Public Agenda (Accra)
Jean Lukaz
6 July 2009
opinion
Accra — Ghana is beginning to read like the Bible. What is and is to be has ever been before. There is nothing new under the sun:
"The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun." Ecc 1:9
Come an International Conference of Heads of State or the visit of an American President and the culture of Traditional Ghanaian Hospitality sets in...Put all the skeletons in the cupboard, make room for the visitor, get out all those plush plates and glasses from the wall unit, get the best scented soap, white wash the house...yes, "WHITEWASH" the whole House for the Passover...literally...for it shall surely be over in a short while... The visitor always needs to have a better impression of us irrespective of our daily lifestyles...as long as it is ephemeral. We are very hospitable to the extent that we will subject our own to lose their livelihoods in order to revere the presence of the guest.
From the NAM Conference to President Clinton's visit to President Bush's visit...forget about Obasanjo's visit, he understands what it means to be filthy!
The Obama's have certainly read about Ghana and have had all the briefings on Ghana. Yet they shall see the Ghana they have never heard of or read about before: Accra, the Capital of Sweet scented Excreta flowing right through the city centre to the shores of no return near the Presidential Castle of Slavery. A Ghana with child prostitutes a-washed, pedestrian walks decongested, armed robbers appeased, ecomyny [the presidential vocab for economy] a-stabilized.
Now a typical walk-through audit by our Mystery Guest:
Air Force One previews all the other presidential visits, and the possible rollout of what is pending. Watch out for the bouquet of flowers! Kwame Nkrumah made a snuffbox of it when it went off. The red carpet needs anti-terrorist scanning. Kotoka International Airport will be the most unfriendly to any other arrival at the Airport and cocaine can have a field day. Every day school children play truant in Ghana and line up the streets welcoming tourists, what a hospitable people! There is no problem with psychiatry in Ghana, what a miracle! All the mad men and women have found their place in Banishland.
Alas! Obama is a Son-of-Man. He has no place to lay his head. There is no hotel in Ghana that meets the standard let alone one that can take his whole entourage! Ladies and gentlemen, if there is anyone who still doubts that Ghana hasn't got 5-star hotels with 5-star facilities, Obama's arrival will be your answer. The Demolishing Man is on his way. Whatever he is bringing in his trail, poor Ghanaians have sacrificed their livelihood because one of our long lost brethren is coming home. First Lady Michelle Obama, this is your Tour. The unsung heroes of your visit are the poor people of Ghana living in the slums of the city of Accra that have been victimised by a clean-up campaign codenamed OBAMAWASH.
The traditional tour guides at the Cape Coast and Elmina Castles dare not tow their narrative mantra of White oppressors to offend the white conscience of Barack Obama...his Mum is White! So it will have to be a Black on Black Slavery crime...the Ashanti slave raiders bribed the Whites to collaborate...huh?
Of course, we can host an American President. Of Course, it is going to be like no other. Yes we can keep our city clean. Yes we can offer clean tourism. Yes we can. But we can't avoid our acquired cleanliness deficiency syndrome (ACDS) otherwise known as filthmania. If cleanliness is really next to godliness, then we are far from it. We are still ordinary humans. The West have all been in this state before, where filth actually came to the point of becoming a pandemic and needed a national effort. If it degenerates into a selective campaign to please the guest, that is surely vanity, vexation of the spirit and a chase after the wind.
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I am a foreigner who visited Ghana 3 times in the 1990's. I was disgusted by the filth and amazed at the lack of toilet facilities in a busy city like Accra and Kumasi. One question I asked myself was, "Why do Ghanaians spend more energy and money on their funerals than simple hygiene, or education?" Now I ask, "Why do Ghanaians spend more on cheap and nasty Chinese merchandise than they do on simple hygiene, or education"? A new economy in Ghana with locally made compost toilets and other basic and essential technology could truly help lift the… [Read Full Text]