The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

My brothers and sisters in Ghana and across the continent, Once again, distressing images have flooded our timelines: Ghanaians evacuated from South Africa , shops attacked, harassment in townships, and the painful label of “xenophobia.” As I sit in Accra reflecting on my own experiences in Mzansi , my heart feels heavy. This piece, co-written with my South African alter-ego Siyabonga Mthimkhulu , draws from candid conversations I initiated with several South Africans , my personal travels, and realities many outsiders miss. We need understanding and #MoreVim , not just outrage. My connection to South Africa goes back to November 2011. I visited both Joburg and Cape Town while there for Google work. And then in May 2013, I was in Cape Town for the World Economic Forum on Africa — #shapeafrica . Wearing my GhanaThink Foundation , badge proudly, I immersed myself in sessions, networking, and cultural exchanges. The city greeted me with Table Mountain watching over everything, th...

It was extremely beautiful when Africa was solidly behind Ghana's Black Stars at the latter stages of the World Cup in South Africa. One South African journalist re-designed the Ghana flag, replacing the Black Star with a Black map of Africa. I loved it. The Black Stars had been crowned 'Africa United' and the South Africans applied their "local is lekker" touch by christening them 'BaGhana BaGhana' to rhyme with their own Bafana Bafana. It made us all forget the May 2008 riots and xenophobic attacks. We've had the good and bad times, After a recent conversation with a friend in South Africa, I have come to learn that xenophobia in South Africa towards other Africans is quite real. It disappoints me. I love Mzansi, but such news troubles me greatly. To think that black South Africans would treat other black Africans with contempt is atrocious. We see South Africa opening up to the rest of Africa through Channel O, etc, but we need more than that. C...

The ‘8 GOALS FOR AFRICA’ song is part of an awareness and advocacy campaign developed by the United Nations System in South Africa on the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). 8 Goals for Africa features Yvonne Chaka Chaka from South Africa, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Angelique Kidjo from Benin, Hip Hop Pantsula , Mingas from Mozambique, Oliver Mtukudzi from Zimbabwe, Eric Wainaina from Kenya, Baaba Maal from Senegal, and the Soweto Gospel Choir from South Africa. World renowned jazz musicians Hugh Masekela and Jimmy Dludlu from South Africa are instrumentalists on the track, produced by Arthur Baker from the United States of America. Helen Clark, the chair of the UN Development Group which brings together all UN agencies working in development, today launched 8 Goals for Africa, a campaign song by eight of Africas best known musicians, calling for commitment to achieve the Millennium Development Goals - a set of eight internationally-agreed goals designed to reduce poverty, hun...

December 7th has come to pass. I was really hoping for the Convention People's Party to make an impact in this election. It was asking much to see Ghanaians give the CPP enough votes to win when they had such a poor showing in Election 2004. Well guess what? The CPP didn't do much better this year. It won just one parliamentary seat and won under 1.5% of the presidential vote. One poll had given the CPP 7% in the run-up to the election. What happened? Let's dissect it and see what the future holds for the CPP. This is only the beginning. The biggest reason why Ghanaians did not vote for the CPP was that a vote for the CPP was a waste. The ruling New Patriotic Party championed this message as well. Ghanaians want to vote for or support a winner. Ghana is an NPP-NDC nation. You'll have to ask yourselves why we support certain parties. The NDC has its world bank in the Volta region and that hasn't changed with Atta Mills at the helm. The NPP rules the Ashanti region ev...