GHANA

Facts and Figures

Location-Southern coast of West Africa, Cote d’Ivoire on West, Burkina -Faso on North, Togo on East
Area-239, 460 sq.km
Topography - Low fertile plains, grasslands, crisscrossed by many rivers.
Population - 22,500,000
Distribution - 39 % urban
Ethnic Groups - Akan 44%, Moshi-Dagomba 16%, Ewe 13%, Ga 8%, Gurma 3%, Yoruba 1%
Languages –English (official), 75 others including, Akan, Moshi Dagomba, Ewe and Ga
Religions –Christian 63%, indigenous beliefs 21%, Muslim 16%
Capital City – Accra
Major Cities- Kumasi, Tamale, Takoradi
Government Type – Republic.
Head of State and Government – President John Agyekum Kofour, since 2001
Currency – Cedi (GHC) 9,172= $ 1 US
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – $ 55 bln
Per Capita GDP -$ 2,500
Economic Growth Rate:- 4.3 %
Economy – Cocoa, rice, coffee, minerals, fish, hydropower, rubber, tourism
Electricity Production – 6.5 bln kwh
Literacy – 58%
Life Expectancy – 58 male, 60 female
AIDS Rate – 2.3 %
Railroads- 965 kms
Ports - Tema, Takoradi
Airports - 7
Vehicles - 200,100 units
Telephones – 313,000 lines
Radios – 680 per 1000 people
TV sets – 115 per 1,000 people
Daily Newspaper Circulation - 13.9 per 1000 people
Internet – 368,000 users

Facts and figures are the latest available at time of publication and may not necessarily be the most accurate.

Africa s Steady Black Star

Kwame Nkrumah - Father of the Nation

Career Milestones
- First President of the first newly independent nation in Africa, 1957
- Promoted large scale infrastructure development, Great Volta River Dam, schools, hospitals, roads
Career Low- points
- Put the nation in debt
- Became repressive, arrested opponents
- Accused of corruption
- Overthrown by 1966 police – army coup

Ama Ata Aidoo - The Conscience of Ghana

Career Milestones

- Global recognition for contributions to African literature, as writer and scholar
- Veteran of liberation struggle and steadfast pan – Africanist
- Minister of Education, early 80’s,
under Jerry Rawlings

Career Low-points
- Disappointment following
independence in 1957, after she believed the liberation struggle had failed to live up to expectations.

Kofi Annan - The Consumate Diplomat

Career Milestones
- Verteran UN diplomat, under -Secretary General in charge of Peacekeeping
- First African UN chief,1997

Career Low- points
- Accused of incompetence
- Alleged to have sat by powerless during Rwanda Genocide
- Indirectly implicated in controversial Oil for Food (Iraq) program.

Bulwark of Stability

Ghana is a peaceful nation of good natured peoples that despite immense variety, is a more unified country 50 years after independence. Were this also attributable to much of the rest of Africa…
Africa’s Black Star
The Republic of Ghana is the only West African country not to have been at war with neither itself nor others. There have not been glaring tribal and/ or religious divisions in Ghana’s 50 years of independence. The average person is first Ghanain before they consider themselves as Ga, Akan or Moshi.
‘G’ is for Ghana as it is for gold. And gold is what gave rise to it its old name of, ‘The Gold Coast’. There were many coast’s – Ivory, Slaves and Gold then being the chief West African ‘exports’. The importance of gold in Ghanaian society is probably unmatched anywhere else. The Ashanti people of northern Ghana in particular, are famed for their lavish ceremonies which glitter with an abundance of the precious yellow metal.
The Republic of Ghana is a respected member of numerous international organizations. In Africa, it is highly influential as one of the OAU’s Founding States. Ghana’s first president and in many respects, Father of the Nation, Kwame Nkrumah, holds an eminent position in modern African history. Nkrumah’s Pan-Africanist credentials have earned Ghana an impeccable record of active involvement in liberation struggles across Africa. A nugget of history, –Ghanaian soldiers under British command participated in the expusion of Italian forces from Ethiopia in 1937.
Ghanaian peacekeepers carry on that Pan-Africanist tradition in various hotspots around the world. In its own sub-region, Ghana, along with Nigeria, has worked tirelessly to settle the messy civil wars in Liberia, Sierra-Leone and Cote d’Ivoire.

Reggae artistes coming for the millennium

Ethiopia’s millennium is getting much closer and the talk of the coming of VIPs is also roaming in the city.
One of the positively expected artistes for the millennium is the famous reggae musician and DJ Spragga Benz.
Dancehall DJ Spragga Benz first rose to prominence in the early ’90s with a series of Jamaican hits that earned him a brief major-label shot with Capitol. Benz was born Carlton Grant in Kingston on May 30, 1969, and earned the nickname “Spaghetti” as a youth because of his slim build; it would later mutate into his stage name, Spragga. He became a disc selector for the L.A. Benz sound system, and first tried his hand at toasting in 1992 on a dare from Buju Banton, who needed B-sides for some dubplates he was cutting for the sound system. Benz tossed off some lyrics off the top of his head, and the response from the studio onlookers was so great that Benz soon cut two A-sides of his own, “Love Mi Gun” and the lascivious “Jack It Up.” The songs quickly made him an underground sensation, and soon multiple labels and producers were clamoring for his services. He scored breakout hits with “Could a Deal” (produced by Winston Riley) and “Girls Hooray” (Steely & Clevie), not to mention “Jack It Up,” a major success once it was released to a wider audience.
The other artiste also expected for the millennium is: Andrew Tosh, son of reggae legend Peter Tosh.
Born on June 19, 1967 in Kingston, Jamaica, Andrew seemed preordained for a life in music. His first recording came in 1985, when he cut a song he wrote called “Vanity Lover” for Neville Lee’s Gorgon label. Andrew began to tour, wowing audiences in Europe as well as North and South America. He has been especially successful in Brazil, where he has appeared several times in Sao Paulo, Rio, and Curitiba. His first album, Original Man, was a mixture of his tracks and those of his father. Currently, he has produced a major tribute to his father, (executive-produced by Bunny Wailer), called Andrew Sings Tosh, which shall be released shortly.