Who Am I?

I am African. I am Ghanaian. I am Ewe. And I am human. 
Yet when I am in America, I am nothing except African. 

Who, in Texas, Tennesse, cares whether you are a Nubian or a Libyan; Omotswana or Omotsikere? 
You all look and sound the same... and carry the same illness. Thats what, they say. 

If I am in Europe, I am first an African - then I am Ghanaian second. 
Europeans tend to appreciate the subtle differences among people from my continent. 

And when I am in another African country - I am Ghanaian-African. 
I like to express my Africanness through the uniqueness of being Ghanaian. 

But at home, I am Ghanaian first, and then I am Ewe. 
I am sustained by the Ewe blood. But I cannot present that in a vial to the immigration desk at Boryspol, Kiev.
"Паспорт Пожалуйста.!" - "Passport please!" 

My full lips speak eloquently enough of my equatorial ancestry: of my place in the tropical sun; of what and who I am. 
But for the avoidance of doubt, I shall say it one more time: 

I am African; I am Ghanaian; I am Ewe and I am human. 

Age & Respect in Ghana.

In Ghana age is not “just a number”, it is a measure of one’s place within his/her family and community. Age is associated with having knowledge, experience and wisdom; hence the older a person is the more respect he/she is given. There are strict morals dictating how one should behave towards his/her elders and these are very closely adhered to. In many western societies, for example, there is this “call me by my first name” custom whereby people tend to prefer for others (including young children) to address them by their first names. So you have young children calling adults directly by their first names, just as they would call their friends. Because of such practices, the line between adult and peer becomes blurred (to the child). 

In Ghana, this would not be acceptable - an adult is an adult and a child a child. It is important that this distinction is made. Also when it comes to discipline, Ghanaians are believers of the philosophy that “it takes a whole village to raise a child”. A child belongs not only to his/her parents alone, but to the entire community. As such when the child is outside the home, others can assume responsibility for his/her discipline if the parents (or other guardian) are not around and the child is doing something which is detrimental to his/her well being or to that of others. 

So long as someone is older than you, in Ghana he/she will always have certain standing over you. Even if the person is only a minute or two older than you he/she is still afforded all the rights and respect of being your elder. I have a cousin who is the exact same age as I; only that I was born 2 months before him. As infants we did everything together; we lived together, played together, bathed together and sometimes we even wore matching clothes. We were being brought up as one and because of this up until the age of four; I had actually believed that he was my twin brother! Now that we are adults, between the two of us we are still just the “same age”, but to the rest of the family we are not. 

I entered this world 2 months before him and in their eyes that is enough to make him my “little brother”. He hates this classification, and I don’t blame him. Now every time he does something wrong they say to me “look at how your little brother is behaving, you must talk to him, you have to advise him”. To him it is extremely annoying, but I must admit I find it kind of funny. There are many privileges that come with being older than someone here. But I also see the way in which these can be taken advantage of.

Being older than someone does not necessarily guarantee that one knows better or is always right. Nor should it automatically give one the right to boss around and control the other person “do this, do that”, all because they are older and therefore you cannot question their authority. I love the great emphasis placed on age and respect in Ghanaian society. I think it is a good custom that benefits the overall social development of the nation. But it is when individuals start abusing it (beyond reason) and taking it too far; that is when I start to have a problem with it.

So dear reader, kindly give the maximum respect where its due..

Food For Thought

"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." -- St. Augustine

Girls.! Girls..!! Girls...!!!

Just found this piece about girls and would like to share with you all. Hope you enjoy it and please don't forget, your comments are warmly welcomed.. !!!

**************************************
Girls.! Girls..!! Girls...!!!

Girls are like internet virus.
They will enter Ur life,
Scan Ur pockets,
Transfer money,
Edit Ur mind,
Download their problems,
Delete Ur smile & hang u 4ever!!

Get yourself an Anti Virus before you go out with a lady......lol

The Kwahu Man

Finally, I am able to do something on this piece after a long silence on the tribes. It was a hard fought one I guess, its surely going to pay off someday. My friend Yaw Linus was asking me, when am I gonna write on his people, "The Kwahu's"?.

I have had some idea about them but it wasn't full for this though. I had to read more, make some findings and finally, here I am with it.

Yaw, I hope you enjoy reading this piece. Spread the word about Accra Conscious Forever afterward! Don't forget to leave a comment, yea!

Okie dokie! Here we gooooo....!

THE Kwahu Man has been born with an identity crisis, history links him to the Asante Kingdom and colonization to a region he shares very little with its inhabitants beyond language.

Their naming conventions donot help in this since Antwi, Owusu etc.. are so generic as to bestow any sense of uniqueness to anyone. Your potential Kwahu Man will always want a price comparison even when it comes to drugs for the common cold. He wears this tag as a badge of honor and pride.

The biggest offense committed against him is to make superfluous purchases like pounds of beef when you could have substituted a pound with eggs. Left overs for the children are encouraged and promoted.

He goes to Oboo once in a while when its a friends passing out ceremony, funeral or naming ceremony. He's got no time for funerals unless, its a heavy one where most of the people on the obituary list have UK, USA, France, Canada and Germany placed in brackets around their names. He surely will be there...

Seeking education, meaning higher education, to the Kwahu man is of modern day reality, he can afford the crowd. He does not see any value in Western education beyond seeing it as an insurance policy.

He acquires his love for Kantamanto and a store somewhere in Accra is almost a sacred and primordial right. In every facet of the Ghanaian society they are seen as the least threatening amongst the eccentric and ubiquitous.

The Kwahu man has a covert disdain for public service since revenues from this business is not enough, involve him in the thankless and hopeless investment ventures, like building a huge 20 bedroom empty house is also by far the least ambitious when it comes to measuring men on prestigious appointment in government. He sells second hand tyres at Kokompe than take an ambassadorial job.

In Akan society especially, amongst our fellow mountaineers, a matrilineal descent group, abusua, is exogamous. That means members must marry outside the group. That, in turn, means a husband and wife must belong to different descent groups.

A father belongs to a different descent group from those of his children. By this calculation, a cross cousin, child of mother's brother, or child of father's sister, is marriageable. Trust me you, this practise is no more holding, we are in 20something century but a typical kwahu man would all he would to get his children do same.. Thats the power of the Kwahu-man.

If you're a lady who believes in wealth and all its trappings this maybe a risk worth taking, girls of the 90's need to know that Wiafe is still an old fashioned polygamist at heart, struggling to accept the romantic 1960's let alone make a pass century. Here, I mean, he's still and shall always remain, a players player. No offense here!

His usual line is "I give you everything why are you complaining?" he just does not get it. If you think this price is too much, then enjoy your marriage through the happiness of your children, this is heaven on earth.

Your average Kwahuman is notoriously stingy, not because he cannot afford anything but he simply sees being at home as an ideological crusade, he abhors fancy eating habits. The purchase of a Mercedes and the building of mansions is like puberty to them and if you have eat bat soup 3times a day to accomplish this, thy will be done in Kwaland.

If after reading this article ladies, your heart is still set to get your pseudo, go ahead. Ashanti man, less flamboyant and subdued just get your "Dumas" ready and be prepared for a gondola ride in a car to Kwahu mountains. To the Kwahu man, Easter is for the consumers. It helps if you have a Kwahu girlfriend accompanying you because they, are still the most nepotic and inward looking amongst all the Akans, your girlfriend's recommendation will be golden.

In relationships they are impressionable and act like they have no strong opinions. But will certainly be commissioning a salon appointment and keeping the money, taste, style and such ladylike niceties on her woman escape attention.

He has no time for compliments and has no regards for your level of education. He will easily leave her wife for a standard 7 without any regrets, it is that bad. To him the glory is in the houses, the power is in the store if every penny is saved. For cheap red meat, Amen.

On the plus side, there is a modicum of financial security, and an investment for your children but beyond attending an occasional large donation to the Church, he is clueless to any other form of entertainment.

Take and do not tell me, I did not tell you the heartbreak hotel is fully booked.

*A cry for help! I want to do a piece on the Akyem Man, I can't do it alone. I need some ideas.
Please come to my aid, lol.

Thanks in advance.....

What I Learned at BarCampGhana '08

Honestly speaking, I have never attended a BarCamp before but when I got the invitation for last years BarCampGhana, I started reading about exactly what a BarCamp was and what actually goes on there. I started going from search engine to search engine, just trying to get more information before the program.

My searches were very helpful and I also started spreading the word about it and soon, most of my friends wanted to know more and I had to direct them to the homepage of BarCampGhana, 

My expectations for BarCampGhana was actually what I thought it was going to be but after everything, all went well. The program started quite late, at around 0920GMT instead of the proposed 0900GMT. Well, I remembered, we are in Ghana so therefore, the Ghana Man Time thing still works.

The feeling of meeting all the people who registered for the camp was very high. at the entrance of the venue, AITI, , there was a desk with the organizing folks around, helping with the name tags and also displaying the T'shirts.

Actually, the t'shirt wasn't part of the initial plans but later, I guess Ato thought it wise to get a memorable paraphernalia for the campers so, he got some t'shirts printed for the camp. It looked real good, I wish I had enough to get one but I couldn't because I didn't carry enough on that day in question.

Before the start of the 'unconference', there was a blue bucket filled with fruit drinks in packs and bottled water, very chilled though. I just had to make justice to one because I missed breakfast before coming. While things were been sorted with the gadgets, more networking, more conversation and more everything was also going on. Finally, all was good and we had to start. I didn't like the sitting arrangement as it looked as if, we came for some political lecture of a sort but I ignored that thought and freed my mind for everything that was supposed to happen that day.

Introductions were made and after which, some campers we called to share their thoughts on some basic issues. I like the way, Esi Cleland acted herself throughout the session. She was easy going, nice, open-minded and a real social animal. One thing she did that really struck me was, before she started talking, she had her cm-cards which she shared to everyone in the hall. Behind the com-card is a blog she's started and would like us to frequent it. Her blog can be located @ Esi's Blog

The first keynote was delivered by Herman Chinery-Hesse, CEO of Soft Tribe Ghana Limited. He's the man, BBC describes as the "Bill Gates" of Ghana. He made some nice points and also took the opportunity to sell to us, his latest economic venture. Another note was delivered by a professor from the University of Ghana who's currently doing a research work at a fishing village somewhere in the Central Region.

He described the situation of the fisher folks as pathetic because, they don't have any means of knowing about the tides for each day but they are able to go out to sea and make good harvest at the end of the day. He suggested, if there could be a way, where tide readings from the Ghana Port and Harbor Authority is sent to these people, it could alleviate a problem of tides changes. He was deploying us in the ICT world to develop a solution for the problem at hand.

During the sessions, I had the chance to hear one Ato Bernasko who's with the Readers' Digest sharing his rich experience as an ICT auditor for his company. He talked about how his company did outsourcing and what measures they put in place and all. I learned a lot from him in the sense that, he took charge of the session. He also shared his travel experience amongst other things with us. As a matter of fact, we need open-minded people like him at the next BarCamp in Ghana.

The last keynote was delivered by Estelle Akofio-Sowah, CEO of Busy Internet in Ghana. She talked about how she's been able to manage an ICT firm without any serious background in the field.

The only criticism I have of this event was that it should have been longer. Actually, I needed another day. Let say, a two-day BarCamp first time in Ghana. The media was not involved which makes awareness slow. There were so many people I did not get a chance to meet especially, Gideon Chonia from University of Zurich. There were so many people I met that I did not get to talk to long enough. There were so many conversations that I wanted to carry on longer but time was not and never on my side. I wanted to just soak in the knowledge and passion of the people around me.

I am thinking,it should be a Barcamp at the regional capitals of Ghana. Kudos to the organizers, now let work on BarCamp T'di, Kumasi, Ho, Tamale, Sunyani and the rest to be a reality.

Can’t wait for the next episode.

The Fante Man

By no fault of his own, the regular Fanti Man has been born with a pre-independence White Man's name hanging over his head. Some of them love to pretend it's a burden, (though they love it!) and redeem their nativeness with indigenous first names.

Paapa, Fiifi, Yoofi and Kojo are all time favourites. Kweku, Kwesi and other weekday names are also favored.

Kwamena Smith, or Yoofi Van Dyck are examples of such a curious combination. Your potential Fanti Man is pompous and self-opinionated and believes that the biggest offense committed against him is 'accusing' him of belonging to another tribe.

His answer to a question like "Are you from X town?" invariably is "Of course not! I am Fanti, a Fanti from Dutch Komenda!"

Seeking education, meaning higher education, to the Fanti man is as natural as seeking rain after a long drought. In the days of the 'Matric' Exam, they were the Greek and Latin Scholars - leave the Sciences (physics, maths, add. Maths) to others, theirs was the Humanities.

Even the Post-Matric Fanti man of the 2000's still believes that nothing is as good as a University Degree, any degree from Legon or Tech will do - Cape Vars is out. While on Campus, they still behave like they used to in Adisco and Augustines. In nobody else is the old boy feeling deeper than in the Fanti man. This is one of their fewer good points, for they are very loyal to old friends (even when they are down).

This 'old boy' streak is carried into the Civil Service, which is the Fanti Man's mainstay and Principal Secretary in a Ministry or General Manager in a private firm is his ultimate ambition. They are very rarely businessmen and even so their business achievements are commonplace and mediocre.

If you're a lady who believes in wealth and all its trappings, steer clear of the Fanti man because so long as government bungalows exists, the Fanti man will not build a house. When they get around to build a house, like their business acumen, their houses are uninspiring.

Your average Fanti man is stingy, and I mean with chop money, even though he enjoys his food. If after reading this article ladies, your heart is still set to get your Fanti man rush into the kitchen and start frying. Fry anything, he'll love it, as long as it is fried! As the Fanti proverb goes "a Fanti man builds his mansion in his stomach."

In relationships they are dictators and act like domineering feudal lords. They tend to colonise their women. In appearance, speech and taste, no detail on his woman escapes his attention. Stubborn and authoritative, the Fanti man can be cruel if you so much as change your hairstyle without consulting him.

On the plus side, he has a terrific sense of humor and is incredibly cheerful, though he can be petty, quarrelsome and can really sulk.

To know if you are the perfect match for the Fanti man, check the following out;

1. Did you go to Wesley Girls High School? (Upper Six mind you!)
2. Can you cook very well (and bake pies?)
3. Are you Fanti yourself or at least a Ga lady from British Accra (Chokor is out!)
4. Do you wear hats and gloves to weddings (and enjoy it?)
5. Are you ready for picnics, packed lunches and sandwiches(for afternoon tea?)
6. Can you pretend to be his slave (forever?).

If you couldn't tick any of the above, please don't waste the Fanti man's time, or yours. On the other hand if you do have one in mind, please act accordingly and as they say, book early to avoid disappointment and Good Luck!

Adze wo fie a, ow33!

The Ga Man

He was christened Nii Ayi Aryee Aryeetey - no name can be more ultra Ga than that.


Your Ga man, from the standpoint of history falls into one of three categories - those who belong to the sea (James Town, Bukom, Teshie and Chorkor), those who belong to the sand (Nungua, Labadi, Accra City itself), and those who are lost and about (Adangbes, Hausas, Yorubas, Sierra Leoninans etc., born and bred in Accra).


If you are yourself a lady prone to picking quarrels, never fear, for in the Ga man you have found your lifelong bodyguard. At first sight, he tends to be somewhat gentle - that is, until provoked of course. Of all the men in other Ghanaian tribes, the Ga man is the most fearless - moreso after his balls of kenkey and red pepper. But tread softly.



Because of their horrible sense of humour, every joke on him is a personal affront to his manhood. And since he applies the same code of honour to women and men, please for heaven`s sake, if he says.. "Ma yi bo eei" (I will beat you), don`t stand to challenge him, thinking it as empty threat. Woman, wife, lover, fiancee, he will turn you into a punching bag! But that is the core of the Ga man.


The icing on the cake is the educated Ga man. He is of a breed you can always count on. For even though he is capable of chewing his sponge to the airport to meet his cousins on the early morning Ghana Airways flight from London, he has gone to Achimota School and speaks the English language well.



If he is from James Town (British Accra) and has a surname like Bannerman, Reindorf or Bruce, he has extremely good taste and mannerisms and is worth the ride. That is until a taxi driver crosses him at Bukom junction. Then his spirit of sexual frankness comes out. Expletives of descriptions of the various parts your relatives spew forth in a torrent from his well-trimmed moustache. These insults, too private to mention here, invariably begin with "Onyaeeeeeee......................" and so on and on...


If Nii Ayi has any ambition, it is suppressed, perhaps for fear of failure. His faith is in the white collar job, where he fights with Fanti man over posts in the civil service. But the Ga man hardly ever gets to the top, because he will surely forgo his transfer related promotion to stay put in Accra - you see, he has the firmest intransplantable roots in Accra and for him Accra is the only place to be.


If you are a young ambitious lady who wants her man to get everything, forget it. Even though they can (with a little training!) make the most docile and obedient companions, his lack of drive will drag you down. But if you are a bit on the lazy, labour-saving side in the kitchen, rush for a Ga man.



Not for him the elaborate three course meals - he is more than satisfied with kenkey and kenkey and kenkey, fish and pepper (N.B just vary slightly with sardines, tilapia, corned beef, etc.)


Ah! One problem though, he is already married to his grandfather`s family house! So if Mr. Aryeetey has already started talking about matrimony, ask him where you are going to live after the wedding!



Don't think of moving outta ACCRA. You shall be in Accra always and not anywhere but in his fathers' father's home.. You get, what I mean..?