A LETTER FROM ACCRA

by

Bala Muhammad

balamuhammad@hotmail.com

 On my way home from Freetown , I stopped over in Ghana to attend the 21^st Conference of the Federation of African Public Relations Associations, FAPRA.

 When I arrived in Accra , the issue making the headlines was the choice of Vice Presidential candidates for the leading political parties. Ghana ’s presidential elections hold at the end of the year to choose a successor for President John Kufuor. The president’s ruling New Patriotic Party, NPP, is enmeshed in an internal wrangle concerning defections by failed presidential contenders. One such powerful defector has given a condition to return: the party must offer him the VP slot. (The NPP’s symbol is the Elephant; no wonder it quashed the opposition twice in the past.)

 Meanwhile, the main opposition party, former President Jerry Rawlings’ New Democratic Congress, NDC, is in a similar quagmire. Having lost the elections in 2000 (at the end of Rawlings’ tenure) and in 2004, the party is still fielding its twice-failed presidential candidate for third time. A running mate has been named, but it is causing much disaffection. It is said, for example, that Rawlings and his wife (a powerful powerbroker in the NDC) are not too happy with the choice. (By the way, the NDC has an umbrella as its symbol. Umbrella.)

 To save everyone the headache of VP aspirations, a commentator on the Ghanaian Chronicle newspaper last Tuesday wrote: “The Vice Presidency is nothing but a bed of confusion and disappointments.” He began: “On the surface, it is a juicy carrot, a major step towards the ultimate. However, a critical analysis will reveal a situation where there is despondency, demoralisation, disappointment, disillusionment and dissatisfaction right at the doorstep of the occupant. The simple truth is that there is nothing in the position of the Vice Presidency that makes it tick. It is not worth all the ‘wahala’ that has taken over our print and electronic media. It is an over-gloated office which does not come anywhere near the Presidency. The position is not worth a dime…” (Well-said, I must admit. I know exactly what he means: I have once been a minor Deputy myself, to a major Deputy to boot.)

Meanwhile, other issues making the headlines in Ghana include:

 DRESS CODE: “A lecturer at the University of Education , Winneba, has instituted a dress code for students who attend his lectures. Male students would put on a white long-sleeved shirt with a flying tie to match, while female students…”

ATTITUDE: “The saddest tragedy that can happen to a nation is when its inhabitants refuse to recognise that their commissions and omissions are contributory factors to the plight of their country. More worrying is when citizens incessantly blame others for their conditions but ignore to evaluate their negative actions…”

 LOST RIFLE: “A police constable, who claimed he was attacked by three unidentified persons and dispossessed of an AK 47 assault rifle while on duty, has been placed in custody…”

 FOUND RIFLE?: “Three armed robbers on Saturday attacked a Forex Bureau and made away with more than $30,000 and other valuable items. The armed men were wielding an AK 47 rifle …” (Three robbers, AK 47; no relation).

 FIRE AT VAT OFFICE: “A fire outbreak at the offices of the Value Added Tax (VAT) at dawn yesterday has sent tongues wagging and caused apprehension within certain circles. The blaze occurred at the time external auditors were said to be getting ready to audit the office…”

MAN, BOY, KNIFE: “A 20-year-old man who was found with a knife and a [living] naked boy of about four years old at the beach late in the night is in police custody. The suspect claimed the boy was his son and that his wife had gone to the market, so he was waiting for her. He could not, however, explain what he was doing with the knife…”

BLEACHING: '’When you are lighter, people pay more attention to you. It makes you more important and the rich men find you attractive’, says an Accra-based woman with light skin and dark knuckles. “Self-hatred leads to skin bleaching. Bleaching is often attributed to extreme low self-esteem, and a misplaced desire to be better appreciated…”

But Goodness Gracious (excuse my choice of words)! Despite all those headlines, Wallahi Ghana is moving! Advancing! Developing! Accra is clean, as far as I could determine. So is Kumasi , the city of our conference. And in fact so is Obuasi, another city we visited, home to AngloGold Ashanti Mines. Throughout my stay I saw no rubbish heaps in the three cities, at least not on the roads I traversed. To be fair, I saw one heap of rubbish in a newspaper, and another atop a truck clearing it to a dumpsite. Impressive!

And don’t tell me it is because Ghana ’s population of about 20 million is comparatively smaller than ours. No! Sierra Leone is only six million, yet Freetown is being swallowed by filth. They are so overwhelmed by garbage that, in a tragic irony, they cancelled the last-Saturday-of-the-month Sanitation Day, saying it didn’t make any difference as citizens only used the extra hours to sleep longer.

 Yes, Ghana is moving. Three years ago, Ten Thousand Ghana Cedis (C10,000, four zeros) would buy you just One US Dollar. Ghana has now redenominated its Cedi and jettisoned those four useless, tautological, repetitive zeros. Today, One Ghana Cedi is in fact a little more than One US Dollar (actually $1=97 pesewa, Ghana ’s cents). Whatever the economists would say, Ghanaians are happy with their new currency and they are proud of it. Problem Soludod.

 Ghana is moving. But not so fast. On my first day, our bus passed by the massive American Embassy in Accra . Inadvertently, a couple of the delegates started taking photographs. They were immediately noticed by embassy’s police guards, and our bus was stopped. The paparazzi (actually mamarazzi, as both photographers were female) were made to undignifyingly surrender their cameras for the offending shots to be deleted. When their passports were demanded, we Nigerians raised the opposite of heaven, and the embassy security had to relent.

 We all felt that the arresting police officer (who, we agreed, was doing his job), was ‘crying more than the bereaved’, justifying Brother Malcolm X’s Uncle Toms ‘who loved the Master more than the Master loved himself’. As we left the embassy, someone looked at him and commented that he hoped the American Ambassador would recommend him for Inspector General for such gallantry! (The officer had three ropes each side of his shoulder. You should have seen the redness of his eyes.)

 Yes, Ghana is moving. As we stood outside the American Embassy, former President Rawlings drove by from a side street. He was alone in his car, no driver, no security, no tinted glasses. Allah has said in the Qur’an: fa ma jaza’ul ihsani illal ihsan! (The reward for goodness is more goodness)! Now, let some of our own former leaders try that! Especially two of them. Only one former Nigerian leader could do that, as he has done several times. At one time, it is said, he was travelling to his hometown when he joined a fuel queue. When other customers realised who it was (he was trying to hide behind a newspaper), they insisted he bypassed them and buy his fuel. He insisted not. It is said the people bodily carried the car to the fuel pump. Need a clue as to who this former leader was? Well, his hometown has a well.

 Ghana is moving! Is this really the Ghana of Ghana-Must-Go of the 1980s? Is this really the same country where, due to abject poverty and disillusionment in the 1970s, it is said, citizens would go to Accra airport in droves just to watch the landing of America’s Pan Am plane, and would burst into a rapturous ecstasy of ‘O Pan Am! O Pan Am! Take me with you to America !’? Is it the same Ghana ? No, I can’t believe it!

Ghana is working! Thousands of the children of the Nigerian elite are here in Ghanaian schools, because the educational system is working. Quality. Stability. Meanwhile, back at home, the Federal Government is deaf, ASUU is dumb, the so-called Negotiation Team blind. We are on our 49^th warning strike, sending the sons and daughters of the poor home.

Ghana is working! They even have toll free numbers, 0800. And Yellow Pages. Ghana is moving! There is no acaba/okada (a story for another day)! Accra has a two-storey flyover. Road signs are bold and readable. Not to talk of the relative security. Not to talk of the electricity stability. They have the Energy Commission of Ghana, ECG. No heart attack.

Ghana is moving, but not so fast. I took a taxi from my hotel (Golden Tulip Kumasi) to town. Along the way, gun-totting policemen stopped our taxi. The driver took something out of his pocket and went out to meet them. A few seconds later, he came back into the car, rummaged around and picked a few more coins and returned to them. After a few minutes, he came back, started the car, and we were on our way. Whatever it was he took out from his pocket, and the coins he had salvaged, were nowhere to be found. And I am sure policemen would not be looking for change of coins at that late hour. For fear whether bullets stray in Ghana , I kept my calm. I would not recommend them for IG.

 Ghana loves Nigeria more than Nigeria loves itself. The ‘ Olusegun Obasanjo Way ’ in Accra is a wide, tree-lined, conspicuous boulevard near the airport, well sign posted. Very unlike the miserable Area 10 to Wuse ‘ Olusegun Obasanjo Way ’ we allocated to this hero of ours.

The Ghanaian National Anthem begins: God bless our homeland Ghana . Our National Anthem begins: Arise O Compatriots! Now, it seems God has blessed their homeland Ghana , but Nigerian compatriots have refused to Arise! Kai! Nigeria-Must-Go!