking the truck, and getting home 1 minute earlier than if he waited for a safer opportunity. He moves into the oncoming hard shoulder to manouevre outside the truck. Then, all of a sudden a loud BANG. All the passengers scream.

I'm near the front of the vehicle and think I saw what appeared to be a bicycle light before the light disappeared alongside the left-wing mirror. The driver passes out the truck, and to my surprise keeps driving, not seeming to give a damn that he probably just hit somebody.

I shout at him, 'Stop driving, you just hit a cyclist.' The woman in the front seat ahead of me turns her head and agrees. But he just keeps driving. Nobody says anything. So I shout again 'Pull over, you may have killed an old man for all we know'. Silence. He slows down from 80kms per hour to about 40 kms p/h and moves into the hard shoulder to allow the truck he had just passed out to overtake us. About 3 of the passengers say something within 10 seconds, at last breaking their silence. But immediately after they talk, the driver, obviously reassured by his fellow passengers, moves back onto the main road and speeds on. I turn to the young, well dressed woman beside me, and offer my phone for her to ring emergency services. She turns her head the opposite direction. So I send an sms to Dorota to ring emergency services (at this stage I am a bit reluctant to do it given the passive nature of my fellow passengers and the fact that the driver and his mate (helper) may feel threatened by such a call).

I've noticed that we just passed the village of Yawkwei, about 100kms from Kumasi. After repeated attempts to call the police or ambulance to no avail, I arrive in Kumasi. I have our vehicle registration number in addition to the place where the accident occurred and the registration number of the truck we passed out, just in case the driver of that vehicle has witnessed something also. I call over a police officer and tell him what I saw. He calls a colleague and within 2 minutes there are 2 police officers in uniform and 2 plainclothes officers questioning the driver, his mate the more senior policeman turns to me and says „Please forgive him”.

At this stage I know it's a useless effort on my behalf. These cops are probably using the opportunity to extort money from the driver not to bring the case further. I travel back home as its late. Consulting fellow Ghanaian workers the following day, I am advised to drop the situation, that my concern will come to nothing. But as someone who has probably witnessed an accident where a cyclist was hurt, that just ain't something to leave one's head over night. So I make a 2nd attempt at the cops. I go to the main police station and am directed to the control centre. At last I meet two cops who take the issue seriously and call the local police stations and hospital admissions to give them feedback if anybody reported an accident in the area. I have had no contact from the cops, so either the cyclist survived unscathed, or else they just dropped the enquiries and the driver of vehicle GS 4900 Z continues to drive dangerously on the Accra-Kumasi road.

And what about the passengers silence. Well, it appears that the 3 who broke their silence may have encouraged the driver to keep going just in case it was a trick to stop him by robbers. I had just read of thieves who shot out the tyres of a bus in the Upper East region of Ghana, subsequently robbing all on board. But this did not appear such an attempt. Unless a thieving cyclist was willing to get killed in the process, that is.

Silence. It's amazing what fear can do to the most normal human being. We're all capable of keeping our mouths shut when we see something that we deem plain wrong, myself included. Having over 20 people willing to keep their mouths shut was something that I hadn't expected witnessing though.

Ghana Immigration's extortion racket

Corruption is often declared a cancer in African States, one which bleeds the official State coffers of much needed funds and lines the pockets of a few nasty elites. That these few nasty elites behaviour then sanctions small fry officers to engage in such practices is something that affects the vast majority of people who have ever tried to get a service rendered in places like Nigeria or Ghana.

For example, I have just fallen to threats that I should buy my ticket and get out of the country as my visa will not be extended for another 2 months. This despite the fact that I have done everything by the book. My project manager received a phone call full of threats from a senior member of the immigration department in Kumasi shouting at him that I should get a flight and leave immediately. But any of us who have been in this game for a while knows what that means. Translated into plain language it could be versed as follows: You son of a bitch, who dare you go offical routes and deny me my bribe. So now I will resort to extortion and make you shit in your pants until you pay up."

Unfortunately the officer in question has met the wrong client. He didn't get a penny, I got my passport back, but I still only have until May 17th then I've gotta find a way to stay and finish my teaching, fundraising work for the students at Edwenase. That's what I came here for, and that is what I intend to do once I don't have to pay off some idiot in a dark green military uniform who bleeds Ghanaians and foreigners alike so he can feed his greed.

Life for those who have ever wanted something from an immigration office can be pretty frustrating at the best of times. In Europe and the US I've been lucky enough. The colour of my skin has prevented me from the harshest treatment. I've had my fair share of bad experiences with officials at borders or checkpoints though. Lots of hassle and violence from Israel border guards during non-violent conflict work in the West Bank, Palestine. More hassle entering and leaving the country. They wanted to know what Arabs I knew and why I was helping muslims! Deportation from the US in 2008 at Chicago airport by Homeland Security officers due to my legal (I was fully acquitted in 2006 by an Irish jury) assistance in disabling a US warplane at Shannon Airport, Ireland prior to the outbreak of the Iraq war. Witnessing heartless Irish immigration cops being bastards to foreign women and children at Dublin port. I'm sure you could add many more to this if you wanted.

Now when it comes to Ghana's immigration, well, Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe hits the nail on the head in his classic novel 'No Longer at Ease', charting the fall of one Nigerian State official to embody a new age of rampant corruption in Nigeria's State services. Ghana appears to be little different, although it would be hard to surpass Nigeria's brutal record of crookedness and bureaucratic multi-coloured tape. An envelope of cash brings an immediate response to an official and kickstarts them to work on your case. The absence of a 'dash' means you will wait, and wait, and fall into a lot of frustration as you are sent from this office to that office only to find that they won't give you what you are legally entitled to. They are a State mafia, extorting money from both professional ex-pats who come to work as either volunteers or business people to do work which, and here I quote one less corrupt junior immigration officer, „will do work for free that Ghanaians won't do even if you pay them”. That is a rough, generalised remark, that I have come to observe to be a half-truth.

To get my final 2 month extension I was expected to pay at least an 80 (50 Euro) cedi bribe, which I refused. Most other vounteers I know of are taken care of by their NGOs, whose representative must depart with a nominal sum depending on how many volunteers passports they want stamped. Due to the fact that I came here independently and am rendering professional services as an experienced teacher and social worker, they are trying to screw me similarly. Whether it is scholarships which have been gained due to academic brilliance, or deserved promotion due to hard graft, nothing will transpire in Ghana unless you pay some extra money to feed the greed of the lecturer, immigration official, administrator, etc.

Even when I lend an extra basin here at our centre from the kitchen staff, a basin which belongs to the centre, I am asked to bring them something in return. Handouts and back-scratching are the name of the game, but the true essence of mutual aid is one lap behind when it comes to some people's greed.

It's a frustrating process, one which drives most people to pay up and just get what they need and deserve. So when I go to Accra to try another avenue for my visa to be extended, I expect to asked for a 'dash' in a white envelope again. I already paid a futile 20 cedi sum to try and get a previous extension. It didn't work and I did it against my better judgement. In fact I did it as that is what my centre manager told me was the only option. We know know that they thought it was too little and even very big sums were rejected by them - so many volunteers have had to leave Ghana ansd re-enter through Togo to continue their projects.

If I am expected to give 'a little extra' yes, they can stick it up their holes. I'll leave the country and try and get back in by land rather than paying these corrupt wasters anything so they can sit on their arses and play all day with a hi-tech mobile phone purchased from the profits of their racketeering.

Is there any solution to this racket? I doubt it will change for a very long time, if it ever does.

Do you like immigration officers?

Cause I certainly don't.

I'm off to Togo next Wednesday. Not for tourism reasons but to try and get an extension of my visa. I've been here 6 months in Ghana but Immigration at Kumasi are no longer giving the three 2 month extensions which they used to. Something got to do with too many fraudulent applications coming in. They want to tighten ship. Funny thing is, off the record, one corrupt immigration official informed me that if only I had not gone down the official route from the outset I would be getting the additional extension without any fuss.

I won't mince my words here. I really hate the vast majority of immigration officers and their abuse of power. I have found them lazy, incompetent luddites, whether it is in Ireland, the U.S., England, France, Poland, Germany, Lebanon, Syria, Serbia, Israel, etc. They seem cloned with a multitude of asshole genes. But they hold sway when it comes to travellers and their desire to get from A to B and back. So I will be a nice boy when I go travelling next week. I will have all my documents in order so there are no reasons for them to ask for a 'dash' (present, bribe).

Such is life when you give humans a uniform and permit them to act like idiots with a baton and a gun close at hand. If you are a nice immigration officer and have stumbled across this while you are bored at your job then I'd like to meet you, cause you are as a rare a breed as the dodo!

An abandoned Angel

Yesterday moning at 8am I was walking to the school centre from the nearby staff compound. It was a normal Sunday, hot and sparse of people, with church music increasing in noise as congregations flocked in to the multitude of churches under operation at Edwenase. But this was no ordinary Sunday morning. Just 2 1/2 hours earlier one of the housemasters arose to open up the gates of the Centre. After a rainy night you may find a puddle outside. Other than that you will just find broken asphalt caused by passing cars that use the school yard as a turning point, much to the disadvantage of those who are wheelchair bound and must travel on a rocky surface to and from their living quarters to the school workshops.

Sunday, March 29th, 2009, was extraordinary for a 8/9 year old girl called 'Angel'. Prior to the descent of dawn, her mother had travelled from some unknown point and decided to leave her daughter on Edwenase's doorstep. She was found by our housemaster lying on a blanket hlding a note in her hand. "Please don't think bad of me my little Angel. I'm leaving you where I think you can be best taken care of. For those who find my beautiful daughter, please take good care of her".

What drove a woman to abandon her kid on some stranger's doorstep. Well, the fact that her daughter suffers from sever cerebral palsy and is unable to walk or verbalise is a large part of the answer. Despite the fact that she was left on her own with just a piece of paper, hides the fact that she was actually well dressed and seemed to be well taken care of before she was found.

Did a desperate mother accede to the demands of a husband tired of fending for the child. Did an already abandoned wife/woman decide the child would be better of in the care of the State and that she could just not cope with the 'burden' of a disabled child any longer?

It appears to have been an act of desperation by a woman not thinking straight. She could have easily have waited for some hours, spoken to the Centre Manager, who would have arranged for the child to be sent to the Department of Social Welfare's children's home, also in Kumasi.

But now, she has obliged the school authorities to inform the police and try fill in the missing information on the child's medical and family background.

Angel will be taken care of by the State, but it is no replacement for even the occasional love of a family member. There is never a day without surprises at Edwenase, and this incident goes to prove that community based rehabilitation and much more family support for the parents and extended family of the disabled is urgently needed to avoid such abandonments in the future.

Photo-essay - Ghana from various angles

The slave trade carried countless millions (estimates range from 13-16 million over 250-300 year period ending in the mid 1800's) to their deaths on perilous voyages across oceans and plantations. For those who survived initial capture, imprisonment in brutally inhumane conditions, even worse transportation without basic amenities for life, a life full of hard labour and maltreatment faced them. Recently I visited both Cape Coast and Elmina forts on Ghana's coast, former bastions of the Portugese, Dutch and British where they carried out their misdeeds. The tours were excellent and the museums very educational.

Dungeon passage at Cape Coast where the male slaves spent their days with little nourishment or water. Here, many last breaths were gasped in under the gaze of colonial soldiers.

A fetish priest pours libation in commemoration of the deceased who spent their last days at Cape Coast and for those whose suffering at the fort was coupled with more hardship once they left to be sold to help build America (North, Carribean and Brazil mainly).


'Door of No Return' at Cape Coast castle. An unsubtle reminder for those who passed through it during the slave trade era that there was no coming back once you saw this gate. To break this cursed door the bodies of two former slaves were taken back from the US and through these gates, so that it has now become a 'Door of Return'. Local fishermen can be found on the seaside part of the door, unravelling their nets and making a living for themselves. Their new nemeses are foreign trawlers that sweep up the best produce the sea provides through pair-trawling exercises using massive nets.


Many school tours like this one pour into Cap Coast fort every day to learn more about Ghana's history.

Wreaths left nearby the dungeons at Cape Coast by the descendants of 'slaves'


School children waiting to go to 'The Door of No Return', but to exercise their passage through it and back through the same 'Door of Return', helping break the terrible history that this door evokes. Cannons facing seaward warded off enemy combatants seeking to gain their foot in the door of the lucrative but wicked trade in human beings.




Elmina fort with a thriving fishing scene in the background. The guided tour at Elmina is excellent, as is the museum. The local historian gives a very insightful picture of how life was for the victims of Elmina's trade masters and soldiers. Similar to Oswiecim (or Auschwitz/Birkenau) in Poland, it is very difficult to imagine the horrors that have taken place at such sites. The preservation of Ghana's history seems to be in good hands both at Elmina and Cape Coast and thousands of school children, descendants of former slaves, foreign tourists converge to learn about how things really were (without the Hollywood dramatisation) and to be challenged to stand up for the downtrodden in today's society upon their departure.

Traditional clay fish ovens can be found all along the coast of Ghana. Here are some from Elmina.


Crocodile looking for prey around Hans Cottage Botel between Kakum and Cape Coast.

Don't worry, he's only breathing before he goes looking for his wife and kids

This Nigerian journalist we met on our travels got a bit of a shock (as we all did) when the crocodile decided to jump back into the water spilt seconds after this picture was taken.



Kwame Nkrumah was imprisoned at St. James fort under Governor Charles Arden Clarke before becoming Ghana's de facto leader upon release. He had to wait a few more years though before Ghana managed to kick the Brits out totally. This photo is taken from James fort looking towards Ussher's fort and a harbour full of fishermen's pirogues.




Kakum National Park and its famous canopy walk that gives you a great perspective of the surrounding environment

Diving into waves near Green Turtle Lodge. A well managed project has begun to conserve the green turtles from ending up on dinner plates to being a source of eco-tourism.

Ghana's coast has a litany of unspoilt beaches. Let's hope it remains that way.

The path from Busua to Butre is a beautiful 5 km walk through tropical forest and beaches as clean as a whistle.


The day before Ghana turned 52 - March 5th, 2009. I have no idea what the symbolism behind the construction is.


It certainly seems that this is the unknown soldier at Independence Square in Accra although there is no plaque or information around the monument.


Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Gardens in Accra - interesting museum, well worth a visit.



Ghana's Independence Leader, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, is buried alongside his Egyptian wife Fathia in Accra. One of their daughters is currently a Member of Parliament and the only MP of the former leader's Convention People's Party (CPP)
The Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Gardens in Accra with the burial monument in the background.

Fair Trade pineapples like this one can be found in a huge supermarket in Accra mall on the airport road. Fairtrade bananas are also on sell. They sell at a low price of 80 pesewas, about 20 pesewas cheaper than those sold by street traders. So what is fairer – increase the profit margin of a foreign owned supermarket (Shoprite) and its' bosses by buying an officially 'fairtrade' pineapple or purchase one from your local street trader outside the glamorous mall and help then eke out a living?

Ivan Illich and Vacationing Salesmen and women

Was the Austrain social critic and former Catholic priest Ivan Illich correct when he called development policies, as practised by the Western banks and governments, 'planned poverty'?

Was he also correct to call those American university student-volunteers like those he met frequently in Mexico 'vacationing salesmen (women)' for US styled middle-class lifestyles?

Illich passed away 6 years ago but his radical thoughts on developmentalism have continued to attract disciples. Debt crucifies the poor while Aid provides a smokescreen for western concern.

So should all volunteers pack their bags and get the hell out? Should Bono and Geldof stop representing the continent of Africa during the World Economic Forum and
G8 conferences? Tim and Holli, both ex-pat bloggers based in Ghana have addressed the issue of volunteers living and working in Ghana.

If you are an Obroni living and sweating in Ghana I'd like to hear your thoughts either by email or by comment. I tend towards Illich's perspective, but think there have to be distinctions between different types of volunteers. To be continued.

Photo report on Ghana

The door of return - the Cape Coast (former slave) fort guide explains how Ghanaians have reversed the curse of the infamous 'Door of No Return' where thousands of human beings weere shipped off to the Americas in brutal conditions.


Former president Kufuor had his priorities in place. I read that at least US $40 million was spent on this new presidential palace. From my previous blog you would have learned that he also spent $40 million on Ghana's 50th anniversary Independence
celebrations. US$80 million fizzled away on stuff that has little or no lasting impact for the Ghanaian people's welfare. No wonder Ghana joined the Heavily Indebted Countries initiative of the WB/IMF in 2002. And with ever increasing trade liberalisation rules being forced upon the public Ghana's days of debt are going nowhere fast.


Visually appetising enough for you? I've never seen a cow looking so happy promotinh himself as Sunday lunch! And what's with the name of the butcher? Well, as the hairdressing teacher at our centre explained to me yesterday we are all covered with the blood of Jesus and this is what protects us from harm's way. Let me give you some advice, if you are strictly vegan then you may find it hard going here!


Kwame Nkrumah, lionised in the 50's, demonised in the 60's, is regaining his head as visionary leader of pan-africanism and a leading light in Gha's history. The left want to make his birthday in September a national holiday. The right would rather that a national holiday is announced to commemorate independence leaders from both sides of their political history. This statue of Nkrumah was decapitated in 1966 when he was overthrown by a military coup. It now stands in the Kwame Nkrumah memorial park in Accra.


Ghana became 52 on March 6th 2009. It was colourful affair but not one you would want to stand and observe for others without shade. There was an interesting mix of Ghanaian society there - citizens, traders, military, diplomats, skaters, child labourers, les noveaux-riches, development workers, volunteers, tourists, etc.

I don't appreciate displays of war-voyeurism so when military aircraft overhead spewed out the colours of Ghana's flag instead of weapons it all semmed a little like a sanitising effort to the true nature of such weapons of violence and a means of appeasing critics of Ghana's wasteful military expenditure.

However, the day passed off peacefully and we didn't faint from the heat so that was a plus.

"Ghana is Freedom" - Made in China!

Just before I stepped into the internet cafe this evening a traffic warden shouts ecstatically at the passing white man: "Ghana is Freedom". It dawned on me that when I came to Accra 2 weeks ago the same traffic lights were also out of order. It also hit my tired brain that the traffic lights have the exact same colours of the Ghanaian flag.

Let's try link up all this trivia.

First independence leader, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, chose the name Ghana for sub-Saharan Africa's first post-colonial nation -state as an inspiration for the future. Meaning 'warrior king' it was to embody a great empire from centuries ago which existed in what is now Mauritania. The colours of Ghana's flag - green for the tropical vegetation; gold for the mineral-rich mines; red for the sacrifices made to achieve independence; and black for pan-Africanism - resemble somehow the current state of the defunct traffic lights outside this cafe.

A young man, proud of his heritage, shouting a grammatically incorrect statement 'Ghana is freedom' is not a laughing matter. It doesn't matter a shit that it's not Oxford English. What does matter however, is that 2 years ago President Kufuor spent $40 million to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ghana's freedom from Britain. Yet, 2 years later to the day, traffic lights on Accra's main road don't function and a man in a barely visible vest is stopping cars from one direction to let others fly by from another.

So while millions can continue to be spent on the myth that Ghana is freedom (why does it depend on so much aid if it is) every March 6th, few resources are channeled into things that really matter, like providing this traffic warden with proper equipment for his own safety and to conduct his important task for traffic.

Ghana has been strangled for decades by the West and it's own corrupt elite. It's traffic lights, as many other prominent Ghanaians have been saying over the past few weeks, are just not functioning well. So lets take off the rose-tinted glasses and let's stop the crap talk. Ghana is not freedom!

Postscript - Due to lack of time I did not write anything above which would justify the second part of the blog title: 'Made in China'

Well, wandering around the celebrations at Independence Square on Friday last it was obvious that an abundance of the Ghanaian "hats, scarves and headbands" etc. were leftovers from two years ago when it celebrated its 50th anniversary. It appears the patriotic wear had been mass produced in factories throughout China. Surprise, surprise. Nothing like abandoning your own indigenous industries when it comes to proclaiming your independence from other nations.

While warplanes spewed out red, yellow and green smoke above the applauding masses, the irony that the city authorities still hadn't fixed Kojo Thompson's traffic lights crossed my mind. If they can't afford to be bothered to fix them, it would have been far more useful if they just used these smoke theatrics on the top of the traffic lights. Green smoke unloads, traffic moves towards Nkrumah circle; orange smoke bellows, traffic slows down; red smoke flows outward, traffic ceases. The patient line of traffic adjacent can then proceed onwards as their smokey system kicks into operation.

I await calls from entrepeneurs to patent my classy idea.

Not to appear too cynical though, of course it is great Ghana can and does celebrate they day it kicked the Brits out. But as Ghanaweb point out, when your economic purse and people are worse off now than they were at Independence, some serious questions need to be asked and answers need to come fast. Nkrumah may have inherited the title of a great visionary, but it doesn't change the fact that in 1957 his gvt. had US $1 billion in foreign reserves -then, by the time he was ousted in 1966, Ghana's foreign reserves were depleted and the country primed for disastrous governance and corruption for decades after.