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Ghana Internet Governance Forum: An Eyewitness Report
This morning, I decided to stop by the Ghana Internet Governance Forum (IGF) at the Kofi Annan Center for Excellence in ICT. It is a local stakeholder forum to discuss issues for Internet governance and it were to start with a session on youth and Internet governance. As one of the panelists was running late, I was called upon to talk. I quickly decided to focus on two issues that I feel are important and inter-related:
- Access to Internet in Ghana – currently only 18% of Ghanaians have access to the net, the bulk of this group on their phones. Internet access is expensive and limited to urban areas. For youth to gain access in their numbers this has to change.
- Production of local content – at the moment, Ghanaians consume the Internet rather than create it. We need to write more articles, upload more photos and videos. Blogging could be one way. How can youth be encouraged to create local content? (here I returned to the issue of affordable access)
With me on the podium was GhanaBlogging members Gameli, Amma and Mac-Jordan along with moderator Godfred Ahuma, coordinator of the Ghana IGF. The discussion was interesting and involved government agencies and their (non-) usage of social media, Sakawa or Internet fraud, Twitter vs. tv-news, if you have a right to be forgotten online/managing your online presence and what we want from the service providers (Philip Sowah of Airtel Ghana was listening when I listed 1) SMS to Twitter, 2) higher speed Internet and 3) cheaper access for a larger customer base).
I left the program early, party because no Internet access was provided in the venue(!), so missed out on deliberations on Internet governance for development and importantly affordable access and diversity.
You can follow the proceedings on Twitter, #GhIGF. Hopefully pictures will come soon.
Update: Read a report from one of the other panelists at Gameli’s World. Photo credit to the same source!
Global Voices Interview with Kajsa HA
Today, I am interviewed by Linda Annan, editor of American-Ghanaian Obaasema Magazine, in the international online blogging/citizen media community Global Voices.
Global Voices is an amazing site that pulls together stories from blogs all over the world, with a focus on the areas we do not hear from every day. The community is largely volunteer-driven and is co-founded by celebrity blogger “My Heart’s in Accra”/Ethan Zuckerman.
Here is an excerpt from my interview:
How and why did you get into blogging? And why Ghanablogging?
In 2006 I was living in Paris and started blogging to keep in touch with family and friends and write about my impressions of my new life. At the time, some Swedish friends had blogs at home. I have always loved to write and thought it was a brilliant forum, but couldn’t really find my own tone or topic. However, when I knew I was going to move to Paris, I found myself reading blogs, not books, about Parisian life. I think that spurred the decision to start blogging myself.
In Paris, I was invited to a blog meet-up, hosted by blogger Petite Anglais (who later got a book deal out of her blog). It was great to meet with other bloggers and it turned out two of them worked within the same big organization as me at the time!
So in 2007, when I moved to Ghana I continued blogging and was always on the lookout for Ghanaian blogs. When I had found enough of them, I organized the first meet-up with a friend. It was in July 2008, and eight bloggers came. We decided on the name GhanaBlogging as we wanted the action in the name. We are all doers.
What are you referring to when you say you love the shift from online presence to real life meetings?
When people think of blogging, they think about a lonely person in front of a computer, when in reality it really is a network! Blogging comes with belonging somewhere, blogging is an activity that has strengthened my relationship to Ghana. So yes, my blog is online, but many real life meetings have come out of it!
My 500th Blog Post
After celebrating turning 30 last week, I thought life couldn’t be more festive, but here I am celebrating again! This is my 500th blog post! Woo hoo!
So how did it all start?
Well, I kept a diary since I learned how to write (or from just before, scribble, scribble) and always loved the act of writing. In 2006 some Swedish friends had blogs, and though I thought blogging was a brilliant forum, I couldn’t really find my own tone or topic. When I got the opportunity to move to Paris, I found myself reading blogs, not books, about Parisian life. I think that spurred the decision to start blogging myself. And then the topic was clear: “Non, je ne regrette rien!”
When moving to Ghana in 2007, the blogging really took off. I wanted to write positively about Ghana and Africa, as I thought most reports from this part of the world was negative and chose the reverse image of a dry desert as my blog name: “Rain in Africa”.
In this post, I thought I’d chronicle my blogging experience with looking back at some of my blog posts.
1st Post: First Let’s Have A Song
Jan 9th 2006.
As an Edith Piaf lover on my way to Paris, I started by blogging with the lyrics to her hit Mon Grand Paris.
The post has one link, for the student hostel where I had just gotten a room.
“Paris, je m’ennuie de toi, mon vieux.
On se retrouvera tous les deux,
Mon grand Paris.”
Dec 18th 2007
I had moved to Ghana and just enrolled at the driving school. Some months later I had my licence, still one of my proudest achievements, and I rarely omit telling anyone who wants to hear that “I learned to drive in Ghana!”
“My goal is to sometime next year be able to navigate between goats and Mercedes-Benzes, yellow taxicabs and banana sellers.”
Jan 29th 2009
I was now working in the corporate sector in Ghana and decided to tell this funny story about a stray comment during a meeting with suits.
It is in the “only in Ghana”-category…
“Bored, I glance out the window and see some green leaves. To be a bit funny, I turn to one of the guys in the room and ask:
– Are you the one growing plantain out there?”
300th Post: Developing Blogging, Leaving Blogger for WordPress
Oct 18th 2009
Here I took the first step into professionalizing my blogging. Its a post of the advantages of “going WordPress” and also an interactive piece where I am asking my readers for help. From the header you can also see that I now, thanks to fellow Ghanablogger David Ajao, understand how the title of the post should be filled with keywords, rather than just being witty.
“What do you think? Does the name of a blog matter? How it looks? How its posts are categorized? What topics it presents? What URL it has?”
400th Post: Minor Field Study (MFS) in Ghana
May 18th 2010
At this time, I had migrated my blog to wordpress and the domain kajsaha.com. When the blog looked as I wanted, I was motivated to write more.
This post reflects that I have added a topic to my blog: academically related texts. This particular one, outlines the Swedish MFS program and my current role within it.
“Back to yesterday afternoon. I first took Emma and Ebba to eat some fufu and drink some bissap at Buka. We talked about everything from clinics to corruption, from surveys to soup, from PhD to perfect beaches.”
A bit more than 5 years of blogging in three countries and 500 posts.
Thanks to all of you who read this blog, thanks for your insightful comments and for stubbornly coming back for more.
Out of my 500, which was your favorite post?
Ghana’s Happiness Culture
Ghanaians are often described as a “happy people” and just the other day in a group of Ghanaian young adults I was thinking to myself, somewhat grumpily: “what on earth are they laughing about?”
So it is roaring with laughter that I read my GhanaBlogging colleague Graham‘s grumpy, but on-point, observation about the “enforced happiness” (Graham’s words) or “happiness culture” (mine) of Ghana. He takes us through everyday life cheer, party fun, church enjoyment and with an eye for detail he notes that Ghana’s most popular radio stations are called Happy FM and Joy FM! Graham continues his rant:
Even the music coming from the radio is happy! Hip-Life, High-Life, Happy, Happy, Happy. The music’s light and fluffy drum beats and the synthesised sounds have far too much sugar in them – give me vinegar any day!
Almost in a reply, Anti-Rhythm argues that the play in learning was taken away by the colonial influences on Ghanaian education.
In these our lands, many years ago, we used to learn by playing. Through song and dance and theatrics, we learnt what was relevant for our circumstances then.
When the colonialists came to inflict their cut of formal education on Africa, we left the fun behind.
Does that mean that Ghanaians were even more happy in ancient times?
GhanaBlogging Progress
The group I co-founded with fellow Swedish-Ghanaian Blogger Maya’s Earth, GhanaBlogging, is in the habit of meeting monthly. Today at 3pm at Café dez Amis (former Afrikiko) it is time again.
Right now we have some interesting and positive developments and thinking about formalizing ourselves 
into something more than a group of friends, into some kind of organization. This is for two main reasons.
First, we are getting more and more invitations for collaborations from companies and other organizations (Google Ghana, Nokia, British High Commission etc.). This is wonderful, but it is becoming unclear who to contact and how to spread information properly. I am also proud to say we are a very critical group who feel strongly about being independent, so this is another issue when market forces knock on your door.
Second, we are growing like crazy! Before Christmas, more than 70 bloggers wanted to join us! At the last meeting we were more than 15 bloggers present! ( If you also want to join us, fill this GhanaBlogging form and we will get back to you!) This means we need to streamline the application process further – and just welcoming double the amount of members we have is a great task that requires organization.
Despite these changes the group is still very much a group of friends, meeting, discussing and laughing.
See you later!
…And in Ivory Coast – Election Mayhem?
Just reading this report from MyJoyOnline on how Ivory Coast is now closed for traveling and to foreign news agencies and the sore loser in the election, incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo is pulling strings to get back the power of the country, just awarded to the opposition leader Alassane Outtara. The report suggests:
The head of the independent electoral commission (IEC) , Youssouf Bakayoko, said Mr Ouattara had won 54% of the vote, compared to 46% for Mr Gbagbo.
He was speaking under armed guard at a hotel, rather than from the commission’s headquarters.
This interesting timeline of Ivory Coast by BBC reminds us of Ivory Coast’s volatile past and that Outtara was the presidential candidate who was accused of not being a national Ivorian (but rather from Burkina Faso) back in 1999. Violence seems to be lingering in the air, and attacks on party offices have already been reported.
Fellow Ghana blogger Osabutey suggests Gbabgo should be stopped before he burns down the country, but who would stop him?
Pic borrowed from BBC/AFP.
Follow Up on Bus Rape Story and Safety in Ghana
Yesterday I posted on the buss mass rape that never happened in Kintampo and I have had some very good and interesting feedback, so I’d thought I’d post a follow up today. (I owe you one for MP Laptops as well, maybe on Wednesday…)
Raluca made a number of good points, firstly blaming the journalist rather than the person who started the rumor:
This is an ugly story indeed and I think not only the person that launched the rumor, but the journalists that made it public should be made responsible for it. Whatever happened to checking one’s sources?
I agree. Who knows what made the person say all of this…regardless, the responsibility lies with the media professional who decided to take it to the airwaves. Raluca then went on to critique my point of Ghana being safe. SHe did it so elegantly, I am posting her entire post. Read and enjoy!
As for crime in Ghana, I agree that it is comparatively low and there are good reasons to feel safe in the country. But – and you might have seen this coming from me [Raluca is just finishing up her PhD and a sucker for correct analysis, my comment]– I strongly doubt official data on crime is reliable.
I am certain crime reporting in Ghana is way less exhaustive than, say, in the US, for the very simple reason experience has taught people there is no point in even reporting having your phone/wallet/purse stolen, or things stolen from the car. More significantly, let’s not compare Ghana to any other European capital, but maybe to other countries, since it is always the case that the big cities have a much higher crime rate. I hate to be pessimistic and turn to anecdotes, but our friend S. has been exposed within two weeks to three first hand stories of incidents in Accra, out of which two were very serious. And in one of the cases having a security guard didn’t help prevent an individual being attacked with a machete in his own house.
Also, when it comes to crime, it might not be a good idea to compare any other place to the US, which is an exceptional case. Their incarceration rate is more than seven times larger than the European average, which means that more than 1% of adults in the US are in prison.
In short, I’d say feeling safe in Ghana, but being careful in Accra are both good ideas.
She has a point of course that reporting might be low in Ghana and that apples and pears should ideally not be compared…
Loyal reader and former Ghana resident Miss Footloose suggested we should remember to be critical:
So what do we do? Believe nothing? Lives of good people have been destroyed by these types of ugly viral stories or accusations. We must become more discerning and more critical with everything we hear and see.
Fellow blogger Chris/Mad in Ghana questioned the validity of the claim that the issue went all the way to the president, how can we really know if journalists publish rumors?
To think that even the President of Ghana with the entire security system at his disposal commented on the fabricated, fictitious event. Or, maybe that was part of the prank too.
Graham from Ghanablogging agreed with Raluca that the journalists are to blame for this sad story. He wrote:
Journalists are supposed to check a story before they publish. This is not the first fake story to make the press in Ghana. Lazy journalism!
Gayle at Ghana Guide and Blog wrote a post before the story was disproven, but gave some useful insights to safe travel on the Kintampo road:
The safest bet when traveling between Accra and Tamale/Bolga/Wa or any of the three northern regions is to catch the STC–State Transport Company coaches. This is because the STC has an armed guard and robbers are well aware of this and tend to leave them alone.
The road between Kumasi and Kintampo is particularly poor and slow and you should try to avoid having to pass through here in darkness if you’re not on the STC coaches.
I hope Gayle will rethink the conclusions she drew from the false story.
It seems Ghana is today relieved to hear the horrendous story wasn’t true. At the same time, there are mixed feelings because we were all made to believe a gruesome event had taken place. It gives rise to all kinds of concerns.
How did you feel when you heard the bus rape story wasn’t true?
Laptops for Ghana MPs – A Good Idea
I earlier promised a post on why I support laptops for Ghana’s MPs. Here it is:
The Communication ministry led by Haruna Iddrisu last week made known they are providing laptops with modems for Ghana’s 230 members of parliament (No official information on this on the Ghana Government website yet, but see JoyFM’s report here).
There was immediately an uproar. Most of the critique goes along these lines:
Many villages in the 3 Northern Regions fetch water from stagnant waters and used for cooking and washing. Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, just this morning when I was traveling from Yendi to Tamale, I saw one of your bill boards you used for the 2008 campaign in one of the villages I am talking about. You could have lobbied for the money to sink 230 bore holes this year in 230 villages in the north. Next year another 230 and here we go. God bless us all !!!!! (this is an acctual comment from myjoyonline.com)
Now I strongly disagree, and this is why I say providing laptops for Ghanaian MPs is a good idea:
- In today’s world, to be able to do any political work you have to have access to good communication tools. To be able to make important decisions on water, politicians have to read proposals, write motions, communicate with citizens etc.In fact, it is shocking that it is news…did Ghana’s MPs not have access to ICT before last week?
- Now we can easier demand accountability. Make MPs send all official emails through a centralized system so there will be transparency and a backlog if anything goes wrong. (Today many Ghanaian government officials send you emails from yahoo and hotmail accounts…)
- Efficiency. Imagine if all motions and bills could be stored online. Maybe finally things could be done earlier than “the last year”?
- Mzalendo in Ghana. Lets set up a website that keeps track on MPs work! This could never be done if MPs did not have access to ICT.
- And last, but not least: Now our politicians can read blogs! Maybe even write their own on what they do! The Swedish foregin Minister Carl Bildt has a blog (in Swedish), The White house also has a blog etc.
The problem in the past has been the personal ownership of all “tools”. Like the personal car loan. I think governments should provide a car, an office with suitable equipment etc. to elected officials – just as for administrators – but it should not be given/donated/offered to the individuals. May I remind you of Plato’s idea of denying the right of property to the rulers of his Republic (called philosopher kings)?
I’d like to challenge Osabutey Anny and Emmanuel Adu whom I know disagrees with me o this matter to respond.
And you, what do you think about MP laptops. Long overdue or a waste of money?
Photo borrowed from Single Particles.
Ghanablogging, BlogLovin’ and Afrigator
Some blogging news:
The aggregator for the group of bloggers I started in 2008, Ghanablogging.com has gotten a new, improved, user friendly, greenish design by David Olunyi Ajao/Web4Africa. Surf there today and read one of the 70+ blogs about Ghana!
As I added the new Ghanablogging badge on my page, I also decided to update my affiliations. I joined BlogLovin’ and a Follow my blog with bloglovin badge, currently I am trying to add some other I can see my badge from Afrigator has been reduced to a line of text and when I visit their site their server is not responding. Anyone knows what happened to Afrigator?
I have also tried to clean up my Google Reader, as it makes following blogs (outside of Ghanablogging) so much easier.
How do you organize your reading of blogs?
Pic borrowed from David Maybury’s Children’s Book Blog.
Blogger’s Challenge: Search Word Poetry
Some time ago, I read a poem by a Swedish blogger who had just taken the most recent word searches leading to her blog and created poetry out of those words. Below is my attempt. I hereby challenge seven fellow bloggers to do the same and then challenge seven others! MayaMame, AntiRhythm, Nina Ruthström, Wayan, Chris Blattman, Adventures From The Bedrooms of African Women and Accra Books and Things.
mike kajsa
documentary about sponsoring education
learn twi audio
digital anthropologist job search
“dobet gnahore”
moving back to ghana blog
blogs in sweden
nordic africa conference
what does a ghana drivers license look like?
ghana driver licence image
universities in ghana
ashesi campus berekuso
lady gaga
redness and itchy from red ant bite image
valcano non ha
learn twi audio
living in africa
wanlov the kubolor
how to kill red ants in palm trees
Do You Believe in Witchcraft?
If you do and you live in Ghana, you are not alone.
According to a recent survey carried out by Gallup, three out of four (or 77%) of Ghanaians believe in Witchcraft.
Only Ivory Coast (with a staggering 95% ) and Senegal (with four out of five) have larger shares of the population suggested to be witchcraft believers. Mali, Cameroon and the DR Congo has around the same levels as Ghana. The average for Sub-Saharan Africa is around 55%. Surprisingly, to me at least, Nigeria came out under average with less than half a population believing in witches. Rwanda and Uganda being the only countries in the sample in which less than 20% answered yes to the question: Do you personally believe in witchcraft?
I just threw myself over this survey. The aspect of witchcraft is a very intriguing one for a westerner moving to Sub-Saharan Africa.
Intrestingly, the Ghanaian witch does not have a pointed black hat and a cat that talks, nor does she need a broom to fly and need not wait until Halloween before she comes out. No, the Ghanaian witch lives close to you and me and can cause harm to anyone she – or he – wants to hurt. Diseases, deaths and ill fates are often blamed on a malicious witch.
In Ghana, the absolutely worst thing you can call anyone is “a witch” (well, apart from stupid, but that is a different blog post). Read this post by Nana Kofi Acquah on a street quarrel. I have also heard people talk about meeting witches, witches casting curses and occasionally lifting them, see for instance this recent account by fellow blogger AntiRhythm on a curse over a lost mobile phone.
Also, the newspapers report regularly about witches flying here and there. Last time I remember reading about witches in the news it was a witch from the Volta region who had mysteriously found himself landing on a house roof in Ashaiman, close to Tema where I live. A few years ago, reports on a witch conference taking place in Kumasi, Ghana spurred on newspaper Daily Guide to suggest the following:
The numerous road accidents, boat disasters, floods in the north, gas explosions in Kumasi and collapse of buildings that the country has witnessed in recent months may not be for nothing.
A global meeting of witches, currently underway in Ghana, is targeting thousands of lives through fatal road and other accidents.
So the accidents on our roads and floods in the north are due do a 2007 conference of witches? Let me tell you that these have not really subsided after the conference was over and done with…
On a more serious note, in Ghana there are sadly a need (?) for enclosed areas for witches or “witch camps”, predominately for women who have been named witches by their community. For more info on this, read this account about life in Gambaga Witch Camp or this insightful and frightening article about What Makes a Woman a Witch? by writer Yaba Badoe. Recently the plight of those women have been recognized, for instance by SOSYWEN and Stop Witch Trials.
The GALLUP survey also suggest that witchcraft believers live worse lives than those who do not believe. Of course, that seems plausible but possibly with a spurious or false relationship, with education for instance being the real explanatory factor. But when I look at the presented numbers, I wouldn’t say that there is really much of a difference in percieved living standards between witchcraft believers and non-believers.
Those who believe in witchcraft rate their lives at a 4.3 on average, while those who do not believe or don’t have an opinion rate their lives higher on the scale, at 4.8 on average.
Is it very marginal, or am I not getting it right?
Anyway, this survey gives me scientific proof of something I already knew: that most people in Ghana do believe in witches.
So, do you? And why?
Graduate Student Resources and a Laugh
As I am now back in my office I had to read up on blogs I normally follow.
A favorite of mine is Chris Blattman, who even inspired my new blog both in content and style. Anyhoo, he posted among many more substantial things a funny link – the illustrated guide to a PhD.
It looks something like what you see to the left…”approaching the edge of human knowledge!” Haha! You just must see the whole thing! (click on the link above)
The funny guy coming up with this, Matt Might, also posted helpful book tips for graduate students (although I am missing Marian Petre’s brilliant The Unwritten Rules of PhD Research) as well as a list of productivity tips for academics – very useful as the fall semester approaches with speed!
This semester I will try to post research related posts on Fridays, lets see how it goes.