Do young Ghanaians want to leave Africa?
| 11:21 UK time, Friday, 18 May 2007
We’re going to be live from the Kofi Annan Center in the Ghanaian capital Accra today. Most of you who are going to be coming along are young adults (a title that has slipped away from me in recent years), and several of them are going to help me host the show.
We know that electricity or the lack of it, the African brain drain (as raised by Tumi in Sierra Leone), Ghana’s ‘lack of ambition’, and job opportunities are four issues they want to talk about. But there are no set plans, and you’re welcome to make any point or ask any question. If you’d like to contribute, email worldhaveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
There's also no shortage of talking point in this morning's papers....
There are a lot of daily newspapers here and they seem to go their own way on the news. Today we have reports of a man killed by mob justice, accusations of money laundering, a big row over the price of cement (this one may not make the show), and a warning that while former leader Jerry Rawlings should not fear prosecution some of the people he appointed during his leadership should. The really big story though is that Michael Essien – Ghanaian’s number one football superstar – has won player of the year at Chelsea.
This though remains my favourite story of the week. And if you’d like to read my first post after arriving in Ghana, you’ll find it here.
ON THE BEACH
We went down to the beach yesterday here in Accra. (We had planned to do our item on Thursday’s show, so it wasn’t just about lounging.) As you drive out of town, on the right the tarmac gives way to very bright terracotta earth which crumbles into the beach which in turn reaches the sea after a few metres. On the left, is a sprawling residential area of bungalows and huts with corrugated iron roofs, small shops selling Star beer, Guinness and Coca-Cola, and the ever-present cell-phone credit booths.
After a couple of miles you hit the resorts. First a hotel-casino, then a sports club and then Labadi Beach Resort. After negotiating the three men who we had to pay to get through one gate, and then the three men who took the tickets that we had just been given, we ended up on the beach itself.
There are a few bars in one building, and then some others stretching down the beach. I couldn’t work out if they were open, falling down or being built. And as you walk past each one, with their collection of loungers and tables set out in front of them, various folks try and persuade you to take a seat with them. In the end none of them got our business, as we decided the wind and sand were not going to be very popular with the WHYS technicians and headed back to town.
GOAT SHOWDOWN AT THE NO.1 CHOP HOUSE
We got taken out last night by Barbara, Yaw and Joseph. They’re going to be helping me host today. If they’re half as good on air as they are at picking places to eat we’ll be in for a treat later.
They took us to ‘Ghana’s No.1 Chop House’. It was like an old-fashioned beer hall with long tables set out around the sides, and an area to stand, drink and dance in the middle. Ghanaian flags hung all over the walls and from the high beams, and the sound-system worked away in the background rolling out the latest Hip Life tracks.
I opted for goat soup with banku, a very dense sticky maize pap which comes in small circular patties. You eat with your hands and for the unskilled diner this can be a little challenging. Barbara told me I was doing well, but my goat speckled shirt suggested otherwise. Handily they leave bottles of washing up liquid on the tables so you can at least get cleaned up after you’ve eaten. Hours later I could still barely move. Banku overload seemed the obvious explanation.
Accra seems much more manageable than some African capitals I have been to. We’ll have to see if the audience is the same.
I’ll write again when we arrive in Kampala at the weekend.
Comments Post your comment