Originally published on Global Voices

Teenagers using cell phones. Image via Pixabay. Free to use.

On November 29, 2024, the Australian parliament passed the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024.

This was the first legislation introduced to and passed in any parliament globally to ban social media for under-16s.

The Hon Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister, said:

The laws place the onus on social media platforms — not young people or their parents — to take reasonable steps to prevent Australians under 16 years of age from having accounts.

Behind the News interviewed students regarding how the ban will work and whether it will be effective. One student commented that it will be a positive thing for anti-bullying because it has become such a large issue.

CNN reported that social media companies will have twelve months to comply with the ban.

Al Jazeera's Soraya Lennie spoke to children in a rural town and asked how effective the ban would be.

On Instagram, Katclark discussed the identity verification requirements and how each social media platform can streamline the process.

App stores should be the ones verifying age, not the apps that they sell. Just one central place to approve what our kids are downloading would make things so much more simpler.

Minister for Communications

The Minister for Communications, Michelle Rowland, commented on the novel aspect of the law and the commitment by the government to deliver safety for children:

We know these laws are novel, but to do nothing is simply not an option. The Albanese Government is resolute in its commitment to keeping children safe online, and the passage of this vital legislation is just one way we’re delivering on this commitment.

@apnews

Australia’s communications minister Michelle Rowland introduced a world-first law into Parliament on Thursday that would ban children younger than 16 from social media, saying online safety was one of parents’ toughest challenges. #australia #socialmedia #ban #bill #legislation

♬ original sound – The Associated Press

Speaking of novel ideas, fiction can reflect the social and political zeitgeist.

In the recent Australian novel, “Recipe for Family”, author Tori Haschka has captured the phenomenon of parents using devices often in the presence of their children.

The novel illustrates how parents’ social media use can negatively impact children. The main characters Stella and her husband Felix text and DM between their friends Grace and Bronwyn, and children, Harry, Natalie, and Georgie. One excerpt from the book reads:

…social media these days, let alone delve back into micro-influencing. The last picture she'd posted was the white lillies chosen for the funeral service. She'd uploaded at 1:17 am, two weeks ago…

While the gardener, Jock, mows all of their lawns, other characters Eve Liaw, Alex Chen, Abigail Martin, Sara Peters, and Percy use their devices to work and discuss parenting.

The novel illustrates how “mean girls” on social media can ruin children's lives at school.

Gotcha

Behind the News is familiar to most primary and high school students in Australia. The student-led news service explains the story behind the story and provides students with tools to better critique the media, with an eye for propaganda, narrative bias, and “doublespeak”, and allows them to tell their own stories.

In this episode, the students explain what the social media ban is, which tech companies are banned, and includes a vision from parliament question time.

Algorithms and social media

There is little mention of algorithms during the debate over the social media ban in parliament.

The issue is explored in Man-made by Australian journalist Tracey Spicer who examines the impact of algorithms. She spoke with Joy Buolamwini, a Ghanaian-American-Canadian computer scientist and founder of the Algorithmic Justice League. Spicer asked (“Man-made”, p. 7):

So what do the experts think? Well, to say they're worried is an understatement. In the words of Ghanaian-American-Canadian computer scientist Dr Joy Buolamwini, the founder of the Algorithmic Justice League: ‘By the time we wake up, it's almost too late.’

The Algorithmic Justice League discusses “AI Voice Clones: The Consequences of Harmful Algorithms” and it is a starting point to learn more about algorithms and how you can protect yourself online.

Including all voices in the debate

Australia's Minister for Communications said: 

We’ve listened to young people, parents and carers, experts and industry in developing these landmark laws to ensure they are centred on protecting young people — not isolating them.

While a state premier, Peter Malinauskas, explained he preferred a national approach. He said:

Facebook has developed algorithms or models to get young people addicted…if we can prevent that from occurring in the first instance, it allows you to make stronger choices.

He spoke to Grace, a child in the audience, and said:

You know when you talk to someone…if you see me not being happy about something, it will regulate what you're saying. You will think, ‘oh, I don't want to upset Pete, so maybe I'll change what I'm saying.’ Whereas you don't get the benefit of that on social media.

 

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A post shared by Peter Malinauskas (@pmalinauskasmp)

November 27, the day the legislation was introduced to parliament, is 13 years since Gary Speed, Wales’s soccer coach, committed suicide. While Speed was an adult, parents whose children have committed suicide due to the link between social media and bullying supported the ban.

The bill received 103 votes in support and 13 votes against in the House of Representatives, and 39 for and 19 against in the Senate.

The UK's Independent explains that 77 percent of Australians supported the legislation.

The campaign leading up to the introduction of the bill saw testimonies from parents who have lost children to bullying driven by social media, strengthening public support.

A national survey indicated that 77 percent of Australians backed the legislation.

Parent perspectives

In Tori Haschka's, Grace Under Pressure, Grace uses social media to connect with her child:

Who doesn’t believe in social media these days…

I’ve found sharing Instagram to be a terrific way to connect with my daughter…

In this 44-second clip at Abbey's, Haschka explained Grace Under Pressure: “is the story of a group of burnt-out women who are ‘harried’ and come up with a pretty ‘novel solution’ of living in a commune together…and the ‘saving grace’ of female friendship.’

While fictional parents may find sharing on Instagram with their children a way to connect, parents in the real world supported the legislation banning social media.

In this video, one mother said: “I shouldn't have done it in the first place was the first thought I had.” She shut down her children's social media accounts to protect them.

Human Rights Protections for Australia

Amnesty International Australia, which opposed the legislation, said:

“Rather than banning children and young people from social media, the Albanese government should regulate platforms to protect children’s privacy and personal data while prioritising their human rights.” pic.twitter.com/s0oL0U4BJV

— Amnesty International Australia (@amnestyOz) November 21, 2024

You can sign a petition for a Human Rights Act in Australia.

ISABT Newsletter

In July 2009 I had the privilege of catching up with old friends and meeting some new faces when Jonathan Thurston, his wife Kristi, and past and present students arrived in Ghana to carry out a book making project with students at a primary school in Elmina, in the Central Region of Ghana.

What’s so special? They use simple, portable technology to inspire creativity and facilitate learning among Ghana’s poorest students. And they use ‘social media’ to establish networks with like-minded individuals and organizations internationally, enhancing development opportunities and increasing the possibility of involving other communities and countries as the organization grows.

I interviewed Jonathan, the founder, about 2009 summer’s project and the organization behind the project: The Intl School of Art, Business and Technology (ISABT). Founded in 2006 by Jonathan Thurston, Trudy Obazee, former Chair of the Accounting Department at Albright College, and Sarah Philbrick, ISABT's mission is to operate educational programs in Ghana and give children an opportunity to become authors. You can view some of the books that students wrote in July 2009 at the Ghana Reale Library. For those interested, download Reale Writer from the Reale site.

I asked Johnathan:

Kojo's story

What groups are you working with in Ghana?

We’re working with schools and we’re trying to work with the PTA to sustain our program. We have some help from other NGOs like Global Mamas with housing or advice. We have people that we work with in Ghana here that can go around and make appointments before we arrive to save us a lot of time. You know, sometimes things take a while so if we can get the ball rolling a month before we come and jump right in when we arrive.

So you’re working with Ghanaians on the ground?

Yes, former teachers. We have one who was actually hired to run the book making program. And what I’m trying to do is put our research from this summer and from the past together to educational units and share it with teachers across developing countries and solve their problems before they have them, like an issue with ink or different technology issues or equipment. Ideally you would have the educational units ready and all you need is a working printer and a working laptop that can run the software, and some paper and some crayons. If you have that, you can run it.

A video of 2008's visit with the teachers.

Last summer I came for a week and saw the possibility and impact that it had. One school I went to, Kakum Oda, had no power and very few books and resources. I only had a week and I had asked for just two students to work with to see. On the first day I sat down with the head teacher and greeted her and said, ‘Thank you for working with me, so, it would be great to meet the two students.’ And she started laughing. She said, ‘There’s more than two.’ I said, ‘Really, more than two?’ I thought, maybe, there’d be four or six. No. Every kid in the school wrote a story already! There were over a hundred stories. They all came up all of a sudden and put them on the desk. Just from hearing about the project they’d all written a story.

I couldn’t do all the stories last summer but I what I saw was that people want to do them. So we’re working through those stories and I have my college kids illustrating them, putting them into software—we’re working our way through that pile.

Click You Tube to watch the Elmina Authors at work and interviewed.

Elmina authors

So what’s happening this summer?

This summer we have a new program where we have writing instruction. It’s about how to write a story, descriptive language, setting, character, and plot. One thing I noticed with the pile of stories was that there was little structure so one thing we did this summer was introduce story-writing instruction—and they totally get it. From a few paragraphs to pages—we’re seeing very descriptive and rich stories.

I was just watching them write. I noticed some are copying—naughty kids. And some are writing freehand. The title of one story was “The girl who married a ghost”. I want to know what happens in that story.

I want to read that story. And maybe some will be copying from one at the beginning, we’re all going to sit and read them together and if we get a story twice, we’ll know.

Could you tell me what a typical session with the kids entails?

We’re still learning, but when I came last summer one thing I noticed is that a lot of the stories didn’t have a beginning, middle or an end. For a well-rounded story you have to introduce the story, tell the story, and then tie it up at the end. We talk about that during the teaching sessions.

I’ve been doing a lot of research into folk stories as well for a couple of years now, especially from West Africa. You know Ananse?  When I see an Ananse story, I know, often, whether it’s an original. If they do want to tell an Ananse story that’s fine, but we encourage them to make it their own a little bit and enrich it to make it different.

Click on the link to watch the children in the Book Making Project.

Book making 2009

How does the project work this summer?

We’re working with this school and they pitched in their own money to buy the computers they have. Even though the computers are often twenty years old, although they have some newer ones, it’s still a foundation to start.

We brought volunteers from the USA with lap tops. They could work with three students each and put the stories into the lap tops. The next thing they’ll do tomorrow is proof-reading and illustrating pictures for the stories. The students write and illustrate the story and we help them get them on the lap top. And tomorrow we’ll run a training session for the teachers too, so when we leave they’ll be able to do it on their own.

What happens to their stories when they finish writing them?

On the final day we’ll have a book celebration. We’ll give each student a printed book and give a laptop and printer to the school. It’s everything they need to keep it going with the teacher who’s been involved from the beginning.

We’re promoting the healthy book cycle: Read, Create, Share. Always start with reading. Even better: start with reading a book another student has written. Then they get inspired to create a book that they then share. And then the next student will read it and be inspired to create and share. That’s the healthy book cycle. If they keep this going, it’s going to keep building. What we want to do is make sure they can continue to the cycle.

How does the books online work?

We have a library for Ghana. So any book made in Ghana is welcome to be included in that library. Anyone can access it. It’s all free. The software is free. The library is free. These books are available for anyone to read if they have a PC and internet. Kids from Kenya, Brooklyn, New Jersey and California will be reading these books. And they’re making their own books and putting them online too and kids in Ghana will be able to read those. And they can pull them off the library and print them.

Spotlighting Jonathan in Ghana this year on You Tube

It’s inspiring. What is your vision for the future?

If we can get it working here, we can build a model that we can replicate. We also want to build a community centre to work with the schools and run after school programs. We would have a small library and computer lab and do programs like the book making program. We want to provide resources to run programs for the future. If someone wants to run an accounting workshop, we’ll bring an accountant from the US or a local accountant and run the workshop. We want to get involved in the community and give them what they need: programs that can enhance the community.

You spoke about the Ghanaian students who came from the USA to volunteer this summer; can you tell me about their involvement?

One is a former student of mine from Albright and one is a current student; he’s getting college credit for working on this project. Their help has been so wonderful on so many levels. They’re both so committed. I think the reactions of the students working in the project are special for them. For a Ghanaian student to study in the USA is very expensive so they’re from families that can afford that. They come back and help out the kids and hopefully those kids will have that opportunity in future. And it’s good role model for the students here to see someone who’s worked hard and graduated from university who cares about Ghana, coming back: someone like them but a bit older. It’s inspiring for the kids.

The educational paradigm is drawn as a pyramid and goes that everyone gets in on the bottom, but the higher up, the narrower it gets, less people in. We’re trying to make that pyramid a square.

Read the featured book, The Bakatue Festival, at RealeBooks.

Visit ISABT here. Join them on Facebook at People Who Want to Help. They blog at ISABT. You can check out how to make books at Making Books in Ghana demo.

Abena of Chardonas presents a striking image of Dr Kwame Nkrumah and a wonderful place to begin a round up of blogs commemorating Kwame Nkrumah’s 100th birthday. The word, of course, is vision.

　

She wrote:

‘In a dusty, browning album belonging to my late father, I found the above photograph of the first President of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. The album, covered in red psychedelic flowers houses my father's pictures from the mid-1960s up to 1973. The photos follow a natural fashion time-line and show how extremely tight -fitting trousers, beehives and mini-skirts gave way to unkempt bushy hair, bell-bottoms, afros and platform shoes. It's like Austin Powers meets Shaft all in Ghana.’

She continues:

Somewhere in the middle of the album is the mysterious photo of Nkrumah. For a few years I have looked at the picture and have wondered:

• Where did my father get the picture from?

• Where and when was it taken?

• Do the kente cloth in the background and the coat of arms on the front of the podium indicate that it was taken in Ghana?

What was the speech about and who were the audience?

For the generations of Ghanaians born after the death of Nkrumah, we have learnt that he was an extraordinary man of vision. VISION Not only did he possess great foresight but also charisma and intellect. He dream was not only for Ghana but extended to a Pan-African ideal of a united continent.

And she was certainly not alone in her thinking.

‘I don't think any African country has had as visionary a leader as my country has been so lucky to have. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah dreamed of a united, free Africa. I cringe to think what he would think of what we have become. Read his 1963 speech to the OAU in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.’

wrote Orangebutterfly, reflecting the sentiments expressed by many bloggers internationally upon the centenary of Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s birthday, September 21, 2009.

I shall quote Nkrumah’s Addis speech throughout this roundup of blogs to illusrate of his enduring vision:

‘Our continent certainly exceeds all the others in potential hydroelectric power, which some experts assess as 42% of the world's total. What need is there for us to remain hewers of wood and drawers of water for the industrialised areas of the world?

we shall link the various states of our continent with communications by land, sea and air. We shall cable from one place to another, phone from one place to the other and around the world with our hydroelectric power…

A decade ago, these would have been visionary words, the fantasies of an idle dreamer. But this is the age in which science has transcended the limits of the material world, and technology has invaded the silences of nature.’

Gamelmag took a unique approach to commemorating Nkrumah’s hundredth birthday:

‘My approach to remembering Dr. Kwame Nkrumah is to attempt to answer the question: “If Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was alive today, what would have been his aspiration for Ghana and Africa?”’

And imagined what Nkrumah might have envisioned for modern, internet-savvy Ghana and Africa, thus:

‘Kwame Nkrumah…would advocate for the Internet to be available in every Ghanaian, home, work place and school. After ensuring this he would then make a statement like: “Ghana's connectivity to the Internet would be meaningless unless it is linked up to the wiring up of the whole African continent.”’

And of energy they wrote that Nkrumah may have imagined cheap and affordable energy:

‘The fact that he constructed Ghana's sole hydroelectric power plant and proposed the one that is currently under construction is prove of the above claim. In the wake of the recent oil discovery in Ghana, our first president would ensure that there is more Ghanaian involvement in the actual drilling and refinement of the oil. He would lead the effort to build more oil refineries to process the crude oil locally, so as to increase the value of the oil exports.’

For those who do not know Nkrumhah, Laura Adibe wrote:

‘Was born Sept. 21, 1909 (although his autobiography states Sept. 18), in the former Gold Coast, now known as Ghana. From 1957 to 1966, Nkrumah served as president of Ghana until he was overthrown. Spending his final years in exile, Nkrumah died on April 27, 1972, in Bucharest, Romania. Hailed by many for being ahead of his time with his vision for a unified Africa, he is remembered for his dream of a “United States of Africa.”’

And she was fortunate to attend one of numerous events celebrating the life of Nkrumah which was held at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture on the 20th of September in New York:

‘…the event was packed with speakers such as Amiri Baraka, Dr. Leonard Jeffries, Dr. Molefi Asante and Dr. Ama Mazama. New York State Sen. Bill Perkins was also in attendance, presenting a copy of New York State Resolution 3068 to recognize the 100th birthday of the late Nkrumah to Minister-Counselor Ebenezer Appreku and members of the National Council of Ghanaian Association.’

Of conflict and development, in his Addis speech Nkrumah said:

‘There is hardly any African state without a frontier problem with its adjacent neighbours. It would be futile for me to enumerate them because they are already so familiar to us all. But let me suggest that this fatal relic of colonialism will drive us to war against one another as our unplanned and uncoordinated industrial development expands, just as happened in Europe?’

Many bloggers cited Nkrumah’s efforts towards forging a united, peaceful Ghana as his greatest legacy and inspiration.

‘So what is Nkrumah’s greatest legacy?’

asks Maya of Mayas Earth. Her thoughts, captured here, are representative of many in the blogosphere (and, on a personal note, of discussions I have had with many Ghanaians on Ghana’s peaceful status):

‘In my opinion it is breaking our tribal barriers. In his quest for panafricanism, he had to first break tribal barriers before breaking national distinctions. By transferring civil servants to places in the country that they had no tribal link to, e.g. sending an Ashanti to Accra, a Ga to Koforidua and a Fanti to Tamale, tribal interaction was forced on Ghanaians. A young Fanti who’d been stationed in Tamale for four years would sooner or later look for a spouse and marry out of his tribe.’

Also focusing on Nkrumah’s legacy, like Maya, Ghana Unites refered to Nkrumah’s impact on unity and his initiatives to promote understanding among Ghana’s numerous ethnic groups by implementing schemes that encouraged Ghanaians to work and live together:

‘He implemented similar initiatives at the professional level, where Ghanaians from different ethnic groups were offered civil service jobs in languages other than their own. The current National Service Scheme is remiscent of this initiative; although many Ghanaians today will move heaven and earth to ensure that they remain in Accra or large cities like Kumasi and Tema. Adjibolosoo acknowledges that although Nkrumah's initiatives did not rid Ghana of ethnic rivalries, it did have a significant impact on ethnic dynamics in Ghana. And I concur with that observation.’

Incidentally, it is rather serendipitous that September 21 is also the United Nations’ official Day of Peace and Ceasefire. That Ghana is officially the second most peaceful nation in Africa (after Botswana) and almost devoid of ethnic conflict is, in large part, thanks to Nkrumah.

As Maya wrote:

‘I am half Ga, half Akim. My husband is part Ga and part Akuapim. Among my friends and family, one is part Ewe, part Fanti and part Ga, one is part Akuapim and part Ga and another is part Akim and part Ashanti and there’s a whole mixture of Ga, Krobo, Fanti, Akim, Nzema and Hausa. Speaking to other African nationals I realize that this tribal mixing is very unusual outside Ghana.

Nkrumah espoused that unity, post independence, was fundamental to peaceful and prosperous development.

‘Is it not unity alone that can weld us into an effective force, capable of creating our own progress and making our valuable contribution to world peace?

Ghana Unites compares Ghana’s experience with Malyasia and the USA in unifying ethnically or geographically diverse segments of the population:

Nkrumah knew that in order for Ghana (and Africa) to prosper, we would have to put our differences aside and work together. United we stand, divided we fall. And boy, are we racing each other to the depths of poverty, instability and all the other inefficiencies that plague our country and continent. All nations who have achieved some semblance of democracy and development, have had to let some sleeping dogs lie and work together. In Malaysia, the native Malays and the Chinese and Indian foreigners did this. In the United States, the north and south divides came together. In Ghana…well, let's look on the bright side, things are better.

Of his extraordinary efforts to forge a united Ghana, Maya says:

In a time when Ghana stands happily among few of the African countries that has not experienced a civil war, as so many others have in the past and present, we must be eternally grateful to Osagyefo for this legacy.’

My African Diaspora says Nkrumah’s greatest gift to the world was:

‘…birthing the idea of Pan-Africanism, his early vision of a United States of Africa.

Nkrumah died in 1972, his vision unrealized and his rule ended in exile. It makes one wonder about the dream. Long after first reading about him in college, I developed my own vision of the dream. It’s an ambitious one – it expands on the original theory to encompass the entire African Diaspora. The same reasons, benefits and logic hold true, but the dream continues to be elusive.

The question is why. Why is it so difficult for Africa (and the diaspora) to see the benefits of unification? Would the model of the United States and the European Union not work in Africa?

While My African Diaspora asks why it is so difficult for Africa and the diaspora to see the benefits of unification, Ghana Unites illustrates that the reality of development today in Ghana—infrastructure maintenance, education curriculums—is brimming with challenges that require Nkrumah style vision and leadership to overcome:

But at some point, the roads, schools, bridges etc that Kwame Nkrumah set up will be in need of serious repair, or will have to be done over entirely. It's time that we quit nit-picking, and go on a full-out campaign to work and make necessary changes. Who cares whether high school in Ghana goes for a term of three or four years? What, pray tell us, are students supposed to be studying over that period of time? That is what we are supposed to be focusing on, the curriculum, the essentialities, the specifics! We need to have a vision and long term goals, and then, we strategize step-by-step and determine how we will achieve these goals. Enough, of the short-term planning already! If we don't commemorate Nkrumah's 100th birthday in any way, I hope we at least take a page from his book on leadership, and strive to be visionaries and work not just in the present, but also for the future. In his own words, “Forward ever, Backward never.”

Ghana Voices interviewed members of a new political party formed to honour Nkrumah’s vision.

‘The party, christened Nkrumah Never Dies Party (NNDP) is formed to honour Nkrumah, through whose exploits the nation was formed and founded. The part is also to usher in a new political paradigm where tribalism, poverty, hunger and diseases do not exist.

‘”Today, Ghana is far from what it ought to have been. We have become more or less (adikan abedie akyire),” Mr Amusu stressed. Mr Amusu regretted that after 50 years of independence, the country was wallowing in poverty, squalor and disease. He said Nkrumah left so many legacies that successive government could have built on to relieve the country from its economic doldrums.’

A
nd others look to a new generation for change and leadership, remembering Nkrumah’s own initiatives. In his research, Ghana Unites discovered just how advanced Nkrumah was for his time:

Hidden in the depths of chapter four of Critical Perspectives in Politics and Socio-Economic Development in Ghana by Tettey et al. (2003) was a section on how social and ethnic unrest in Ghana influenced (or rather impeded) its development efforts. The author, Adjibolosoo, explored Kwame Nkrumah's attempts at dealing with these tensions. The Ghana Young Pioneers movement of June 1960 which aimed at character building and citizen development amongst youth was one of the initiatives that led to the ideology of patriotic nationalism or “Nkrumanism.” Through the Ghana Young Pioneers initiative, educational programs were implemented to educate children in the concepts of social solidarity, political action, value stabilization, individual integration into changing social structures, the direction and meaning of life, and learning to think in terms of a nation rather than ethnic groups. I think Nkrumah's target group alone (children) is indicative of how forward-thinking this man was.

Continuing this theme, Gafaru of Wake Up Ghana said:

‘Kwame Nkrumah’s human story must serve to inspire another generation in many ways, and above all, to believe in themselves. Even more importantly, it must inspire the older generation to believe in and trust the youth because Nkrumah’s story is one of youthful optimism in the face of traditional resistance to new ideas.’

As September 21 was celebrated by Ghanaians as a national holiday, the JJ Rawlings blog, quoted a statement issued by former President Jerry John Rawlings:

‘”As we celebrate Nkrumah today let us have unity of purpose as far as the socio-economic and socio-political development of Ghana is concerned.

Concluding, former President Rawlings said Nkrumah’s ideals of unity for Africa had proven to be more relevant than before with the creation of powerful economic blocks in Europe, the Americas and Asia and called on African leaders to work seriously to give true meaning to the aspirations of Africans.”’

On the whole, Nkrumah’s legacy is largely undisputed. As Kofi Yeboah wrote:

In spite of all his foibles, as human as he is, his admirers, critics and enemies alike unanimously acknowledge him as the greatest African of the second millennium.

Others, including Edward of Path Ghana, were inspired to write poetry in his memory:

The Immortality of Nkrumah

In the beginning there was nothing

And out of nothing Yahweh called everything

First the angels and demons to keep the mortals busy

Then the women of the earth to remind man of his existence

After all was set and after all had been written

Yahweh called Nkrumah to stay in between the mortals and the immortal

To call for war at a time everything seemed peaceful

A mission to save the lost from its leash and its destiny

And begin a new path into a different generation

After that mission was done and all covered,

Nkrumah crossed the line

The line that separated mortals from those who never saw death

And built a home amongst the living and shared in their greater pain

From far up in the skies Yahweh unchained the punisher

The hibernating demons that lay in wait and smelled the blood of heroes

This time to spark a begging of the end of immortality among men

And so history was ordered to record it, Nkrumah the last immortal man

And yet others recounted intimate family stories. Emmanuel Bensah wrote of his family’s connection with Nkrumah and his father’s reaction on September 21:

‘It's a story about how their [Bensah’s] father–then 32 years young–imbued by the pride of being an Nkrumahist wept on the morning of Monday 21st September 2009 as then-President Professor John Evans Attah-Mills delivered a dawn broadcast to honour the great Osagyefo Dr.Kwame Nkrumah–academic; theologian; pioneering Pan-African; and Founder of Ghana.

In his hand was a copy of the now-defunct “Evening News” of January 1964, which their father found online, recounting how their great grandfather Hon E.K.Bensah, Minister of Works and Communications, had laid a wreath on the grave of a security officer killed by the bomb attempt on the life of the Osagyefo.’

And so I couldn’t help but end this round up where we began.

Abena of Chardonas wrote:

As we celebrate 100 years of the birth of Nkrumah next Monday, I have made a pledge to myself to find out as much as possible about the man.

Maya had also discovered a photo of Nkrumah hidden away and asked:

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‘Like Abena, I have so many questions to ask about it, but now I can't stop wondering, is there a picture of Kwame Nkurmah in every family album?’

Mushy, gooey, fragrant, grainy, tasty, starchy, spicy, creamy, rotund, freaking amazing—these are just some of the adjectives bloggers use to describe Ghanaian cuisine. From Seoul to London, Guangzhou to Tamale, people are blogging about Ghanaian food.

Ghanaian food expert, Fran Osseo-Asare, has much to offer readers of her blog about Ghanaian cuisine. There she explains her motivation for writing about food:

I got fed up (pun intended) hearing the negative and distorted nonsense people said about West African cooking, so started writing about it from my perspective…Since the 1970s I've been eating and learning in the kitchens of family, friends, and colleagues how to prepare Ghanaian food. As a sociologist, a writer, and a “foodie,” I've also looked for the stories behind the food. Since marrying my Ghanaian husband in the 1970s I've spent decades looking at his culture from the inside out, and/or the outside in…

And Apoorva gives her interpretation of the concept of ‘food’ in Ghana:

Food’ here…is roughly translated from Gonja, Dagomba, Twi, Nanumba, or any other Ghanaian language as “the starchy portion of what we eat”. This is in contrast with “soup” which refers to “the stuff, which contains the meat or fish that we pour on the Food”. All people have Food, most people have some Soup, and if you are not poor, you will have abela [meat] in your Soup.

The philosophy of heavy main meals in Ghana was described by Fran Osseo-Asare after interviewing hundreds of Ghanaians about it:

Ghanaians generally eat one or two main, or “heavy,” meals a day, supplemented by snacks or a lighter meal. The interviewers initially had some problem determining what constitutes a “meal,” since those interviewed considered only a heavy meal a true meal, one that consisted of soup and fufu, or kenkey (a fermented cornmeal dough steamed in corn husks) and fried fish, or rice and stew. Only “heavy” food counts; as another proverb proclaims: “One blows the horn with a full stomach.

Another way of putting it is: “Belly full, blow horn.” In other words, if you want to work hard, as work traditionally is in Ghana, you have to fill your stomach. And Fran lists Ghanaian cooking basics at her blog:

Ghanaian stews, gravies, and sauces usually involve frying; the soups, however, are boiled. Many soup ingredients may be ground: tomatoes, peppers, legumes (most commonly peanuts, but also several varieties of cowpeas, such as white, brown, black, red, or bambara beans), seeds (like agushi, a melon seed), small, egg-shaped eggplants, and cocoyam leaves (nkontomire) or another kind of green (Ghana has forty-seven different kinds of edible green leaves, each with a distinctive flavor). [11] …The starch component of the meal…most likely it consists of rice, yam, cassava, plantain, millet, cocoyam, or white corn/maize…[12] ). The starch can be creamy, crunchy, tangy (or sometimes bland), grainy, fluffy, elastic, or chewy.

And there is “the ingredients”, as her Ghanaian sister-in-law, Afua, taught her when she began recording recipes in the 70's that ultimately became a book, A Good Soup Attracts Chairs:

Still, Afua made a lot of allowances for obroni. In her oral culture, writing down recipes signaled incompetence. With amused tolerance she nevertheless wrote down cryptic recipes for me, always referring to the sacred combination of pepper (generally habaneros or scotch bonnets), onions, and tomatoes as “the ingredients.” These vegetables formed a holy trinity, providing, in the appropriate amounts, the base for endless varieties of soups, stews, sauces, and gravies

Of course, a discussion of Ghanaian cuisine would not be complete without fufu, the cult classic and staple of Ghanaian chop bars, restaurants and family compounds across the country. St Peters Trekker wrote:

…fufu sits in its bowl like a rotund butter colored island rising up through the lake of fragrant stew.

And Ampoorva explains why the big deal:

Fufu…you make in a GIANT mortar and pestle and pound the living be-hoobies out of…

Indeed, preparing fufu is a labour intensive process, as St Peter’s Trekker found out:

The making of fufu takes special equipment and teamwork. Fufu is made with a large mortar and pestle. The pestle is made from a tree limb or sapling about as tall as a person and as big around as can be comfortably grasped by an adult hand.  The pole is smooth, stripped of its bark and pounded on one end to look like a frayed mushroom cap.  This is the end that crushes and mashes the vegetables into just the right consistency, working them until the dough sticks together and forms a smooth ball. The mortar is a large flat bottomed bowl mounted on a low stand.  One person, standing above the mortar, pounds cooked wedges of cassava and chunks of plantain together with the pole while a second person sitting on a low stool next to the mortar moves the vegetables around the bowl in between strokes. The person sitting beside the bowl has only a tiny window of time to stir the dough before the beating stick comes down again.

Betumi elaborates:

Usually one person would turn and another person pound, though for a small amount of fufu one person might both turn and pound. A little water would be added from a bowl to keep the fufu from getting sticky, and lumps would be picked out as it became smooth. This labor-intensive process takes an even rhythm and split-second timing to ensure that the pestle never descends on hand or finger. Gradually, the mass gets more elastic. The fufu softens the sound as the pestle hits the mortar with a soothing thumping as women prepare dinner. Eventually the mass becomes a smooth, springy ball of dough that looks a little like a cross between freshly kneaded dough and a dumpling.

Fufu even made the history books, as Betumi cites:

Sir Richard F. Burton, the famous nineteenth-century European traveler, writer, and translator, enthusiastically described fufu as playing a role equivalent to “. . . the part of European potatoes, only it is far more savoury than the vile tuber, which has already potatofied at least one nation.

So intrinsic to Ghanaian life is fufu, that many sayings or proverbs include references to it (as they do the entire food spectrum in Ghana). At her blog, This is Ghana, one blogger wrote that during a speech to the bride and groom at a wedding ceremony, a Ghanaian woman dispensed wisdom, comparing fufu to a relationship:

The analogy in Ghanaian folklore follows that creating a good relationship is like making fufu: one partner is the cassava and the other is the plantain (or yam if you're up north). When you pound cassava and plantain into a sticky ball of fufu, which ain't easy, like you're average long-term relationship, you hit lumps, like you're average long-term relationship. So, what next? Ghanaians believe that it is the sole responsibility of the two to address the issues–those lumps–in the relationship. In other words, to discard those things that don't help the relationship, and keep pounding away at the rest. And to solve it yourself…

And then there is the soup. Of ground nut soup, facing the wall exclaims:

Ah, how delicious you are, GS! Made of groundnuts (that's peanuts to most, monkey nuts to the weirdos) and groundnut oil. Eating this gives you huge pectoral muscles and increases your tolerance for Celine Dion ballads. Easily one the best things in Ghana to eat.

On a trip in Ghana, Mickey Ashmore is invited in to watch ground nut soup being prepared in a restaurant:

Groundnut soup is rich, nutty, and brown; thickened by its main ingredient, groundnut paste, which is boiled with a touch of water and churned with an instrument resembling a small canoe paddle for several hours. Before adding the groundnut paste to the stew, a whole chicken (cut into pieces) is stewed with previously boiled tomatoes, onions, and hot red chilies plus a whole bunch of ground ginger (done by mortar and pestle), chopped garlic, and raw chopped onions. For added flavor, standard Maggi chicken seasoning is added to the stewing pot. After cooking the chicken with these ingredients for a while (not sure how long), the rich groundnut paste is then added and stewed for many more hours making sure the chicken is tender and falls off the bone.

Betumi gives more details about the three main soups of Ghana, which accompany fufu, and which she serves her family:

Creamy, spicy “groundnut soup,” nkatenkwan in Twi, made with “the ingredients” plus chicken, okra, and peanuts, remains a standby in our family. We most frequently prepare “light soup” or nkrakra (especially with lamb or beef and smoked or fresh fish, mushrooms, okra, and tiny eggplants, the “garden eggs” of Ghana), but for sheer richness, color, flavor, and texture, palmnut soup or abenkwan (pronounced ah-BEHN-kwan) surpasses all other soups. Abenkwan is made with the small red fruits of the palm tree, called palmnuts, and includes the strained pulp and oil from the fruit surrounding the palm kernels at the center of the palmnuts, but not the inner kernels themselves.

Now: To swallow or to chew? That is the question. While all self-respecting Ghanaians swallow fufu, many foreigners struggle not to chew. So many visitors have blogged about this that the ‘chew challenge’ almost seems like a traveler’s rite-of-passage. One goes so far as to declare chewing ‘unethical’.

First, Betumi explains the correct way:

Fufu is not chewed, but swallowed whole, carried down the throat by a soothing peristaltic motion. Eating it is a very sensual experience.

Apoorva explains the reality:

Like all Food you must rip off a piece, dip it in the soup, and eat it – and by eat I mean SWALLOW IT WITHOUT CHEWING. Complicated stuff people. Chew accidentally and suddenly the whole circle of eaters are guffawing at you and you are looking confused and bewildered.

Facing the wall blog wrote:

…the method is to pull of a piece about the size of a large shooter marble, dip in the sauce, and swallow whole without chewing (or gagging, for those trying it for the first time.)

Accra flight cautions:

…if you are eating fufu in front of some African person then try not to chew it but just swallow it, as in Africa it is considered unethical to chew fufu. But no matter how you eat fufu, it tastes great…

Indo Dreamin’, who was on a mission to find Ghanaian food in Guangzhou, describes the challenge when he finally found fufu:

The unique thing about fufu is that you do not chew it. You have to cut a piece using your index and middle fingers, form a small dimple in the piece you have cut (using your thumb), dip the piece into the piping hot soup, and once placed in your mouth you swallow. You DO NOT CHEW FUFU.

Maragaretb said:

You don’t chew fufu, you simply pick up some with your fingers, yes soup with fingers is much more fun than with a spoon, and put the fufu in and swallow. It’s not that it’s bad; it just doesn’t have a whole lot of taste…

Gunbunnycrosswalk gave another explanation:

you are not supposed to chew fufu as it is considered rude to the cook…fine with me…gets it out of my mouth sooner…

A McGraw seemed relieved:

I’ve finally learned not to attempt to chew fufu or bangku but just to swallow…

So that Ghanaians and foreigners alike can get their hit of fufu wherever they may be, Betumi lists sites that you can visit to find fufu near you:

Peace Corps volunteers developed “The Friends of Togo Fufu Bar” Web site, where one can find, among other things, reviews of African restaurants world-wide, including whether or not they serve fufu (http://www.concentric.net/~jmuehl/togo.shtml); Doug Himes, who holds degrees in African Studies and Economics, has established The Congo Cookbook Web site to make available literary and scholarly information about West African gastronomy, including historical information and recipes for fufu  (http://www.geocities.com/congocookbook/); Ellen Gibson Wilson published A West African Cook Book, which includes fufu recipes “out of necessity,” since her “British husband, who spent some happy and formative years in West Africa, developed an appetite for African food which could not be satisfied solely on widely spaced return visits.”(Ellen Gibson Wilson, A West African Cook Book [New York: M. Evans and Company, Inc., 1971]; see p. 92.); Elizabeth A. Jackson, a nutritionist born and raised in Nigeria, also published a West African cookbook and has since developed a helpful African culinary Web site (Elizabeth A. Jackson, South of the Sahara: Traditional Cooking from the Lands of West Africa [Hollis: Fantail, 1999]; http://lizard.home.inr.net).

Arguably, next on the hierarchy of Ghanaian favourites and most blogged about, is Banku. Of Banku, Facing the Wall asks:

What happens if you let maize ferment in a pot for three days and then pound into a thick sour mush? You get banku of course! This is actually really tasty, but it's an acquired taste for some. Often served with light soup or okro stew.

Mickey Ashmore writes about his experience learning to eat Banku while living with a Ghanaian family:

Eat your ball!” “Use your ball!” “Look, I am eating my big ball!” A dinner at the Kukobo house (our homestay) with banku or akple is entertaining..The size of the ball of banku is determined by the size of the person eating. Naturally, our father gets the largest ball. To eat like a true Ghanaian, one would have to use your hands. Our father tears of portions of his “ball” and sloshes it in the stew sopping up flavors, juices, and a bit of vegetable such as okra (known here as okro stew). Personally, to tolerate the fermented flavor of Banku, I have to tear my ball into very, very small pieces dropping it into my stew to sponge up other spices and sauces…
This is our father’s favorite dish. Therefore, it gives him great pleasure as I begrudgingly reduce the size of my ball. “You have too much ball left, Mike!” he notes. If I start to favor my stew with a spoon and no portion of Akple, he quickly notes, “You are not using your ball, Mike!” “Use the big ball.” Then, often, he will demonstrate – licking his fingers clean of sauce and fish while comparing the size and amount of his ball that has disappeared. “Look at my big ball … almost gone, Mike!

I cannot breathe, Mike.” he moans. “I have taken too much food.” “My stomach is now a big ball!” he laughs. Of course, our father understands that Banku or Akple is not enjoyed by the typical western tongue. But I try my best to impress him

The variety of food eaten in the northern half of Ghana differs with that of the south, partly due to the environment, costs and distance. Ampoorva explains:

There is only one real growing season in the north – that is now. Farmers plant around the first rains (Early to Mid-May) and harvest through to September. Because (as I have mentioned before) not only is the word Food solely associated with the starchy bits of the diet, so is the cultural idea of Food. Famine occurs when there is no maize, no cassava, no yam, no rice (well there is never no rice, thanks to the goddamn cheap dumping of American rice here – but that is another story). Why? Gonja, and Dagomba and other northern tribes are Sub-Saharan peoples. Their main caloric intake comes in the form of the carbohydrates and starch obtained from grains. Animals are only so many and cattle are not even originally native to the area – so to keep a family, and a people alive, they farm grain.

And the staple of those living north of Tamale is derived from maize and millet grown during the rainy season. Facing the wall describes the staple, ‘TZ’ for short, like this:

TZ, pronounced tee-zed, is almost like banku. Instead, regular old corn meal is boiled into a thick paste. Typically eaten with okro stew. This dish is much more popular in the north of Ghana than in the south.

Ghanaian Maximus Ojar writes in the Ghanaian Journal of TZ:

I don’t want to keep you from your Tuo Zaafi any longer. Did you even cook it yourself? Just thinking about the one cooked at Asanka local on Sundays is making me hungry. Enjoy your meal. A-chi-ray. Chop time no friend…

“Chop time no friend” is often said with good-humour in response to “You are invited”. The latter is an invitation for you to come and eat. The former means, “don’t worry about me, go ahead…”. In other words, survival (chop/eating) first, friendship second—and they are heard everywhere.

Seoul-based blogger, Aliensdayout took a metaphorical trip down memory lane and a real trip around Seoul in a quest to uncover Ghanaian food in South Korea’s capital:

For those of you who don't know me, I grew up in Ghana (and also Ivory Coast). Ghanaian food is freaking amazing. Groundnut stew, fufu, banku, fried plantain, jollof rice…my mouth is watering. I miss it all sooo much.

I heard a long time ago that there's a West African restaurant in Itaewon, since there's actually a little West African community here in Korea. I've been meaning to try the restaurant out with my whole family so that we can reminisce about our glory days, but so far, that hasn't happened and I've been getting impatient! So this week, I FINALLY went to check it out and order some takeout for myself.

Even though the restaurant wasn't much to look at, something about walking into that space and hearing the different languages made me feel like I was back in Ghana….Since it was my first visit, I decided to go with my all-time favorite West African dish: Red Red (although the menu just calls it “beans”). This dish is made with black-eyed peas and is traditionally accompanied with fried plantains. I was going to order the plantains too, but the waiter said that they didn't yet have plantains ripe enough for frying. I guess you can't blame them for that… It's hard to believe they can get plantains in Korea at all. They must ship them in from somewhere. The waiter/cook also confirmed for me that they don't put fish in the red red (sometimes in Ghana, fish sneaks its way into the dish). I actually got to chat with him for a bit about about how/why I'm vegan. He said he's from Nigeria, but upon hearing that I lived in Ghana, he pointed out which of the men sitting around the restaurant were Ghanaian. haaa. While we were chatting, my Ghanaian accent was just itching to come out! hehe. I was suddenly very aware of how Americanized my accent has become. So anyway, I got my takeout and couldn't wait to get home and eat it. It was delicious! It was slightly thicker than the red red I've had in the past, but it absolutely had the same African taste. And it was spicy, just like it should be. I'm definitely returning to try their jollof rice, fufu, and fried plantains.

And IndoDreamin’ wrote about his unique mission to find Ghanaian food in Guangzhou:

Now my cousin, having been born in Ghana, has never really lived there. I figured it might be a cool experience for him to finally taste the food of the country he was born in 35 years ago. I had heard about a Ghanaian restaurant in Guangzhou…I found the building in one shot…I went up to the 24th floor and stepped out of the lift. The aroma of home cooked food and spices hit me like manna from heaven. There were no signs to follow or people to ask directions from, so I just followed the smells…finally I found the elusive Ghanaian restaurant. The establishment even had a name, Ghana Dish, run by Madame Atta…it makes a huge difference when Ghanaian food is served by a large Ghanaian woman. It just feels more authentic. She is from Kumasi and has been living in China for 3 years now. It was great fun chatting with her…the restaurant had a few flags up on the wall and even played highlife music on the stereo…They only offered a few simple dishes though like Banku, Fufu, light soup, groundnut soup, Kokonte, gari, and rice…So I ordered us some fufu and light soup…My cousin had no idea what he was into…Needless to say, I was an extremely happy camper…my mouth is watering just writing this…GHANA DISH is the best Ghanaian restaurant I have been to in Guangzhou.

The diversity of voices participating in the global discussion concerning President Obama’s visit to Ghana and the speech made on Saturday 11th of July in Accra almost universally share a common thread irrespective of the arguments, views and opinions otherwise expressed: sincere hope for Africa and Africans. And bloggers have been asking: Why Ghana? Why not Kenya, the President’s ancestral home, or Nigeria, the self-professed “super-power”? And why now? Is it about oil or democracy?

Firstly, the use of new media for which the President’s administration has become renowned has allowed ordinary citizens globally to interact with the President during his visit. Metaplace explained that they will hold a “global conversation” during and after his speech:

On Saturday, July 11, a global conversation will push definitions of citizenship by demonstrating how new technologies enable global civic participation. Citizens from numerous countries will meet together in virtual worlds to collectively watch a speech from President Obama, view Twitter feedback on his talk, and a join in discussion with musician and activist D.N.A. (Derrick Ashong), Ambassador Kenton Keith and African historian Professor Tim Burke.

President Obama will speak to a live audience in Ghana, Africa. The White House is using a Twitter feed which will enable individuals from around the world to participate in the conversation and share their thoughts with President Obama.

This event provides a public sphere for people to come together as citizens sharing independent views which in turn shape the political institutions of society. These conversations, literally hosted in a virtual physical space, are essential for the marketplace of ideas in our globalizing society.

Second Life Africa also discussed the Obama administration’s use of new technology:

Since entering the White House in January, the Obama administration has made use of a myriad of social networking and Internet communications tools, such as blogs, the YouTube video service and Twitter, to interact with the public. Come Saturday, you can add a virtual world appearance to the list.

Vanguard NGR explained the White House’s invitation to SMS President Obama during his visit.

The White House has set up SMS codes to allow people across Africa to send “words of welcome” via text message to Obama during his visit. Obama has already received thousands of messages, and plans to answer several of the questions sent to him, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported yesterday.

Second Life explained that Uthango Social Investments members took up the invitation to SMS the President shortly before his visit:

Uthango team members participated in the text message invitation and sent the following question to the President on the 8th of July – “Mr. President, What role could African civil society organisations play to further investment and responsible development?” implying that ‘Africans are responsible for Africa’. A day later, his comments ahead of the Ghana visit were therefore music to our ears: ‘Ultimately, I’m a big believer that Africans are responsible for Africa. I think part of what’s hampered advancement in Africa is that for many years we’ve made excuses about corruption or poor governance, that this was somehow the consequence of neo-colonialism, or the West has been oppressive, or racism – I’m not a big believer in excuses.

Naturally, “Why Ghana?” dominated bloggers’ discussions. Kukah suggested that Ghana was simply being used to further US interests across Africa:

I am not downplaying the significance of this momentous event. However, I believe that this visit is for Africa and President Obama will not only speak to Ghanaians but merely use Ghana as a platform to address Africa by laying down where he wishes to take the US.

Jamii Forums quoted White House spokesman Robert Gibbs on the purpose:

This is both a special and an important visit for him personally as president but also for our country to articulate a vision for Africa.

Kukah suggested that the US ought to hold its own players in Africa to account much as the President would expect African leaders to account to their people:

I expect that President Obama will politely but firmly speak directly to the leaders of Africa, calling for an end to corruption and the need for an equitable distribution and allocation of the continent's resources. He will call for an end to violence and the need for Africans to hold their leaders accountable and responsible. These may be nice sound bites. The real challenge is that, as he may realize, Africans have heard all this before. What they are yet to see is a clear signal from the US and the international community that they are truly committed to helping Africa. For, to do this, they must be ready to expose their multinational corporations and other corporate crooks (e.g. Halliburton), the sponsors of strife and violence in Africa in the course of the exploitation of mineral resources and the need to energise and support civil society groups…

And what happened?

At Huffington Post, Larry Diamond described the content, significance and tone of President Obama’s speech in Accra:

In his historic speech to Ghana’s parliament today, President Barack Obama put democracy and good governance at the front and center of Africa’s future and America’s hope for it. That is just where it needs to be. Obama could not have been more eloquent or forthright in identifying bad governance—corruption, lawlessness, abuse of human rights, and purely superficial deference to democratic norms—as the bane of Africa’s quest for development and dignity.

Of course, the point was forcefully made from the start in Obama’s choice of Ghana in his visit to sub-Saharan Africa as president. Ghana is not immune from the ills of corruption and misuse of power that plague the continent, but among the continent’s sizeable countries, it has gone the furthest in achieiving a reasonably liberal democracy, with repeated free and fair elections, media freedom, a pluralistic civil society, and responsible governance. And it has generated significant new flows of international development assistance (and to some extent investment) as a result.

The Accra speech was historic in a number of respects. No American president has ever spoken so candidly on African soil about the real roots of Africa’s development malaise, which lie in the “big man” syndrome of patronage-drenched ethnic politics, contempt for the role of law, and wanton abuse of human rights. Perhaps only an American president whose African grandfather felt the brunt of racist European imperialsm could say to Africa as frankly as Obama did that—more than half a century after decolonization—the core problem is not the colonial legacy but what Africans themselves have done and filed to do with thye hopes and dreams they carried into depdenence.

At Political Articles blog Prof. Richard Joseph clearly explained why Ghana was the perfect platform from which to champion good governance:

The country has witnessed five successive elections since its return to multiparty democracy in 1992. In 2006 the United States rewarded Ghana for its progress with a $547 million Millennium Challenge Account grant for capacity building — an initiative of the administration of President George W. Bush

The December 2008 national elections were hotly contested and ended in a confusion of lawsuits, the boycott of a run-off vote in one constituency and accusations of fraud and other irregularities. But when the defeated presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo of the governing New Patriotic Party, conceded to John Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress after losing by a sliver (0.46 percent) of the popular vote, Ghana was spared the trauma of the post-election upheavals we have seen in recent years in Kenya, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.

He noted that, while enjoying almost two decades of political stability, Ghana still faces challenges on electoral and governance fronts:

In last December’s election, the virulence of party campaigns, deepening ethnic-bloc voting and the mobilization of vigilantes showed that Ghana has not yet crossed the frontier to intimidation-free electoral politics.

In government, a bloated executive dominates and marginalizes parliament and the judiciary, and financial self-dealing among governing elites is again rampant. The prospect of oil revenue highlights the urgent need for improved and transparent systems of economic management.

As expected, the speculation over “Why not Nigeria or Kenya? And why now?” raged around the world, particularly across Africa:

Of the decision to visit Ghana and not Kenya, The Ethiopian Review blog quoted Jonathan Clayton and Tristan McConnell of the Times Online who put it bluntly:

…he is not letting emotions rule his head.”

The Kenyan Government and its notoriously corrupt and quarrelsome ministers are not happy. On the other side of the continent in West Africa, however, Ghanaians are jubilant that America’s first black President has chosen their country for what they see as his first real visit to Africa, dismissing his recent speech in Cairo as a staged event for the Middle East.

Kenya has been left to ponder what might have been. Kenya’s elite whispered of preferential trade and investment deals, increased business opportunities and an image-boosting first visit to their country by an incumbent US president. Instead, relations have deteriorated, with Kenya receiving regular dressing-downs for its failure to follow reforms recommended by an international inquiry into a flawed poll in 2007, which led to the deaths of about 1,500 people in post-election violence.

The article continues:

He will be the third consecutive US President to visit Ghana, which has just had a peaceful transfer of power after a close presidential election. In contrast, the Kenyan crisis has its roots in decades of high-level graft, mismanagement and exploitation of tribal tensions. President Obama has made it clear that historical ties count for little compared with his aim of encouraging political reform and rewarding good governance, democracy and accountability.

Kenyan citizen and chef by trade, Mr Charles Analo, expressed his feelings in the same post:

Everyone expected him to come to Kenya first. Now our politicians are feeling ashamed that he is not coming.

At The National Post Blog Araminta Wordsworth quoted various sources and the reactions including The Nation Daily in Kenya which suggests that this rebuff is not unexpected:

It is the view of every Kenyan, who is appalled by the inertia in government. Few things have been done to redress the past wrongs’” the paper said, suggesting that Kenya’s uneasy coalition government deserved the rebuff after post-election unrest last year.

Safari notes asks if Kenyan leaders are listening:

By not coming to Kenya, Obama is simply trying to send a message and get Kenyan leaders to move their country in the right direction. And the message is for all of Africa: the continent needs clean leaders and good governance. “…..if you talk to people on the ground in Africa, certainly in Kenya, they will say that part of the issue here is the institutions aren’t working for ordinary people and so governance is a vital concern that has to be addressed.” Are Kenyan leaders listening?

On why not Nigeria:

When the White House announced two months ago that President Obama would visit Ghana this week, Nigerians read a different, glaring message between the lines: The American leader was not going to their country …

That Obama also is not visiting about 50 other African nations seems beside the point. Here in Africa’s self-enthroned behemoth, Obama’s sojourn to small but stable Ghana has spawned an outpouring of soul-searching and self-flagellation about Nigeria’s image and dubious democracy.

Why would Obama want to come to Nigeria? To lend credence to the putrefying edifice that the nation has largely become?’ one writer asked in the Guardian newspaper. Wole Soyinka, a Nobel prize-winning writer, said he would ‘stone’ Obama if he legitimized Nigeria by visiting.

Kukah discusses the Nigerians’ reactions:

Since the news of President Barack Obama's planned trip to Ghana en route from Russia became public, some Nigerians have been acting like a jilted wife on the matrimonial calendar in a polygamous household.

As a measure of the seriousness of those who hold these views, which other country has reacted in the rather garrulous manner that some Nigerians have reacted to a routine state visit such as this? Are the Kenyans who can lay claim to Mr. Obama sulking, whining and pinning in the way these Nigerians are doing that he did not come home first? They had bad elections and a near civil war, but are they wallowing in self pity? If President Obama had chosen to visit Nigeria, would Ghanaians have shown this narrow mindedness or jealousy in their interpretation of his motive? Is President Obama the world's electoral Pope who is going around rewarding and punishing election defaulters?

Davis Ajao counters, from several angles, the common argument among Nigerians that their nation ought to have been President Obama’s first stop in sub-Saharan Africa:

Some Nigerians hold the view that Nigeria deserves to be the first sub-Saharan African country Obama visits as President. Such views are anchored on the illusion that Nigeria is presently Africa’s super-power. A Nigerian interviewed by the BBC World Service consoled himself by saying: “When it’s time to visit a super-power, he will… Now is the time to visit a sub-power and that’s why he is visiting a sub-power”.  The cheek of it!

Oil: Oil is strategic to the US economy. Some believe Nigeria being a major exporter of oil to the USA, should be considered above Ghana. Last time I checked, Angola had become the largest exporter of oil from sub-saharan Africa. That implies that Angola can easily take over from Nigeria with the US oil business.

Economy: Nigeria’s economy is a major one in Africa, but it is not the largest. If the size of economy was what mattered most, South Africa should be making the loudest noise but I have not heard a complaint from South Africa.

Super power: I ask myself, “What super power?” I grew up hearing a certain cliché about Nigeria being “the giant of Africa”. I believe that was in the past. If there was any African super power, it would be South Africa. Aside it large economy, military might, technology and better general living conditions, South Africa is globally recognised as one of the emerging countries in the same league as Brazil, Mexico, India and China.

African support: Some one interviewed by the BBC about this issue made a point about the amount of moral support from Nigerians during the American elections in 2008. This is mainly an emotional point. If any country would qualify using this criteria, it would Kenya! The world media descended on Kenya during the US Presidential elections and were there to cover the jubilation when Obama was declared winner since Barack Obama’s father was Kenyan.

The bottom line is simple: The President of  the United States is at liberty to decide which countries to visit or not to visit, and in what order he visits them.

Araminta Wordsworth quotes the President of the Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo, on the choice of Ghana:

President Laurent Gbagbo [paid] tribute to Ghana, with the former Gold Coast sometimes seen as a regional English-speaking ‘twin’ of the Francophone country, because of its geography and economy. ‘It’s not just chance’ that Obama chose Ghana, which has come through tests to be “stable and democratic,’ said Gbagbo, whose nation is still seeking the way out of a civil war that split the nation in two from October 2002.

And there is the question of oil and transparency. Jonathan Wallace explained what Ghana has been doing to avoid the “tired and tragic narrative” that plagues other developing, oil-producing nations:

Ghana's discovery of oil in 2007 in the large Jubilee field in the Gulf of Guinea, has raised concerns that this well-governed though still fairly undeveloped country may follow the same tragic path as Angola, Chad, and Nigeria. Oil wealth in these states has led to corruption, increased poverty, violence, the desertion of indigenous industry outside of energy, and declining living standard for all but a few well-connected elites.

Ghana is well aware of this trap and has been looking to set up institutions to avoid the so-called “resource curse.” Impressively, these efforts span presidential administrations and political parties in Ghana, but there is much more to be done.

Obama was right to choose Ghana for his first true African visit. Instead of visiting his father's native Kenya, or oil behemoth Nigeria, President Obama will recognize that good governance can flourish in Africa and be a model for other nations. Hopefully, he will remind the Ghanaian policy makers that transparency is the best method to ensure broadly shared prosperity, and that it becomes especially important with the added blessing and burden of oil wealth.

Mr Stephane Bollang of Afrik quotes CEO of Gold Star Resources (Canada), Mr Patrick Morris as saying,

U.S. President Barack Obama’s trip to Ghana on July 10th-11th is a subtle White House oil strategy to secure another source of energy on the continent of Africa

Mr Bollang explains that the choice to visit Ghana is related to oil and other resources. The US intends to increase its consumption of oil from the western part of Africa, as a percentage of total consumption from Africa, by 10% from the current level of 15% to 25% by 2020:

The Energy department’s forecasts on oil supply, according to some, prove this point. By 2020, the United States would need an annual import of 770 million barrels of oil fom Africa, 25% of which is expected to come from the western region of the continent as against a current 15%. Others disagree with this as a motive for his choice of Ghana, saying that Angola, Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea would fit the bill better as they would continue to produce, relatively, more oil than Ghana. Nana Yaw Osei, a Ghanaian student believes that “Ghana stands to benefit from its oil exports as long as it deals with partners who are willing to do business in a transparent way.

A reserve of about 600 million barrels of oil was discovered in Ghana in 2007. Commercial operations are expected to begin next year with a daily production of 120, 000 barrels. This is not all. Ghana is the second largest producer of cocoa in the world, producing over 20% of the world’s cocoa beans. The western African country is also the second largest producer of gold (its former name was Gold Coast) and has huge deposits of industrial diamonds and bauxite (aluminum).

Permanent Red blog quotes Ann Garrison of SF Energy Policy Examiner who asks how Obama will advance mutually beneficial trade policies with Ghana and other African countries:

Ninety percent of U.S. Africa trade is in oil, gas, and mining industries. Much of the trade in these extractive industries has been exploit¬ative, bringing little value to those on whose land the resources lie. Ghana has discovered oil just in 2008. How will the Obama administration advance trade policy with Ghana and other African countries that are mutually beneficial?

A writer at BN Village asked:

Is this the real intention of Obama's visit to Ghana. To secure a military home in Afrika for the muderous American military to stir violence and wars on the continent and to puff their chest out at China and Russia who are all trying to secure the natural wealth of Afrika ?

Why do Ghanians not take a suspicious standpoint and instead see him as some God who would in some magical way improve the lives of Ghanians just because he is the American president whose father was Afrikan.

Kenyan blogger Gukira contemplates the multiple affiliations and identities being demanded of President Obama in his visit to Africa as the US President and someone who “embodies newly diasporic Africans”:

I wonder about that “we” that surrounds and haunts Obama’s trip to Ghana. The “we” with which we keep insisting he’s African. The “we” that creates a line between Ghana and the United States, that implicates him in Atlantic slave histories. The “we” that wants a kind of affect to overcome or intercede between differential structural positions—the “we” that wants him to forget he is the U.S. president on an official visit to Africa.

I also wonder about the “we” that Obama will construct and deploy while in Ghana. The “we” that will anticipate and negotiate the multiple “wes” being thrown at him. The “we” that will allow him to the implicit and explicit demands that he be pan-African, which has, in some incarnations, been highly critical of U.S. policies and politics. He will be asked to negotiate a “we” that demands he be “one of the people,” and that has specific demands on presence and etiquette (one man on TV already complained that Obama will not spend enough time in Ghana).

Obama will be navigating pasts and presents while forging presents and futures. If, as friends and I have been discussing, he embodies newly diasporic Africans, his trip also represents a set of ongoing navigations that will continue to affect Africa in ongoing, unfolding futures.

Finally, Kukah looks beyond the symbolism and ask:

Perhaps a more important question is, beyond the emotional and symbolic value, what difference will a Presidential visit make in the lives of ordinary people in the country?

Few know that A.T.Kearney rated Ghana as sub-Saharan Africa's number one Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) destination in 2005 and, as of June 2009, the nation’s achievements in this field look set to continue. Several bloggers reported on an agreement signed in early June between two leading ICT organisations that will provide unprecedented opportunities for ICT students, create thousands of jobs, and underpin the growth of this nascent industry.

Mr Eddie Turkson reported on the details of the agreement:

“THE Ghana Telecom University College (GTUC) has signed a partnership agreement with Rising Data Solutions Limited (RDS), a business process outsourcing (BPO) company, to train people and create jobs in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry.

Under the agreement, RDS will provide a curriculum and logistics in the field and train teachers to teach the course at the college, while GTUC would house the classrooms, hardware and teaching personnel for the implementation of the course.

The college will also absorb the class into its official curriculum where students who earn qualifying marks in the course will gain employment with RDS.
The President of GTUC, Dr Osei K. Darkwa, said the government had identified Information Technology Enabled Service (ITES) and the BPO industry as one of the key industries for the creation of jobs and the provision of marketable skills for the youth for the country to position itself as a destination of choice for outsourcing.”

Ghana Voices defined the BPO industry as:

An information technology enabled service industry in which clients from other parts of the world subcontract services of which they have low competitive advantage over to local firms who have high competitive advantage in that area.

Ghana Voices also discussed the sector’s potential to benefit the country, stating that:

It is estimated that the sector could provide over 37,000 jobs for the youth by 2011 in Ghana, with an added value to the country’s economy of over 750 million dollars.

Bpoevents reported Dr Darkwa’s hopes for students’ skills development:

Dr. Darkwa expressed the hope that, the collaboration with RDS would equip the students in the areas like communication skills, computer skills, telemarketing, listening skills, accent neutralisation and keyboard skills which are required to succeed in the industry. Supporting this hope, Mr A. J. Whitman, RDS’s Public Relations Manager, said that this partnership was part of RDS’s campaign to bring more jobs to Ghana.

Daikieusown quoted Mr Whitman as saying:

We are proud of this partnership with GTUC, in large part because both parties recognize that the private sector cannot grow without the education sector, and vice versa. While still fledging in Ghana, RDS is banking on their ability to drive the sector by strategic partnerships, allowing skills development based on knowledge sharing that benefits all stakeholders, most importantly students.

The BPO industry has been a significant economic driver of countries such as India, Malaysia, and the Philippines, which had been responsible for the creation of tens of thousands of jobs.

Even Vodaphone, noted Eddie Turkson, commented on the agreement:

The Head of Corporate Communication, Vodaphone, Mr Albert Don-Chebe, gave assurance that Vodaphone was strongly behind the deal and commended RDS for having the courage to invest in Ghana, despite the challenges.

During the ceremony, Dr Darkwa mentioned that the challenges facing the industry were the “shortage of manpower which was restricting its growth”, as reported by Ghana Voices, and that:

It was to reverse this trend that the GTUC signed the MOU with the RDS to develop a talent pipeline in the short and long term, which would ensure continuous supply of trained manpower to feed the industry.
His colleague, Dr. Robert Baffour, The Vice President of GTUC, further stressed that GTUC would continue to develop all necessary platforms and build the requisite foundation to place Ghana on the technology map

Daikieusown quoted Dr Baffour, the Vice President of Ghana Telecom University College (GTUC):

GTUC has been the leader in ICT activities in the country and would continue to lead and chart the way forward for our country.””

on the evening of the ceremony in Accra.

I had an opportunity to interview Mr Michael Boampong, the Executive Director of Young People We Care, based in Kumasi, Ghana.  YPWC is no ordinary NGO and Michael is no ordinary young man, by anyone's standards. Operated by young people, for young people, YPWC exploits new media to create links with like-minded individuals and organisations around the world to enhance opportunities for young people here in Ghana.

Welcome Michael, can you please tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’m the founder of and currently work as the Executive Director of Young People We Care (YPWC). I completed a four-year undergraduate degree at the University of Cape Coast, majoring in Economics and Geography, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Sciences. I’m passionate about youth empowerment and believe that youth must be empowered now to ensure a brighter tomorrow for everyone.

I am also an advisory board member of the Bangladesh Youth Parliament, and the Country Representative of UNICEF Rural Voices of Youth. I am currently doing national service with the United Nations Development Programme, Ghana.

YPWC, founded in 2005, is a youth-led and -focused organisation that is headquartered in Ghana, with satellite offices in the United Kingdom and Canada. The organisation is operated by young people aged ten to thirty-five years and adult partners working on youth-and development-related issues worldwide.

Basically, we aim to educate, inform and inspire youth participation in global issues, to build sustainable partnerships aimed at youth development, and to provide young people with the tools and resources to take action themselves.

We believe that through informing and engaging youth, they will be inspired to get involved and take action to improve their local communities. For example, we have held workshops on communication skills and report writing for youth in far-flung regions of Ghana with sponsorship from Disney, which might seem surprising but it’s brilliant to see the youth in those areas organizing themselves and responding to these inputs.

And we believe that this is how we can change the world. So, we try to create a platform for youth to translate what they have learnt into action and involve them in decision making on key developmental and global issues.

The online volunteering programme provides opportunities for volunteers to provide support and assistance “virtually”, in other words, they volunteer via the internet. The virtual volunteer programme is innovative and, of course, cost effective for all involved. Volunteers can work from anywhere and don’t have to travel all the way to Ghana just to help out; they can volunteer in their pyjamas in their rooms anywhere in the world.

Our online volunteering programme started through the UN Online Volunteering system  in 2006. You can see that the site is divided into two parts: one for the volunteers and the other for the organizations.

When I started YPWC, it was hard for partners to trust the capability of our team because we had no record of successful project management to go on. Realizing that it would be hard to mobilize funding to get the organisation started, I decided to search for assistance from experts online for things like the design of a website and the brochure. These would normally cost a significant amount of money. That’s when I came across UN Online Volunteering and it has proved very helpful for YPWC. Currently the monthly newsletters and the YPWC website updates are carried out by UN Online Volunteers. Acknowledging the impact of UN Online Volunteers assistance to YPWC, in August 2008 the UNV featured YPWC in their newsletter. Honestly, the assistance and expertise given by virtual volunteers has changed the face of YPWC. It has provided greater opportunities and benefits for us and those we work with, despite the limited funding we received from donor organizations and individuals. We’re still working with online volunteers today.

Occasionally we post volunteer opportunities online through the official YPWC website or the UN Online Volunteer website. Interested volunteers who meet our criteria for a particular project or assignment are contacted and given a final work schedule and details about any support they might need. The great thing is that they can sit in a small or big town anywhere across the globe and help. You can work as a virtual volunteer without stepping outside your home; you only need to have a reliable internet access on your computer. We have an online group that volunteers join and that’s where we do a lot of chatting, cross-checking, and planning.

In the past months, our online volunteers have helped to create bi-monthly newsletters, moderate online discussions on the theme of migration, proof-read documents, and assist with website construction and management. Currently they are helping in the creation of a Youth Action Guide as well.

If anyone wishes to know more, they can contract Shimrit Janes, one of our lead volunteers, at Janes@ypwc.org.

We communicate via email and also through social networks. On urgent matters we use SKYPE phone calls or have instant chats.

I work with our YPWC staff to create opportunities for online volunteers. I assist online volunteers if they need more details about volunteer opportunities. I provide input to ensure that the tools or materials being created will actually meet the objectives of the project for which they are being designed.

They come from all over the world: United Kingdom, Canada, Cameroon, Philippines, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Bulgaria, India, and USA.

We know that blogging is very effective in sharing and spreading knowledge and ideas, especially for those who traditionally do not have a “voice”—and that usually means youth. As such, the YPWC Blog has been created to meet one of our main objectives: to provide a “youthful voice” for the leaders of tomorrow.

We’re encouraging YPWC’s staff, volunteers and friends to write and engage in discussions concerning the thematic areas of YPWC’s work like youth and migration. We hope it will provide an ongoing platform to showcase YPWC’s work and that of those connected with YPWC, too.

We are now inviting writers to come and post. If you are interested, please visit our info page for more details.

How will it work? Who’s managing it? What do you hope to achieve from it?

We are looking for original content. We do have guidelines about posting that will be provided upon acceptance to post, including obtaining permission from copyright owners before posting copyrighted materials, and verifying facts before posting–all the usual conditions. We're OK with posts on our blog being posted elsewhere, provided YPWC is credited and the actual blog post is linked to.

The Blog is being managed by YPWC’s Online Community Manager who can be reached at Oluwakorede.Asuni@ypwc.org

For now we are not connected with any Ghanaian bloggers, which we hope to change. We have received applications from Nigerian bloggers, which is excellent.

Currently, our most active social media network is Facebook. You can check out our page here.

I hope to specialize in migration issues in future and continue to connect with youth everywhere to take action for change.

Thank you very much for taking the time to share your fantastic experiences working with young people in Ghana and telling us how you are making the most of new media.

Just over six months since a change in Ghana’s administration following peaceful elections in December 2008 and, coincidentally, six months since the highly-publicised change in the US administration, the President of the USA, Barack Obama, will touch down in Ghana for two days in early July on his first official visit to sub-Saharan Africa since taking office.

The announcement, made in May, caused great excitement among Ghanaians at every level of society. From street traders, to young urban professionals, to the newly elected Members of Parliament, the chatter was all about one thing. All Africa quoted a car mechanic, Mr Henry Boahene, of Accra, as saying,

I will not work that weekend and I’ll do all that it takes to be among the crowd to wave at his motorcade — for me, that alone is fulfilling.

But, across the continent Africans have been asking, “Why Ghana?” Many commentators are suggesting that the choice to visit Ghana first is an explicit endorsement of the nation's recent peaceful elections and that the USA values peace and democracy above personal affiliations and more powerful nations.

In Notes from Atlanta, Nigerian blogger Farooq Kperogi, writes:

Pundits familiar with the politics and symbolism of American foreign presidential visits posit that Obama’s choice of Ghana as the first country to visit in black Africa could very well be a signal of the tenor of his relationship with Africa, about which he is yet to articulate a well-defined foreign policy.

It will be defined, they say, by a show of enthusiastic approval for countries that are adjudged to be making noticeably measurable progress towards democracy and good governance and of “tough love” to those countries, such as Nigeria and Kenya, that are adjudged as squandering their potential and being mired in the mud of corruption and inept leadership.

And he quotes the White House in a statement that underlines most commentators’ thoughts:

The president and Mrs. Obama look forward to strengthening the U.S. relationship with one of our most trusted partners in sub-Saharan Africa, and to highlighting the critical role that sound governance and civil society play in promoting lasting development,” the White House said in a written statement.

Unsurprisingly, many suggest that Ghana’s oil discoveries will be on the agenda. Amedor of All Voices asks,

Is it for a mere visit or for America's gain especially in our newly found oil?

Whilst modest in world terms at an estimated 600 million barrels, production will begin in 2010 and revenue to the Ghanaian government is expected to exceed $1 billion annually.

A rather more optimistic Elizabeth Dickinson of the “Foreign Policy” blog  asks,

Wouldn't it be nice to buy oil from a country with a relatively clean record in human rights, governance, and economic management? That's a far cry fro the United States's third-largest current supplier, Nigeria, just next door. Of course, there are worries that Ghana could fall into the same rent-collecting state model, but it seems determined to resist that slip. And maybe that would be a good topic for Obama to pointedly discuss while visiting.

One would expect the President to raise this issue. Even a perfunctory glance of Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index in any year  shows a strong correlation between corruption, conflict and oil rich developing nations such as Chad, Sudan, Nigeria and Angola.

Certainly bilateral trade, whether obtaining a share of oil production or other goods and services, will be on the agenda. And Ghanaians, like much of Africa, would prefer trade over aid. The Ghanaian foreign ministry was quoted in All Africa:

We should try to push ideas to get the international institutions to modify their conditions and processes in our favour so that we can trade, rather than always asking for aid.

The ministry must presume that the USA possesses the clout and motivation to influence those institutions. Trade or aid? Either way, how an enhanced bilateral relationship with the USA may transform living standards for the average Ghanaian earning less than $2 a day, well, only time will tell. Certainly peace and good governance—before and after oil starts flowing—must prevail no matter who buys the oil.