Ex-President Rawlings' House on Fire: Was It Electrical?

The shocking news reached us yesterday morning, the former president J.J. Rawlings' residence in Ridge was on fire.

Today, facts are a bit more clear:

- Nobody was hurt
- Only Mrs. Konadu Rawlings and one of their daughters were at home
- The ex-president was not at home, but came to the sight early in the morning
- The fire started at 4 am
- By 9.30 am the house was completely burned down
- Three months ago, an electrical fire almost broke out in the residence
- The house was a colonial style bungalow, in much constructed in wood

(Sources: GNA here and Joy FM here and here).

Immediately a debate broke out on electrical fires caused by the common fluctuations of power in Ghana. The night before the fire, it was raining heavily and a substation broke down in Tema. However, GRIDCO, the distribution company found that such a discussion was premature before a proper investigation had been carried out, see here.

However, even if it was an electrical fire, what will we take from it? Has anything changed at all since Ghana's Foreign Ministry burned down in October caused by an electrical fault?

As I heard the rain coming down heavily that night, I woke up and as I anticipated power to fluctuate I anxiously went to pull the plug on all computer equipment (beacuse yes, I am a computer nerd). Then I went back to sleep.

Next time, I'm not so sure I'll be able to go back to sleep.

Pictures borrowed from myjoyonline.com

Dramatic Week: Nigerian Terrorist, Togolese Team Attacked and Oil Curse

This week passed really quickly.

I went back to work, now preparing for the spring semester. I had one friend leaving town (bye Uli!) and one coming back (Hi Tuuli!). It is somehow a big relief that the holidays are over and regular life and routines are back.

But as my personal life settled down, there were some shocking news this week that I'd like to comment on.

The Nigerian Terrorist
As I am sure you heard, a man was caught on board a plane from Amsterdam to Detroit, US with explosives. Some curious facts about this incident was that he was on the list of terrorists, the 550,000 names long list. I guess that list was too long, but that wasn't my point. He hid the explosives in his underpants and is therefore now called the "underpants bomber", but that wasn't my point. He was from Nigeria and started his journey in Ghana, but that wasn't my point either. Yesterday, in a discussion someone said American medias found it suspicious the terrorist bought his ticket in cash. Ha! Last time I bought a plane ticket in Ghana I t-r-i-e-d to pay with a credit card, but was refused. It seems like it is a forgotten fact that many parts of the world runs stricktly on cash. There are many other things to say about this thing, but I'll leave that to my fellow bloggers Oluniyi and Obed.

The Attack on the Togolese Soccer Team
The African Cup of Nations that is supposed to take off tomorrow, Sunday, got to a horrible start when the Togo national team was attacked in DRC Congo on their way to Angola. The bus driver was killed and at least two players plus two other people were injured, according to the BBC. They were supposed to play Ghana for their first match, but the team do not know yet if they can play the tournament at all. This was the main discussion yesterday night and our sympathies go out to our neighbors in Togo!

Investigations into the Ghanaian Oil Sector
The first investigations (?) into Ghana's new oil sector might lead to prosecution according to the Attorney General, Betty Mould Iddrisu. Fear has been raised many times that the financial blessings that come with a big oil find, might be a curse leading to the rich getting richer...Let's see, this investigation might be good news?

Hoping for less drama next week.

Pic: Closing the door to this week and stepping out into the next.