Au Revoir but Not Goodbye

Uh oh. I’m going to have start writing actual blog entries, because my final column for the Ghanaian Observer was published here, and is posted (phew!) below:

I am writing this, my last GO column, from a hotel room in Tamale. Though I am leaving these pages this week, I am not leaving Ghana for another three months. My location today is a reflection of my new role, which will have me travelling throughout Ghana working with journalists in different regional capitals, without time to regularly contribute to this paper.

Many of the column inches I have filled these last seven months have focused on problems I have with the way power is exercised in Ghana. In particular, I’ve taken issue with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (many times), the Ghana 2008 Local Organising Committee (a few times), and even President John A. Kufuor himself (at least once). I can tell you now that when I do leave Ghana, I won’t be missing any of them.

There is a lot that I will miss, though, and I plan to work hard at appreciating all of those things during my last months on Ghanaian soil.

Development in Uniform?

Can you bear it? My second-to-last column was published here, and can also be savoured below:

I didn’t think the AMA could surprise me, but a few weeks ago they did. After months of criticizing the policies and practices of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, I thought I was beyond the stage where they could shock me. I was wrong. I wish I could say the surprise was a pleasant one, but it wasn’t. Just when I thought the city’s administration couldn’t get more absurd, they announced that taxi drivers would be arrested for failing to wear sky-blue shirts and blue-black trousers.

After the Football Fever Breaks

This week’s column was published here, and is posted below:

Two weeks ago I was so enchanted with the excitement surrounding the football tournament taking place in Ghana right now, that I refrained from expressing concerns I had about the way the Cup of Nations was being run. As the competition nears its close, though, I feel the need to rant a little about some of the issues that have frustrated me.

The most obvious problem, of course, is ticket distribution. I’m not even going to try to propose solutions to the empty stadiums at all the non-Ghana games (though I think they’re appalling), and I’m not going to touch on the issues of hoarding and scalping, because I’m not an expert in these things, and I really don’t know how they can be solved. (I’m pretty sure someone knows, though, and I wish the Local Organising Committee would ask them.) What I do want to do is share one ticket-buying experience and a suggestion that occurred to me out of it.