The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

It's no secret that I support Paa Kwesi Nduom (PKN) in the upcoming Ghanaian election. I've heard this man speak a couple of times, met him in person, and we have more of the same ideologies for Ghana. His track record is magnificent; he has succeeded in his various ventures and has paid his dues to Ghana. In the aftermath of Ghana's golden jubilee and the relative goodwill we enjoy in the global arena, we need to enlist and rally ourselves in a vision that would bring us national prosperity now and a mission that would get us there. We need to act now while we are enjoying this goodwill and time of patriotism, these times may not be with us for a long time. PKN is the leader we need at this time. Apparently, someone who didn't know about my support for Paa Kwesi Nduom gave my email addresses to Akufo Addo's campaign and they have been bombarding me with campaign emails. Does that amount to spamming? Maybe, maybe not. I can't fault them for trying but not everyo...

My alter ego, Maximus Ojah, just blogged on GhanaThink about Ghanaian workers. I'll be featuring the Lettas to Osagyefo on this blog. Below is the full post. Hello Osagyefo, A lot has happened since I last wrote to you. Chief among them, the Beijing Olympics just ended over the weekend. I share in your disappointment; our beloved country failed to win a single medal. Either our athletes are not good enough to earn our national anthem some airtime on the world stage or we are not investing enough in various sports disciplines so that we can be counted amongst countries with medals. We went there to make up the numbers. But we didn't even have the numbers - our contingent was less than a score (Ha, always wanted to use this expression). In the meantime, our current president handed out a ton of medals recently to about 200 people who have served our nation in various ways. Each 18 carat gold medal cost 33,000 pounds. Here's a good debate Kwame: should we have spent this gold ...

Many Africans are in love with Guinness. You can check the records, some of Guinness (Diageo's) best business is done on the continent. I will never forget the day I heard the CEO of Diageo Africa speak at the Harvard Business School African Business Conference (HBS ABC) and talk about how the company is doing brisk business in Africa. Two words I won't forget from that speech: bottles and business. Whatever speech you give, no matter how boring, great, thorough and intellectual it is, follow this guy's lead, give your audience a couple of sentences or words to remember. Guinness is also a mark of happiness in some places, which includes Ghana. Take this scenario, when Ghana played Namibia in the 2008 African Cup of Nations and won by a lone goal, many Ghanaians were down, disappointed and angry. They expected the Black Stars to annihilate the Brave Warriors. A one-nil victory was as good as a loss, and Guinness felt the losses too. The bars and spots were empty and Diageo ...

As long as I can remember, the notion of every person needing three square meals a day has rung from sea to shining sea. The truth is, I don't remember having three square meals consistently ever since I started living in the USA. I can't afford it and even if I could, I probably wouldn't. Thanks to my Mum, I do get 3 excellent meals when I am in Ghana though. I make sure to eat two heavy meals each day, within 8-10 hours for the second. This is the mantra I follow, unless I am really hungry. Well, this morning, I was really hungry. It was about 11am and I began wondering where I'd have lunch, what I'd eat and how I'll get the food. After spending $20 on the two previous days' lunches, and a further $20 more on dinner Thursday night, I voted unanimously not to purchase food. Cuz I'm a hustler, baby! I made a couple calls to some Stanford students who had meal plans. I finally retrieved an ID number, that's all I needed. I confidently walked up into t...

So finally, I saw the movie, 'Life and Living it' again. I first saw it while I was in Ghana in the early part of the year. I joined my brother and a lot of KNUST students to experience the Tech premiere. In the days, where the Rex and Roxy Cinemas of Ghana are extinct, any Ghanaian movie that has the guts to have a premiere or cinema showing really means business. Sparrow Productions does. I watched this movie in a movie theater atmosphere, with crowd reaction at its peak and surround sound quality. I thoroughly, I mean, totally, enjoyed the experience. The movie itself was awesome. Flat out the best Ghanaian production I have ever seen until convinced otherwise. 'Life and living it' is a movie about four young men just navigating their daily lives. The movie has a star cast - the foursome are - Brew Riverson Jnr, Adjetey Annan (Pusher of Things We Do For Love fame), Chris Attoh and Nana Kwame Osei Sarpong. Other actors and actresses are Fritz Baffour, Rama Brew, Bib...

The Olympics is totally the biggest sporting event. Some may argue for the World Cup, but even though the Mundial is grand and is centered around the passion of the nation (aka football), all other sports have some different fans who pay attention to the Olympics. For instance, I have a couple of friends who could care less about football but will stop work to watch Michael Phelps and the 100 metre sprint. I didn't catch the opening ceremony, it's always the greatest spectacle of celebration. Ghana's contingent was very small and they were clad in kente. I've heard people complaining about the choice of attire, about how kente has been accepted by the greater Black community and we can't claim it anymore. Nonsense! People should know we are the originators! :-) The Ghanaian contingent held their own, you can't miss us, we are colourful and we stand out. I was very disappointed the Black Meteors failed to make it to the Olympic soccer tournament. We have a lot of...

Just wanted to share a poem I wrote about Africa. I wrote it sometime in February 2007. I wrote it for MIT's Pulse concert, a celebration of Afro-Diasporean culture. I was exploring some of the ways in which Africa was different from the rest of the world and the various little things we cherish that may not be glorified or celebrated in the media. Enjoy! Why I love Africa It takes a village to raise a child It takes a male child to start a village It takes a female child to educate them all In Africa One man’s inactive car Is many other men’s community service Because you will need others When your own car breaks down in Africa It doesn’t fall into winter And then spring into summer People may be raining away But life and warmth never run dry in Africa Tangerine tree, football field, sugarcane seller Very different but similar Who needs Mapquest? In directing and navigating All landmarks are on deck, in Africa What if the peanut seller is sick with malaria? There are a hundred an...