The Life of this World

al-Hayat al-Dunya (The Life of This World) from Abobakr Mohammed on Vimeo.

The Autobiography of a Nation.

Accra really has no "central" district like Abuja. Henry thus made way towards the coast where the central tourist accractions, the Castle, (the Ghanian State house), the Independence square and the Kwame Nkurmah mausoleum are. The Fadama region, is quite some distance away. A garrison of quasi identical neighbourhoods all splashed themselves to the right and left of the pickup.

The national theater was a architectural statement, like all national theatres I suppose.



















Accra has a central cenotaph to the founding fathers of the African union. The faces of Nasser, Tafawa Balewa, Haile Selassie stamped on a billboard made them smaller than life. They were Continental giants, the makers of mordern Africa. The cenotaph did make up for the disrespect.




Then the Atlantic. It came out of the blue if you get what I mean. An ocean is at once frightening and placid."This is the route to the Castle, where the President lives." It had to be. Living next to the Atlantic should help compensate (for better or worse) an African leader's ambition.


Thomas Carlye said, history is the lives of men. So I guess the autobiography of Ghana is the life of Kwame Nkrumah

Cape Coast and Kakum-Shock and Awe

Today I head west, west to Cape coast, and Elima castle, but no further, Cote d'Ivore is on the boil and the contrasting peace in Ghana is a part life paradoxes. Ghana has some of the most famous and best (I say best with a high degree of sarcasm) of Africa's slave forts. All along the Ghana's coast line stertch a pearl of white Castles (including the President's residence, Osu Castle, formerly known as fort Christiansborg); that adorn the the nublie neck of a ravished maiden; Africa, a continent so raped by histories unlearnable lessons. The castles stand as a libation to the darkness the bedevils the human soul. It is well known that human beings are the only creatures capable of malice. Animals only kill for food, never act unjustly to each other, and never oppress each other. The Quran says "And we created man in the best of moulds...And then we reduced him to the lowest of the low." (95:4-5). To how low humanity could sink I was about to see. The road to Cape coast is roughly a two hour drive from Accra, the road is a smooth tar.

I hope that's good government in action and not a rush job for Obama's visit (I am following his footsteps you see lol!, though Henry says he might have travelled to Cape coast by coper). It a toursit route so I guess they'll keep it up. Nice houses on hill tops. All the better for grand views, I suppose.

Some Ghanians have commericialised their dwellings. "Does MTN keep paying them to keep the paint on." I asked Henry. "No I think they just pay them once." Well I thought, so much for Naomi Klein and No Logo. I hope on the wall advertising doesn't migrate eastwards to Nigeria. It probably won't as Nigeria desperate politicians have redefined the phrase smear campaign to mean a perpetual war on the paint industry.

Yet here where people oppress members of their own race.