Ghana 2010 - my top 10 memories

2010 to me has been a fruitful year, I look forward to a more aggressive 2010. I usually don't stick to my New Year's resolutions, so I won't make any for next year. I however have some memories of 2010 I want to share with everyone, especially my readers in Ghana.

1. The earthquake wake-up call

In January 2010, I received a call at dawn from a family member warning me of an impending earthquake. I was advised to get out of bed run to a safer haven. I got out of the building and was amazed to realize there were dozens of others who had received similar alerts. Apparently it was a hoax! Someone, somewhere had fooled a good number of Ghanaians and believe it or not, it worked. Days later the government authorized the national security agency to look into this matter. It's been close to a year, they are yet to reveal their findings.

2. Pigs came to our shores
In April there was lots of 'fear and panic' when the Ghana Health Service (GHS) warned Ghanaians that H1N1 (Not Swine flu) had infected three persons. Not too long after the announcement, the situation was brought under control and I guess that was the last we heard of the pigs. Bravo to all health professionals.

3. Ghana takes a head-count, I was left out
This year in October the Ghana Statistical Service conducted a Population and Housing Census. The exercise which was scheduled to take two weeks ended up taking longer than that. Personally I think the service could have done a better job. Many enumerators, weeks after the activity complain of non-payment of their stipend. To me this certainly didnt look like a GHc 70 million exercise.

4. The rains came again; Accra got flooded..again!
During the rainy season, some parts of the country especially the Northern regions and the capital, Accra experienced torrential rainfall. Lives and property were lost, and NADMO could only do as much as their resources could allow.

5. South Africa shames critics, Asamoah Gyan disappoints Africa
In June-July South Africa, proved its critics wrong by staging a very colorful and memorable World Cup. This was the very first time an African nation had organised a world cup event, I just hope it wont be the last. Africa got another opportunity to make a mark by qualifying for the semi-finals of the competition for the first time. However Asamoah Gyan, Ghana's number 1 striker, broke the continent's heart by missing the penalty kick that could have made us champions of the competition.

6. Ghanaian miners go down as Chilean miners came up
About 50 Galamsey operators in June got swallowed by the earth as their were busily engaging in the 'illegal' mining activities. No one in the team survived. I was surprised when I heard that people in the area believed this was an act of the gods as a way of increasing the quantity of gold. No wonder they didnt bother to rescue victims.

7. Nigeria's Independence was a bomb....really it was a bomb!
Nigeria celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2010. President Goodluck run out of luck when when two bombs exploded at the event in Abuja on October 1st. Nigerian insurgents were believed to be behind the attack.

8. Ghana attained middle income status, lower division
With a GDP of GHC 44.8 billion, statisticians thought it was time we started calling ourselves a middle income nation. So one morning we woke up and we put on our new tag, nothing else changed, only the figures in the books did.

9. EOCO knocks on GFA's doors, FIFA bares its teeth
In November, the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) one morning raided the Ghana Football Association Offices and seized files, hard drives and other documents. They smelled corruption! Fifa issued a 'soft' warning to Ghana advising the football-loving nation to refrain from interfering in the FA's affairs.

10. Professor lets the Oil flow. Warns us not to expect anything spectacular
On December 17th, President Mills turned the wheels for the official production of oil in commercial quantity on board the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) Kwame Nkrumah vessel. This was a very memorable event. Many Ghanaians watched the event live on national television, others streamed it online and a handful followed reports of twitter. At last Ghana now produces oil in commercial quantities. Ghanaians were however warned to manage their expectations, the oil wont change much they said, at least not immediately. I found that to be a very sincere statement. I just wished the sincerity had started long ago.

Investing in Football for a Better Ghana

On 6th March 2010, Ghana's Independence day, the President of Ghana, H.E John Atta-Mills, reviewed his second Independence Day Anniversary Parade as President. The day being a special one, brought joy and satisfaction to the many school children at the parade who were neatly dressed in their well-ironed school uniforms complemented by speck-less white pair of socks.

For me the highlight of the event came when the President lit the perpetual flame with the assistance of Master Frank Adu-Poku, WAEC's over-all best student and winner of the prestigious Augustus Bandele Oyediran award. It was an inspiring moment for me because it counted as the few events that sought to celebrate brilliance and academic excellence in Ghana. For two years, Ghanaian student have been selected as West Africa's best, there is however very little done to motivate the students who put Ghana forward in such times. Master Adu-Poku was one of three Ghanaian students who won the WAEC Excellence award out of 1,520,319 candidates from Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Gambia. The name doesn't ring a bell, or does it?

For a developing country like Ghana that has acknowledged the development of education and science and technology to be its panacea, I am a bit surprised to find out how little it is invested in education as compared to the millions of dollars pumped into football. Each player in the Ghana Black Stars team has been promised an amount of $20,000 and a national award for their performance in the South African World Cup 2010. This excludes the hundreds of thousands of dollars given them as winning bonuses. These actions have gone on to see Ghana progress in football. I am not totally against these rewards, I do think though, that similar motivational measures should be channeled into education.

Should similar incentives be introduced in academia?

It will depend on what we want as a country. Do we want to produce graduates who will deliver as much as their counterparts in other developed nations do? Do we want to see a Ghana that will have citizens that will understand policies and decisions instituted by the government? OR do we want to continue seeing 1,200 students clamped in one lecture hall being taught by old lecturers in our universities? or do we want the future leaders to share rooms with 13 other students in a room only meant for 5?

At the function, the President gave assurance to the youth that the Government was committed to investing in them to build a critical mass to sustain the nation's development agenda and move it to higher heights. This promise is yet to be fully fulfilled. I think it is about time Ghana invested more resources in education. Until we do so, the country will continue to wallow in poverty and ignorance.

The Vuvuzela;a swarm of angry bees

Invented some 20 years ago, the vuvuzela sometimes called lepatata, is one meter long, hated by Christiano Ronaldo and Patrice Evra, but admired by the soccer fans and branded by MTN, the official sponsor of this the South African 2010 World cup. Medical practitioners have even advised fans to exercise caution when in use for fear of a flu spread.

The LOC announced over the weekend that it would ban the use of the vuvuzela should there be enough reason to do so. This tournament had been slated to generate lots of discussions around the galaxy of stars paraded by the participating teams, instead, there are a lot more talks surrounding the noisy musical instrument and the Jabulani ball manufactured by Adidas. For Fifa, this does not sound encouraging in terms of the hype it wants to generate around the game of football.

As a fan myself I find it annoying sometimes, although I think it is a special object that will make the tournament different from all previous ones. Fifa has asked fans not to blow the vuvuzela during national anthems and public announcements at the stadium, I think this restriction should go a step further to reduce the noise levels. I cant predict accurately, but I think if Fifa and the South African LOC would want to make the South African word cup enjoyable, then something must be done about the swarm!

Ghana beats Serbia in South Africa 2010 World Cup

I have never hidden my support for the Brazillian national team in international tournaments such as the World Cup. The Samba boys have been my favourites since I begun watching football about two decades ago. However the Ghana black stars have given me good reasons to consider them as a team to reckon with. The Ghana national team put up spectacular performances at the previous world cup event in Germany; winning against power houses such as the US and Czech Republic to the surprise of many.

This time too, Ghana has started its world cup campaign triumphantly, by beating Serbia by a goal to nil, becoming the first African team to win its game after Algeria, South Africa and Nigeria all failed to win. The black stars put the nation in frenzy after Ghana’s most prolific goal scorer, Asamoah Gyan converted a spot kick that swayed the Serbian goalee in the opposite direction. Ghana will meet Australia in its next game, the latter seems to have a psychological advantage over the socceroos, especially given the fact that Tim Cahill will miss that match after he was sent off in their game against Germany.

The Ghana Black Stars’ Serbian coach Milo, has proven to us all that the team is definetely need not be woven round the Midfield Dynamo of Michael Essien, Sulley Muntari and Stephen Appiah. With Chealsea’s Essien out of the tournament and Appiah’s fitness issues, many thought the coach was out of options. He however got himself three points in his basket with youngsters like Asamoah, Dede Ayew, and Prince Boateng . I think it is about time we got fresh names into the team.