Dead Aid Debate II: Interview with Moyo

Radio journalist Dave Lucas sent me this link to an interview with Dembisa Moyo in where she gets to explain her argument. She is well-spoken and lays out her arguments clearly. A man from Nigeria also voices his critique against the book and interestingly also talks about how to reverse the brain-drain out of Africa which I have touched on in these posts. Moyo then replies to the critique.

The interview is a 12 minutes I recommend to everyone interested in the aid-debate.

Dead Aid Debate

Surfed into Guernica Magazine ( a wonderful web based magazine on art and politics!) and saw this interview with writer and economist Dembisa Moyo.

Moyo has recently written a book, "Dead Aid". Her agument is that aid dependence is doing more to hurt than to help Africa. And that aid is being sustained not because there is evidence of progress, but because of the 500 000 people who work in the "aid industry".

At the same time African governments are not taxing their people and hence people also expect little of them. Opaquness rather than transparancy, corruption rather than efficiencly describes governance in Africa.

Some people, like her teacher at Oxford and Harvard
Paul Collier, feel she is mostly correct and that her wishes of slashed aid will come true because of the current economic downturn.

Others like writer Madeleine Bunting thinks Moyo's liberalist views are poorly underpinned and wonders what will happen to the poorest people, like the HIV infected, if aid is terminated.

The other day I met a fellow who works with the Millenium Challenge initiative to build roads and make agriculture more efficient in Ghana. A project costing USD 547 million. Some of the projcts he described, like facilitating the supply of vegetables to Accra and the harbor in Tema, is something I have never heard the Ghanaian government(s) suggest.

Then the question is why, is it because someone else is already doing it?

The Perfect Picture : Film Review

So I have now been to see the wholly Ghanaian produced film, The Perfect Picture, I wrote about earlier here.

Shirley Frimpong-Mansu is the super-woman behind script, directions, casting and editing. And it was perfect! I went with my husband and some friends and we all had our laughs and loved the high audiovisual quality...as well as the story line. Three good friends - so good you wish you were one of them - are looking for love. One gets married in the opening scene, one is a man-eater and the last one says she will never marry. Here the intrigues start.

The film held a high tempo and included a entertaining and believable characters, references to daily life in Ghana "you make it sound like I could just go and pick up a baby at Koala!" (Koala supermarket being a popular supermarket in Accra) or "I'm not a fan of weddings, but you my friend make it worth every pesewa!" (pesewa being the Ghanaian equivalent to cent, penny or öre) and even a fun, feminist take on car chase.

The film also contained obvious product placements that were acceptable only because we have never seen Ghanaian ones before. For instance, one can only feel excitement when the three friends even went to see a film in the same cinema complex we were watching them in!

And then sex. Appearantly, the film set itself apart from all other Ghanaian productions EVER when it showed a kiss on the lips between the newlyweds in the first scene. After that, we got both scenes from different bedrooms (see the trailer above) as well as "sex-and-the-city"-kind of girlfriend talk on the topic. I think the Ghanaian audience was shocked at times (even though the scenes never really went beyond regular Hollywood steam) and at one point a woman sitting close to me in the dark exclaimed:

Oh, will we watch just kiss-kiss-kiss?

Guest Blogger: Voting Experience in South Africa

To highlight this week's election in South Africa, I have decided to let a South African citizen share a voting experience here on my blog, the text is borrowed from The Good News South Africa, an interesting initiative that I have been thinking about copying for Ghana. So this is what happened in South Africa the other day:

Early yesterday morning I took my coffee out on my balcony, and bristled against the chill. It's suddenly winter in Johannesburg; the trees are all amber, the sun is weaker and that white-blue light has found the horizon. This change in seasons caught me off guard, just like the national elections. I felt unprepared, I felt like I needed more time. As a journalist you would imagine that I'd have my ducks in a row by now; I'm well informed on party policy, events and personalities, but never has this experience been personal, and what could be more personal than deciding the future leaders of my country? So I sat, as a South African, deciding on who should get my vote.

I made a decision to walk this time. The idea came to me as the first sound bites from polling stations around the country started coming in on my radio. My polling station is seven kilometres from my home, so I put on my best walking shoes, placed my Yankees cap on my head, filled a bottle of water, pocketed my iPod and started trapping.

For two hours I wandered through the leafy streets of Johannesburg, greeted friendly folk and stopped to have a cigarette with a newspaper vendor; this is the only place in the world that I want to be right now. There is no vibe like this anywhere else, of that I'm certain.

Instead of thinking about who, I spent most of the frosty morning interrogating the reasons why I should vote. I appreciated that I had a right to vote, but I also had a right not to vote. What I saw was that underpinning my rights, is a responsibility. I am responsible for the leaders I choose, and I have a responsibility to be a participant in this democracy that was so hard fought for and won.

I queued for an hour and twenty minutes to cast my ballot, and as I left the polling station, my mark made, I turned back toward home thinking on the future of my motherland, and my part to play in it.

The election was, as expected won by the ANC, however, not with the same huge marginal as last time.

Picture from a trip I made to the beautiful South Africa in 2005.

Socialist Sweden part 2 incl. IKEA and ABBA

In this next episode, a socialdemocratic MP (also a former minister) is asked to apologize for the socialism he has been a part of creating. IKEA, ABBA and some surprised Swedish blondes also are used to explain the awful word s-o-c-i-a-l-i-s-m.It doesnt go too well...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
The Stockholm Syndrome Pt. 2
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Yngvild, don't believe in everything you hear on The DailyShow.

Socialist Sweden

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
The Stockholm Syndrome
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Ok, now I owe two blog posts in a row to my friend Sarah, you need to have your own blog so I can link to you!

Here is anyways a hilarious clip describing my horrible HORRIBLE home country - the socialist nightmare (for the US), I give you Sweden.

Return to Ghana

Bronx Princess Trailer from Yoni Brook on Vimeo.


So, I have been back in Ghana for a few days and already experienced horrible traffic, ants crawling on me in my bed and power black-out(s) - as well as a lovely high-life concert, seeing friends and eating a lot of sweet-tasting tropical fruit(s).

Sometimes, especially when outside of Ghana, it is difficult to believe that I acctually do live here. It is hard to explain how life in Ghana is like, it is hard to remember what the heat feels like, what it means to be a foreigner here, how much one can miss foods and items just because they are not available. How wonderful it is to greet your wide-smiling neighbor.

I got a tip today about a documentary film, The Bronx Princess, about a girl in the US who goes to see her father The Chief in Ghana over the summer after graduation. The trailers available (I posted both above) look really promising, I wish I could see it (lucky people in Sweden can see the whole documentary here).

Without even knowing what the documentary is like, I am guessing it will be hard for the Bronx Princess to choose where to live when her summer comes to an end and how to explain her time in Ghana to people who havent been here yet.

ps. I love the music sung by Akua Taylor in the trailers. Ghana's next international star?

I'm Back!

Here's some photograpic evidence of that I am now back in Ghana.

Pic taken yesterday on our terrace, wildly growing garden in back. Husband had prepared a good fish stew with boiled plantain. I had put on my beautiful print dress and pulled out a plastic chair.

So, yeah, I'm back in Ghana and I'm back on the blog.

Water Problems in Ghana

Sitting here in efficient Sweden and reading about the things that grinds on my blogger friends' nerves, like water shortages. How can a country like Ghana, with so much water fail to provide its citizens with this important service?

When my husband and I moved into our first home in Ghana's harbor city Tema, one of the first things we bought were buckets to store water in for the days when the tap doesn't flow. Later I have come to understand that that is most days for those who live in Accra. How the capital can be worse equipped than other cities is another question for the leaders of the green country I now call home.

As it is now, entrepreneurs charge poor people large shares of their daily earnings for small bucket fulls of water. It should be the Government's highest priority to solve this problem, to make sure clean and safe water is provided to all.

Accra's serious water problems have been reported again and again, but nothing seems to change. Abena writes that there has been no water for a week. I don't want to think about what can happen when the distribution fails for more than a week...

In the pic, an empty swimming pool.

Best Time to Visit Ghana

Sorry for my absence, I am traveling and have not forgotten about my blog, just been too busy to post. Plus, I am having technical problems with photos that I hope to solve very soon. I want to share my pics with you!

Anyways, while traveling in Sweden I am spreading the word about Ghana. I think I have talked four friends into coming to visit, and maybe sown a seed in a few more minds...

Swedish people want to know what it is like in Ghana (hot and different), what the food is like (spicy and yummy) and when the best time is to visit (any time, our seasons are not that pronounced).

Two more weeks here and I am enjoying being able to take long walks in the crisp climate, talk about Swedish stuff with my lovely Swedish friends and visiting my big family. And of course volunteering for the Ghanaian tourism board.

Ghanaian Comedian in Sweden

Kodjo Akolor is a rising star in Sweden, this year on radio and as a presenter in a popular TV-program. Performing in Swedish and "African English", I really enjoyed his politically themed stand-up you can view above, making fun of African elections, Nelson Mandela(!) and Swedish problems that needs to experience Africa

"I have a job, money, food and an apartment...and it is so extremely difficult"!

Remember where you heard about him first!

Ghana High Quality Film Production!

I am truly looking forward to see the film The Perfect Picture, premiering on Friday here in Accra. Correction: Premiers 3rd of April 2009.

The movie features the famous Ghanaian comedian KSM and some other faces also look vaguely familiar.

From the trailer, which you can see here, it looks like a high quality movie (!) recorded here in Ghana by Sparrow Productions (also the organizers of Miss Ghana). And it will apparantly be showing henceforth (correction: 17th of April 2009) in the new Silverbird cinema in the Accra mall (which I wrote about here).

I am surprised and happy, since I thought the film industry in Ghana had permanently settled for Nollywood-quality and distribution, which even though it can be interesting lacks the "fantasy element" of good, expensively-produced cinema. Also, the Nollywood movies - though enourmously popular - tend to paint a stereotyped picture of Africa, in my opinion. A film like this can paint that other picture of Africa that I am interested in. What do you think?

Just like for the play "Romantic Nonsense" I saw recently by Nii Commey, the topic of the film is the love lives of the "getting-married-generation" people about to turn 30, having to make some important desicions and getting to know the difficulties of first year married life.

Chale, I don't know why, but that seems interesting to me!

Pic from the official website from the movie.

Independence Day: A view out of Ghana

Mango for yellow, canteloupe for green, papaya for red. A star fruit for the star. Happy 52nd birthday Ghana!

This is a communal post for ghanablogging.com

Ghana Map Online

The disappointment of Google Maps (top pic) and others to cover the Afrian continent has been unaddressed for some time, but now there is Africa on Map (second pic). I have played around with it and it seems to have mapped Accra quite well, there is the possibility of getting (not fully accurate) directions and opportunity to list real estate.

Interesting indeed. Since information, about basically everything is scarce here, I belive good online maps could be of good use. Currently, directions are given in the style of "adjacent to..." or "opposite of..." using land marks rather than road names which makes the threshold of understanding directions quite high. For starters being able to easily print/email maps of locations would make it much, much easier to drive around town and find clubs, stores and friends' houses!


In the maps above I have asked for Kotoka Airport in Accra.

Book of the Month: Reading the Ceiling

I came across an interesting-looking book in the Silverbird Bookstore in the Accra mall last week and now that I have finished it, I can wholeheartedly recommend it.

The book "Reading the Celiling" is written by the Gambian author Dayo Foster. It is Foster's first novel, and it is an excellent first attempt, producing a lovely main character in reasoning young woman Ayodele and other believable characters like her strict mother, warm Auntie K, annoying Moira, desirable Yuan and kind priest Foday Sillah.

Her description of everyday life in West Africa is also spot on with descriptions of beach outings complete with ice-chests and bbq, a daunty rented two-room house, an altruistic choice of career in Mali and the profitable Mercedes business in the Gambia.

But it is not an "African novel" per se, it is a successful literary examination of choices we ahvein life which made me revisit some of the choices I have made thinking about their possible alternatives.

I enjoy books which take you to another world in which you look around and find the familiar faces and locations as described in the book. Crafting that kind of "real" world in a novel is likely very difficult since just a choice of a few words, saying too much or too little can distort the picture in my head.

The first few pages about Ayodele's choice that will come to determine her life can be read here, in a website constructed for the book. The site also has more information about the young author and some extras for us who have read her book already. I say, join the club!

Vagina Monologues in Ghana

Just like Nana Darkoa, I went to see the Ghanaian producation of Eve Ensler's play the Vagina Monologues yesterday. It is playing thios week at the Efua Sutherland Theathre at the campus of University of Ghana in the outskirts of Accra.

The famous play is basically iintroducing us to the vagina, beacuse what do we know about it? Many women have not seen their own vagina, much less appriciated it! It being played in Ghana is no coincidence. It is being played all over the world as bringing awareness to violence against women and the V-day movement.

It was a really good performance, we all had most fun when the V-word was said on stage in Twi, Ga, Ewe, Nzema...and I can reccomend it to everybody, especially women of all ages.

It runs Saturday 28 and Sunday 29, both days at 7.30 PM. The theatre is just close to the main entrance of the uni.

I liked it so much I am planning to go back on Sunday, and then I am taking my husband because I think he should see it too!

I'll upload pics on Monday!

Investment Opportunities in Africa

As the financial markets of the world crumble, investment opportunities in Africa are still highly profitable. In the TED talk posted above, Nigerias former finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala suggests there is "a new wave on the continent" in terms of democracy, transparancy and opportunity. Sectors like energy, telecom, housing and retail are in their infancy, meaning they need investment and suitable policy, but are very likely to grow substancially.

One part of it is the new middle-class of educated Africans and their demand for goods. Some of them have lived abroad and aquired new tastes there, all of them are making money that give them room to spend. However, they need things to buy.

I have myself a few things on a list of things that I would like to purchase, but haven't seen anywhere (a bar-height table, a comfortable and affordable sofa, silver earrings) and information about where to find stuff is part of many conversations I have with others here.

With the financial crisis in the North, it is likely the so called development assistance is coming to an end. However, just as Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala says in the video clip, growth in Africa is probably more dependent on solid investments leading to more jobs thus sustainable growth, than it ever was on aid.

Swedish Television in Ghana

Swedish Television is currently broadcasting a documentary series about the life of Diplomats. In the fifth program of the season, which was broadcast on Monday, they follow a diplomat to Ghana. In the clip above we get to take part of the motorcade taking the Swedish diplomat from Hotel La Palm to the Kotoka Airport in Accra.

I never thought of how scary it must be to actually be part of the motorcade.

The program in Swedish also discusses gin and tonic as a cure for malaria and poor documentation of aid projects. Nothing new there...

Interestingly, a clip of the Swedish diplomats being shown a dirty lagoon when asking to see a successful development project is featured on Ghanaweb under the heading "Who chop-chop the aid money?" I wonder how the clip in Swedish got there.

Swedish Princess Wedding

Just reading Swedish news websites here in English about how Swedish Crown Princess Victoria has gotten engaged. The news cam also be viewed on YouTube here. After 7 years of courting the Swedish gym owner, Daniel Westling, I can't say I am surprised.

However, she is the first female to inherit the throne (after a change in the Swedish constitution in 1980) and he is , according to respected historian Herman Lindqvist, one of the very few Swedish born so called "common people" to ever become royal. And the whole thing is...almost medieval in that a 31 year old has to ask her parents and the prime minister for approval. As my journalist friend Katrine Kielos writes

"We live in a modern society...(Duh! a clip was put on YouTube by the Royal court! My comment.)...is it then not time for the next step? That we become a republic and Victoria runs for Commander in Chief?"

I do agree, but first there is the wedding scheduled for spring 2010 to think about.

Since I got married less than a year ago, I have some tips for the Princess when planning her wedding:

* Choose a comfortable dress and pretty but also comfortable shoes so you can dance and enjoy.
* Visit the bridal site Offbeat Bride for inspiration on a more fun and personal wedding. Don't be too serious!
* Throw a big party, hopefully you just get married once.
* Involve your families in the preparations (that one will be easy for the Princess).
* Marry for love.

Blurry princess - and prince - pic borrowed from SvD.se

Salsamania in Accra

Tomorrow it is Wednesday and I am going dancing!

A few weeks ago I decided to take a friend to the Coconut Grove Regency Hotel in Ridge in Accra on a Wednesday evening to see if the latin rhythms still was shaking the place. And if they were! I now cant remember why I ever stopped going and quickly made myself a promise to make it every week.

Local radio station CityFM are nice enough to offer this weekly Salsamania program free of charge. I try to arrive a bit early, around 7 PM to get a parking space in the neighborhood. At 7.30 there are classes on beginner and intermediate levels. I have learned some moves in the intermediate group, but it seems the purpose of the class is to get people moving rather than really transmit dance steps. Then after some 20 minutes of class we gather round the pool and start the row dancing (see pic), for instance to Mambo no 5 (which is the only one I have really mastered). This is so much fun!

Ok, people have stepped on my toes and some combinations seem impossible to ever learn. But the feeling when you get a few steps right in the big crowd of like-minded people! If I am lucky I then find some good salsa dancers for the next section of proper salsa music for proper salsa dancing. Most Ghanaians seem to have adopted something close to Cuban style, which is (lucky me!) my preference. Also, quite contrary to salsa dancing in Sweden, there are two guys to every girl, which makes it easy to pick good dance partners.

There is also really good chicken khebabs to eat and drinks to gulp down in the still warm tropical evening (strictly water for us dancers!)

After just an hour of salsa, I can't be upset regardless of how my day has been. Sweaty and happy and sit in my car around 10 PM, driving home.

Listening to salsa, of course.