Harry's Bag

Us: “How long is it from here to Atuabo?” Them: “15 minutes only” After almost 8 minutes Us: “How long it is from here to Atuabo” Them: “5 minutes” Us: “Ok” After a few metres forward Us: “How long is it from here to Atuabo?” Them: “30 minutes” Us: “Eiii, Hahahahahaaa. When are we going to get there? Maybe we should go back” After exactly 11 minutes’ drive. “Atuabo Gas Plant! Wow. It is beautiful oo” “See, that is gas being flared” Ghanaians are bad at calculating distances and time, very bad. All we sought to do was to see the Atuabo Gas Plant, and we were on the main Axim-Elubo road, at the junction that turns in towards Atuabo. We – my colleagues and I – had gone to work and on our way back we wanted to see the Atuabo Gas Plant. The dialogues above were the times 3 different people we asked told us how long it would take from the Junction, farther in, and even farther in respectively. The town of Atuabo – pronounced “Aduabo” by typical Nzemas –

“A well-designed welfare state can actually encourage people to take chances with their jobs and be more, not less, open to changes.” ― Ha-Joon Chang, 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism “The welfare state is not really about the welfare of the masses. It is about the egos of the elites.” Thomas Sowell Enter Welfare State. The welfare state (German sozialstaat; Italian Stato sociale) concept refers to a situation where the state plays and maintains a role in the protection and promotion of the social and economic well-being of its citizens, often through the creation of welfare or (the more fashionably named) Social Protection programs. It is thought that the state through these welfare programs create a safety net meant to shield the poor and vulnerable in society. Enter “Chalk”. Ghana’s Vice President’s wife went to Kukurantumi to donate computers to a Presbyterian School and a headmistress or headteacher (whichever applies), asked her to convey to the

My Dear God, There is a piece of advice given to strikers in soccer. They say if a striker enters the penalty box, he should take his time with everything he does. “Be composed and deliberate in your movements because the slightest touch from an opposing player would result in a penalty”. Father, this is the same way some of us behave when we enter the toilet, ei sorry, the shanks. We are very composed and deliberate in that “penalty box”. I used to take my storybooks there to read, and these days I often take my phone there so I can browse and read comfortably no matter the type of shanks – bomber latrine or water closet. What is important is that the shanks must be clean and well aerated. In fact, I was happy when I read the news of the World Bank promising to give Ghana $60 million to help stop open defecation. God, you know what open defecation is so I will not attempt a definition of it, with all the gory details. The project is supposed to start in the 3 Northern Regions,

“ For forms of government let fools contest, what is best administered is best ” I still remember this quote. It was a question which I had to answer in my second year political science exam in the University of Ghana. I remember I did not know how to go about answering this question and for 20 minutes I just sat still wondering what it meant, and how to answer it. The lecturer – who considered almost everybody a buffoon – had outmanoeuvered us all. The other lecturers could not come to terms with how to correctly answer the question. Well I made an “A” in that course so I guess I answered right. The meaning of the sentence up there is not in doubt. The speaker meant simply that forms of government were not as important, good governance was (as in “…what is best administered is best”). So the question remains what good governance is or means. Is good governance necessarily democratic? It must be said that the western world has been particularly lucky (or is it blessed?). Goin

Dear Father of The Heavenly Lights, Hahahahaaa don’t be surprised that I have addressed you as in James 1:17. You know whenever I write to you, it is to complain about a thing, and this time I want to talk about electricity. Yes electricity, preferably called lights by the masses. Father I want to ask oo, when you sit on your throne in Heaven and look down on earth at night, especially the West African portion, particularly where Ghana is supposed to be, what do you see? Do you see a “lighted” area or you see a large mass of darkness two countries away from an even larger and blacker mass of darkness (Nigeria)? Please tell me, what do you see when you look down on us from your heavenly throne at night? In the beginning you made the heaven and the earth, and you separated darkness from the light and called them night and day respectively. To see in the darkness of the night, you gave our forefathers the wisdom to create fire in the prehistoric days; and wax and oil vats whic