Who wins?

Four years ago, I sat up all night in a lovely house in Cantonments, with Virgo and friends, following the election on CNN. The room was pregnant with pause, (I was just pregnant), in those moments before it was confirmed: Obama had won the election! Tonight, I'm packing in. Although I'm on holiday and actually could stay up all night, it's not the same to do it alone and knowing there's a 3 and a half year old who definitely won't let me catch sleep tomorrow. It's with excitement I go to bed ahead of the first results.

Tomorrow, we'll wake to hear if the world has won and kept it's president (fingers crossed!) or be informed that there's a new president in charge, Mitt Romney. Here's hoping for a good night's sleep free of election dreams; and I know I'll run to turn my TV on first thing tomorrow morning!

Sweden votes 2010 (2)

I was really impressed that when I checked the results at 20:00, i.e. 22:00 Swedish time, approximatey 97-98% of the votes had been counted, just two hours after voting!

As I told Virgo, compared to Ghana, that's really impressive. In Ghana, if I remember correcty, after the last election, 90+% of the votes were in by 5:00 the next morning. Still, even Ghana's votecounting is impressive and must considered advanced compared to Afghanistan. Elections took place on Saturday and we can expect results...in a month's time?!?

Eeeeh.... doesn't that leave ample time for just about anyone to have a whole new set of voter cards printed, distributed and sent to replace the original ones in every corner of the country? I'm just saying...

This time...

Ages ago I planned to chronicle the year that just passed but never got the chance to do it. Besides, if I did, it would probably end up being a ten page account as so many things happened in 2008. However, I feel something must be documented in cyberform after Virgo reminded me two days ago that the African Cup of Nations had started exactly a year earlier. I was immediately struck by the conflicting thoughts of "how can it already be a year?" and "but it seems soooo long ago!".


This time last year, between drafting agreements and other stuff at the lawfirm, my fellow colleagues and I (including a certain Poet) would be texting any possible contacts for tickets to the next game, rushing to finish up work by 2.30 to be able to start walking to the Ohene Djan Stadium along with a whole load of other people in our business district.

This time last year, I had one niece who had just turned four years old. My now five year and one day old niece now has a little brother and a little cousin, with another cousin joining them in a few months time.


This time last year, I was, as mentioned, working for the law firm, still doing my pupillage. Now, I work for what will hopefully one day be a major corporation, managing and structuring the business, often working from home in my own time and finding time to do independent legal work on the side.

This time last year, there was hardly any political buzz in Ghana, and yet now we have a new president and a new party in power. Rather, at the law firm, we'd frequently discuss how the hotshot Obama was actually faring quite well against Hillary and may give her serious competition. Could any of us have imagined that a year later we'd be witnessing the inauguration of President Barack Obama?


This time last year I was in a relationship but living with my lovely mother at the centre of the world (that's Tema of course!). Now I am a "newly" married woman living in the heart of Accra, somewhat missing the fresh breeze and cooler air of Tema, but definitely not the commute!


Friends' babies have been born, beautiful, important people have passed, there have been marriages and career changes all around me. What a year it's been!

And you know what? It seems life will only get better in 2009!

We have a winner!

Never say die, they say. Atta Mills has proven it's true. After contending the presidency over and over again, against all odds, with rumours of near-death illness, he is now Ghana's president elect and will be sworn in on Wednesday, 7th January. I look forward to seeing a smooth handing over from Kuffour's government to Atta Mills. Let us hope we can continue to proudly hold our heads high as Ghanaians, as leading the way for political peace in Africa.

Meanwhile, here in Labone, the roar of joy as the Electoral Commission announced Atta Mills the president elect, was so loud that even those of us who were nowhere near a phone, radio or TV (I was in the kitchen washing dishes) knew the exact moment this ocurred. I hear NDC supporters have taken to the streets all over the country, rejoicing their victory. For now it has been reported as peaceful celebrations throughout. Sources tell me that in the Central Region, NDC supporters have dressed up in NPP's colours (red, white and blue) and are marching throught the streets weeping, some holding coffins draped in NPP colours with Akufo-Addo written on them. I had to laugh at this fantastically theatrical manner in which they are celebrating (although the coffins are a bit creepy)!

Well, for me the best way to admit defeat is to celebrate in denial. Still recovering from sleep deprivation after a party at Headlines yesterday, I'm about to head out of Accra for my first 2009 barbecue, before heading to an all weekend birthday party in Roman Ridge this evening.

Enjoy your Saturday, after all, it marks the official end to the ridiculously long 2008/2009 elections!

Third time lucky?

Well, who would have thought? Firstly, that the 7th December elections wouldn't result in a clear winner, but more surprisingly secondly, that the 28th December elections wouldn't result in a winner! Surely the 2nd January elections in the Tain constituency ought to give us a new president of Ghana, right? After all they say third time's a charm.

And by the looks of it, it will be third time lucky for Atta Mills as well, after all it will take more than the extraordinary for my dear party to turn things around now. Then again, I think we're beginning to realise that the 2008 Ghana elections are all about surprises...

So this is Christmas

It's been a nice quiet Christmas and I have achieved my Christmas present to myself - not getting stuck in any of the traffic! In the past three days I have only driven between Labone, Osu and Cantonments and I wouldn't wish to have it any other way!

Our Christmas Eve dinner was a complete success! With an uncle, cousin a few friends, my mum and Virgo present, we managed to devour a julbord likened to any one found in Sweden. We had meatballs, prinskorvar (sausages), mustard roasted ham, Janssons frestelse (traditional Christmas potato gratin), pickled herring in different sauces, egghalves with a seafood mayo mix on top, smoked salmon, beetroot salad and some bread and Swedish cheese on the side.


This was of course followed by mulled wine with saffron rolls, gingerbread, soft ginger cake and sweets. In the evening my mum and I sat down to watch Fanny & Alexander, a Swedish Christmas classic, but as the movie is several hours long, we only managed to watch about half of it and will probably watch the second half tomorrow.

Christmas Day was a continued food fest from a full breakfast of varieties, lunch at my cousin's house and a late, late (midnight!) dinner of roast potato chicken and stuffing prepared by moi.

Unfortunately, turning on the TV yesterday brought me back to the realisation that we are about to go into another election, meaning it was all campaigning, campaigning, campaigning. I hope in a week's time we'll be in an equally peaceful Ghana as now, having selected a new president in a fair electon and counting process.

Christmas - R. I. P.

As my mind runs helter and skelter trying to analyse this hullabaloo that is the 2008 elections, and I am constantly surprised at how people have hitherto chosen to exercise their franchise, (there, I challenge you to create a sentence with more ridiculous phrases used in conversations here in Ghana, especially on TV, everyday!), it just hit me how bad this re-run will be.

At this point, I am assuming that we will go to round 2, In fact, contrary to my last post and the good intentions of yesterday, I have spent the past 6 1/2 hours (do the maths and you'll realise when I started) analysing statistics to see how we can best strategise to win round 2. Oh the wonderful life as a politician's wife!

Anyhoo, I just realised that if elections are held on the 28th, already ruining Christmas, we are going to go through this hell of waiting in anxiety and stress until (at the latest) 5pm on New Year's Eve! There go the lovely days of partying on those mellandagar (in-between days, 26th-30th December) when most people are off from work and at the same time under no obligation to socialise under formal settings. This is the time when the most fun barbecues and beach days occur, but I doubt there'll be as many thanks to the combination of credit crunch and election worry and even if there are, I don't think I can focus, relax or enjoy myself. Already my heart jumps at the mention of the words "win", "results" or "EC" (EC= electoral commission)!

This year's Christmas tree, proudly decorated by moi!

So now, as I take an hour's (sleep) break before dealing with real work, I guess I can say "goodbye Christmas, it was nice planning for you this year but I guess we'll catch up in 2009 instead".

Ye ko ye nim? Yere si sem? Oh hell, I don't know!

I was hoping that the next time I write there would be a firm result out, but as it looks now, we're going for a second round. All kinds of information has been coming in, often contradicting and now I think we can use simple maths to determine that the most likely outcome is a second round on 28th December.

I am so tired. The stress and pressure of not knowing what's happening and not knowing when we'll know (that's actually worse, can't they just give us a time and date at which final count will be announced???) has meant that I have hardly slept in the past three nights. Tonight, I intend to have a good night's sleep and for the next few days I hope to stay away from all Ghanaian radio, TV and newspapers, to get back my sane, non-election crazy mind.

I hope I'll be able to focus on work, life and Christmas at least until the 26th or 27th December.

Even as I write, I am looking forward to my election 2008 mental detox!

I don't wanna wait in vain...

As we wait...and wait...and wait for the results to come in, it's easy to get sucked in to the whole election craze. It's on every radio station (except Atlantis of course) and all TV channels and even when you turn off your own, you'll hear the results being blasted from the neighbour's radio or TV.

I've decided to leave election watch for a few hours, I'm actually choosing to work(!) instead. Yes, it's easy to forget how lucky we are that today is a holiday here in Ghana. Imagine if we'd all been working, what an unproductive day it would have been, with staff hovering over radios and texting all over the place to get the latest election gossip. Instead, today is Eid al-Adha, the Islam festival of Sacrifice which follows Hajj. Amazingly, for once Hajj has passed us by quietly and peacefully this year, usually there's a lot of conflicts over complications with transport to Mecca. I am sure this year the Government made sure everything was in order to make sure Hajj didn't interfere with the election.

The latest update I can give you is that it is still too close to call, TV is reporting that NDC leads by about 49% to NPP's 48% while Joy FM had NPP at 50% to NDC's 48%. As you can see it really is useless to follow until all the constituencies' votes have been counted. Hopefully in 2 or 3 hours we'll have a better idea.

Instead I'm going to complete a sublease whilst listening to a radio station I just discovered, Julradio.se, a Swedish station that's dedicated to playing Christmas songs - perfect for a Christmas crazy person like me! I just heard Tänd ett ljus ("Light a candle", a beautiful à capella song by a Gothenburg group))by Triple 'n' Touch, a song I probably haven't heard since the early nineties. The words were so appropriate in our election times, about taking care of yourself in these Christmas times. It brought tears to my eyes
...or maybe that's just from the pressure of not knowing whether my party will win!

Counting begins...

As I write TV3 is reporting the (unconfirmed) results from some constituencies. At first I was getting a bit concerned as the results were not in my favour (or were within too close margins for me to relax) but after a while I realised that they are simply taking results from different polling stations (there can be several hundred polling stations in a constituency), so it really doesn't say much about who will win...yet.

To take part of this historic moment I took a quick 90 second walk to my closest polling station. They had already started counting and there seemed to be a happy mood among observers, many kindly even moved to give me a better view when they saw me take my camera out. The mood seemed to be at risk of changing when the final results were counted, but rather than fight or argue over the results it seemed the winners rather teased the losers, who accepted it, heads bowed in disappointment, as they all walked home.

On our way back from a quick trip to Labone Junction for fried yam and kelewele, the roar and street celebration had already died down, after just 15 minutes. I guess we'll have a peaceful evening around this polling station at least.

Electoral Commission counting the votes


Curious observers

Observers happily rejoicing as the NDC wins this particular polling station.

Ghana Elections 2008!

Who will win?
(Below: Nduom of the CPP, Akufo-Addo of the NPP, Atta Mills of the NDC and Mahama of the PNC)




I guess that is what we are all wondering now as elections have just began. On the news they've shown people who have been queuing outside their polling stations since 1a.m., clearly showing Ghanaians' desire to "exercise their franchise" (a phrase I heard for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th time this week).

Finally we are getting to the end of a year of political talk and campaigning. The world's eyes are on us and they, just like us, hope the elections will run smoothly. Went to an amazing rally on Friday, but the most entertaining sight was seen on our way there. In a trotro that was proudly waving the NDC flag, there was a woman in a CPP t-shirt next to her friend in a NPP t-shirt, both happily doing the kangaroo dance as the NPP convoy went by. The driver (who most likely put the NDC flag on the van) happily smiled and waved to the NPP supporters.

We laughed at the lack of loyalty the driver and CPP woman were showing to their parties, but mostly we were happy to see the good-natured mood of these people of varying political backgrounds, enjoying themselves together.

Let's hope that this will be the general mood of our elections today, after all we are one people, most of us even a mix of several tribes (because let's not ignore the tribal factor in this), who will live together no matter who wins this year. So I hope all of you who can vote get out there and do so peacefully today. Unfortunately we don't have the CNN high-tech election watch here, but 72 hours after voting closes we've been told we'll have the final results.

Can't wait!

Illustrating the political game

As our countdown gets to 6 days (only!) left to the elections, I have to pay special tribute to Akosua who draws the comics for the Daily Guide newspaper. Throughout the year, her comic strips have entertained me. However a quick review of the archives (read: a read-through of the pile of old papers pouring over themselves by Virgo's bedside) has me wondering if her comics are following the trend of the campaigns. Going from decently and entertainingly following the goings on, to getting as dirty as the politicians themselves! See for yourselves:

Focus on the internal structure and which running mate to pick...


...talk of old leaders threatening to regain power...


...boosting one's own credentials...


...then recently, our politics reached a new low with attacks by opposing parties, some wavering waaaay outside the realms of politics and (unfortunately?) documented even in cartoon form. Brace yourselves:



So Abena, although you missed the actual talk that morning, you'll have a fair idea of in which direction it headed, but don't worry, even those of us who saw it didn't catch these gory details, they were all said off-air.

Now I can only anticipate what juicy drawings Akosua has in store for us this final week!

The land of opportunity.

I am in shock. In disbelief. Although it was what I wanted, what was anticipated, I never dared to assume too much. The 44th president of the United States of America is Barack Hussein Obama. I am yet to have a proper reaction, there's been no laughter, no crying, just hands on face, staring at the TV. This could be due to exhaustion, after all it is tiring to stay up all night watching the numbers come in, state by state.

All I can say for now is thank you. Thank you America. Once again you have proven that you are the land of opportunity. The land I love to hate, the people I love to mock, have proven me wrong and I could not be happier. Obama's victory may not be beneficial to Africa in terms of funds and aid, but his victory means so much in the battle of race and ethnicity across the world. To think that people in their sixties can remember a time when they had to sit at the back of the bus, will now salute a black president. The man who was only the third black senator in American history, has made it to the top.

What makes it even more beautiful is the fact that he is a mixed raced man. A product of love between Africa and America, growing up in Asia. What person could personify unification of the world more?

Naturally, we should not forget that it is because of his competence that Obama was elected and as such, I look forward to watching how he handles the critical situation his country is now in and I hope and know he can handle it successfully. Lastly, I must say McCain showed great dignity and humility in his speech conceding defeat and I think he deserves all credit for that.

Now, I hope to be off to bed shortly, knowing that I will wake up to a world that is facing a brighter future. Once again, thank you, America!

Who will win?

It's getting so close now. The world is anxiously waiting. Has any other election gripped the world like this one? No matter who wins, history will be made. Will America see its first female Vice President (tofi akwa!) or its first African-American president? That brings me to another issue that's been on my mind for a while: is anyone outside of America actually supporting McCain??

Sweden is in majority behind Obama, Germans, if they were voting, would be 80% behind Obama and in France, out of our deliciously arrogant Frenchmen, 93% would readily vote for Obama! It is clear whom the world wants, now we just have to wait and see who America wants. As much as it is looking promising, they have disappointed us before, so I will wait and pop my Champagne when I am absolutely sure.

The main discussion topic around town (read: Facebook) is where to watch the election. It looks like Virgo and I will head over to SQB's, but just in case we don't manage, we're finally, as we speak, having our DSTV installed in the house. Another good option is to take in the moment with Americans in Accra at Headlines down the road from me in Labone.

What are your "valvaka" (that's Swedish for Election watch) plans? Whatever you decide to do, I hope I and you can meet dawn with a great new President elected. A President who stands for change, a change desperately needed in America. I hope and pray that two mavericks will not be selected, especially as I fear the main maverick may not survive the tough job of leading the US through a credit crunch and all else which comes with leading the world's most influential nation. If he were not to survive, it would mean him giving way to the most ridiculous maverick political history has seen in my lifetime; a maverick who makes a drunk Jeltsin seem the most respectable politician!

Ah well, in just a few hours we shall know. Enjoy the Valvaka!

Africa unite

I really wasn't going to write about the election today, but it's too close, too exciting not to mention it! I hope things go my way, but with these things (and previous Florida practices) one can never be sure. It's only sad that Obama's grandmother didn't hold on for another day or two to find out the results.

The only other news item which manages to distract my attention from the election is the situation in D.R. Congo (please, that's NOT pronounced Doctor Congo, a mistake both BBC and our own GTV reporters have made in the past). With supplies finally being sent to the victims of yet another autrocity, what were they given? Food? Drink? No, soap and some plastic malarkey. Come on people, let's give them what they need to survive before looking into their hygiene requirements. Besides, without water, how the #¤%& are they meant to have any use of soap??

Picture of UN officials delivering aid, borrowed from the BBC

Well, on the issue of need, a topic which often comes up is whether Obama winning will be beneficial for Africa. Bush gave a lot of funds during his presidency and past experience tells us that Democrats tend to focus more on domestic affairs rather than international matters.

Should this be a worry for us? Should we not be more worried about the fact that such an issue is still being raised? Why is the huge continent of Africa looking for help and rescue from America? It is time we take matters into our own hands, build our countries and help each other. No more excuses! With the kind of wealth we have on this continent, it is disgraceful that due to maladministration we are still relying on help from the West. With what is happening in D.R. Congo, it is our African Union which should be providing support in the same way the European Union could give funds to Sweden after the huge loss of timber during Hurricane Gudrun in January 2005.

So how do we get there? I'm hoping we can 'do a China' and quietly restructure our countries (starting with Ghana of course) and after a few years shock the world by coming out with a booming industry and economy, where we'll be able to say 'thanks, but no thanks' to any support offered to us.

Of course, the proud, boastful African man will never do anything good under wraps, but rather starts screaming 'we've found oil, we've found oil!' before the first drop has even hit ground soil...

All Hallowes Eve

Oh how I love Americans! After all they entertain us more than any other nation of people. This time, politics have even taken over Halloween fashion! The new popular female costume is that of...Sarah Palin! Shops have sold out within days of stocking her costume. However, it's not only popular among women, but more so with men. I wonder how Sarah Palin and her fellow Republicans feel about that!


Rumour has it even Lindsay Lohan intends to dress as her. If you are on your way to a Halloween party and want to follow this trend, check this blog for tips on how to perfect the look.

As for me, I'm about to head off to bed with a fever which seems to be cooling down, and thanks to ECG, the lights in all of Labone have just gone off. How do I know it's all over Labone? I heard the screams of disappointment long before I realised they were off! Gotta love Ghana.

Happy Haaaallloooooweeeeeeen!


(OK, lights came on after twenty minutes, how else would I send this post...?)

Dirty tricks

The Republicans should not think we are confused at all. We know the game. With less than seven days to what looks like a losing battle, desperate times call for desperate measures. And at this point, no propaganda in the world can turn the polls around. The credit crunch also continuously reminds Americans of what the Republicans have done to their country.

So what to do, how to go about salvaging themselves before the elections? What better to do than to attack a Middle Eastern country in the hope that they'll retaliate before Nov. 4th? And if there's anything that can make Americans nationalistic, conservative and most unwilling to vote a non-Caucasian man (with a middle name like Hussein, shock horror!) as their President, it would be an attack by Middle Eastern 'terrorists' in the midst of elections.

Can you think of any other reason why the US would attack Syria for the first time since the invasion of Iraq in 2003? Seriously, McCain, Bush and other Republicans, this one is below the belt.

But for now, since the US has not confirmed the attack, we'll give you the benefit of the doubt!

The heat is on

It's hot. Too damn hot. Last week I thought my few weeks abroad had made me sensitive to the heat and humidity but now there's no denying. It has begun. The steady rise in temperature that culminates in Otso Klikli, meaning that until March/April it's just going to get hotter and hotter and hotter. Even thinking of it makes me feel warm again.

The windows are closed, curtains are drawn, to prevent any rays of sunshine from bringing in extra heat and the AC is at its coolest, and still, I'm hot. I guess my mum was right, for a person born during one of the coldest Novembers in Sweden, moving to Ghana would require some adjustment. Still, I don't remember feeling this way last year, of course, then I was in my old job in that freezing office where I had to wear socks at my desk and wrap myself in a pashmina (ah, the good old days)!

Somehow the rising temperature is a lovely metaphor for these times of elections too. With two and half weeks to the American election, beads will be trickling down our faces when we hear whether history will be written or whether the Americans will disappoint the rest of the world again, and just over seven weeks from now, we'll be bathing in sweat (sorry, but it's true) as we wait to hear the fate of Ghana, by then, longing for the dry winds of Harmattan.

But for now, to do my best to distract myself from the fact that for the next six months I'll be suffering in the heat, I'm going to catch up on the latest exciting blog which I hadn't heard of until yesterday, that of one of my favourite 'commentators', Posekyere! Now I just wait for another favourite to start blogging, her life and opinions seem interesting enough to fill pages.

Sijui, that's you!

Castro's back!

For weeks I have been wondering what's happening to Fidel Castro. It has been so quiet since Raoul took over I began to fear Fidel was no longer with us. Then, this Saturday he spoke out again. There are certain men who must be admired simply for the fact that they don't give a damn about what anyone thinks and therefore say exactly what they want. Castro is definitely one of them. There are not many of his comments I can disagree with relating to his opinions on the American election.

Personally, I never thought a black man would even get this far in a US election during my lifetime, but just as I begin to be impressed by the forward thinking nature of many Americans, I come across this video, which once again reminds me of the narrow-minded nature of the stereotypical red-neck.

...and suddenly, just like Castro, I can't help but feel it is a miracle that Obama is still alive, with all the ignorant, hateful people around in his country.

A nation of peace

...or something like that has been a constant message in the media for this year's elections, promoting the fact that we should all ensure peace leading to the December election. So far it seems to be working.

On Friday I attended Peter Ala Adjetey's funeral and fittingly found a seat somewhere between the lawyers and the political party representatives. Peter Ala Adjetey, a veteran NPP man and lawyer drew crowds of lawyers and members of the NPP party. Having been a speaker of Parliament and therefore having a state burial, other party members, former leaders and ministers from all party backgrounds were also present. About halfway through the service I realised Akufo-Addo, Rawlings, Mills and Kuffour were all sitting within 75 metres of each other.

A buzz went through the NPP audience when Akufo-Addo in his speech criticised Rawlings regime and all eyes turned to Rawlings. When during the story of Ala Adjetey's life it was mentioned how he commemorated three judges brutally murdered by Rawlings, I couldn't help but wonder what it felt like for Rawlings to sit at the front row, knowing the huge crowd was watching his every move. I was later reminded that Rawlings had even detained Ala Adjetey during his time in power and couldn't determine whether it took great guts or great audacity to attend his funeral.

Either way, I was extremely impressed by all the political big shots and the audience, that no one took the opportunity to campaign (Akuffo-Addo who spoke, did not in any way attempt to promote himself) and neither the personalities nor the crowd showed any animosity towards each other, even though we're less than two months to an election with a lot at stake.

The whole funeral almost ground to a halt as Kuffour was doing his goodbye rounds when leaving, every person wondering what would happen when he would reach Rawlings. Before he got there, all cameramen were already in place, almost blocking him from accessing Rawlings. Both men satisfied the crowd by showing greatness as they reached for each other and shook hands. I felt enormous pride that at such a time and with a very dramatic past two decades, these to opposing leaders could smile and shake each others hands.

As soon as the handshake was done, the composed nature of the crowd dissolved into a chaotic but good-tempered soar as people found their way to their political groups. A funeral which had looked like a staunch NPP event due to Ala Adjetey's background, showed itself quite mixed as a huge crowd of supporters rushed to greet and cheer Rawlings.

It was only then I realised what a composed crowd it had been. Men had stood side by side with their political opponents for hours, containing themselves to this point and only exposed their affiliations to celebrate their leaders rather than fight amongst each other.

Aaah, what a peaceful land!