Kajsa H.A.

In Ghana, election year comes with many activities. Except for the political events, speeches and rallys, the economy sees many hikes and lows. What is happening is that projects in the pipeline suddenly need to be executed as a 4 year period comes to an end. On one hand, this is great news, new roads are finally completed, there is work for everyone and business is flourishing. The downside of this increase in expenditure is heightened inflation and a weakened cedi exchange rate.

In April, Ghana’s inflation was at a year high at 9,1 percent (up from 8,8 percent the month before), reports AF Reuters. This morning on BBC, a report describing Argentina’s financial situation seemed to echo what is happening in Ghana. Hotel rooms, school fees, real estate is all quoted in US dollars as the value of the local currecy shifts so often (downwards) that it is no point setting prices in it.  The exchange rate influences the inflation rate. Bank of Ghana in their Inflation Outlook Report (April 2012) states:

The cedi weakened against the US dollar as a result of high demand for foreign exchange. In the first quarter of

2012, the cedi depreciated by 8.3 per cent against the US dollar, compared to 2 per cent depreciation in the
same period of 2011.
The weakening of the local currency started in the last quarter of 2011 and was driven by several factors
including the growing demand for foreign exchange to support increased economic activity due to the expansion
of the economy. A second, more structural factor is the changing nature of the trade pattern which is gradually

shifting towards Asia, especially China, for which transactions are mostly conducted on cash basis. The

persistent depreciation of the cedi can have far reaching consequences on the inflation profile. A third factor
relates to external sector conditions, such as the euro zone crisis which have also instigated investor portfolio
outflows from the bond market in the latter part of 2011. There are also the speculative activities by foreign
exchange traders trying to profit from the depreciation of the currency while other market participants seek to
hedge against further depreciation thereby exacerbating the situation.

In January, the exchange rate was 1.65 GHC to 1 USD. In April, I bought flight tickets for my family’s yearly trip to Sweden to the exchange rate of 1,78 GHC to 1 USD. Yesterday, the exchange rate announced on the evening news was 1,93! As imports are dominating the Ghanaian market, that is we do not produce many goods locally, this affects not just foreign travel, but almost every purchase in your daily life.

The effect on Ghanaians’ lives is immediately felt, as each week your salary can buy you less. Some goods such as cement is because of increased demand rising even quicker in price. A bag of cement that was 16 GHC in February is now 20-23 GHC! Just like in Argentina, there has been recent debate on if official numbers really capture the inflation “on the ground”. Dr Bawumia from the opposition has raised issues, the Ghana Statistical Survey has responded.  Regardless, this is a problem that Ghanaians carry into the upcoming election 2012. 

Read more in AF Reuter’s report, on Bank of Ghana’s website and Ghana Statistical Service. Photo from Flickr.

In this series, I am recommending my favorite blogs. This week, I’d like to share with you Nana Kofi Acquah and his blog: Africaphotographer. 

My friend and BloggingGhana member Nana Kofi calls himself a “storytelling photographer”, a description that is spot on. Maybe with the addition of “one of the best photographers in West Africa”.  Nana Kofi is not your ordinary camera guy as he was an English major in university, worked as a writer and only later took up photography. This makes for an individual who’s aim is to tell a story, choice of medium is secondary. Many times this interestingly leads to extraordinarily beautiful frames, often with movement in them, full of humor, highlights that grab your attention, or in the studio shoots a quiet – almost meditation like – stillness much more than a “frozen moment”.

Personally, I appreciate that he is not the kind of photographer that lets his photos alone tell the story. Nana Kofi Acquah does not hesitate to complement his photos with words, expressive titles or even long essays! Many times these words add a distinct political dimension that assures the viewer of that a photo is not decoration. A photo is a story.

An example of such a photo essay is Nana Kofi Acquah’s recent post Africa Will Rise. Africa is Rising.

Recently, BloggingGhana was invited to the Press Freedom Day event organized by the Ghana Journalists’ Association (GJA).

Our executive Nii Ayertey Aryeh, represented us at the event and here is the video evidence.

“We as bloggers recognize the importance of guarding the press freedom we enjoy today… We have a keen interest in putting Ghanaian stories online”

After just having posted photos from last week’s BlogCamp 2012 in Ghana, I thought this was pretty interesting. Came across this photo from a blog conference in Sweden, Bloggforum 2012. So this is what blogging events looks like in Sweden where blogging seems to predominantly be a female thing!

This is a photo of the speakers. One of my favorite Swedish bloggers Underbaraclara spoke about Blogs and Business, she is the tall brunette second from left. Pic borrowed from Underbaraclaras blogpost on the event.

Last Saturday, BloggingGhana held our first major event, BlogCamp12, as I wrote about in my last post.

Now it is time for the fun part, the photos from the event!

If you use these photos, please state the source.

I am still recovering from Saturday’s BlogCamp12 event at AITI-KACE. So many people! So many interesting people! So much fun! 

As the founder of BloggingGhana, I knew about the scale of the event, but as I have not been directly involved in the preparations I had somehow not expected the massive interest for blogging in Ghana! I was scheduled to be the opening speaker, first thing in the morning, with a short welcoming speech. For a Saturday morning with a Ghanaian crowd, I hadn’t really expected people to be present… but when entering the room, it was almost full!

Kafui writes a very detailed account including his highlights, but I like how he – just like me – was overwhelmed!

 Almost 400 participants ‘invaded’ the venue — the burning passion and quest for knowledge was simply overwhelming.

I had awakenings, epiphanies and inspirations throughout the event.

Ofoli-Kwei got the push he needed to start up his own blog,

 I’ve spent many a night brooding over the idea of having my own blog but the like we say in Ghana the ”vim” has never been enough.

But then I attended Blogging Ghana’s #blogcamp12 and the vim level shot up like crazy!

Nina enjoyed the break-out session on Women in Social Media,

At first we weren’t sure how many of us would be there, so we rearranged chairs into a small circle, which we enlarged a couple of times as more joined.  Although sometimes shyly, and often very quietly, participants started expressing their fears and concerns about women blogging and what they should/could talk about.

In house poet AntiRhythm summarized the event like this:

 Imagine my sweet surprise on seeing so many still-growing minds with yards of yen for social medial relevance at BlogCamp 2012; relevance as content creators and catchers too. Ghana’s rising the right way – led by the youth.

For more reactions, see the Twitter hashtag #BlogCamp12. Pics to come.

Now BloggingGhana has to quickly recoup and think about how we can harness this enormous interest for social media in Ghana! Thanks to all who came and made this day a loud-sounding voice of  a new generation! 

The groups of bloggers in Ghana I  belong to  is tomorrow doing our first major event! BlogCamp 2012! It is terribly exciting!

Hence, tomorrow I expect to

1. get up early (I’m the first speaker)
2. meet some interesting people
3. introduce some of them to BloggingGhana
4. learn more about blogging
5. get inspired to create more local content

See you tomorrow!

There has been some drama : After that first egg, no more came. This was curious as the hens were doing a egg laying sound (don’t ask me!) according to my husband. Apart from that, they seem to get on fine and happily walk around the backyard.

We got a partner for Jimmy, the guinea fowl we already had. Then Jimmy turned out to be a female. Luckily the new one was a male!

Then the other day, when one of the hens was missing, we decided to poke around to see if Adwoa Smart or Serwaa Akoto had laid eggs somewhere secret, and under some plantain leaves we found nine eggs, with a hen on  top!

So now we are excitingly hoping for a string of chicks.

To Be Continued…

I cannot stress enough that you need more people than the one(s) on your panel if to succeed with your  PhD – well this is what I think, anyways, halfway into the project. Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting up with three of my informal supervisors.

Ironically, the meeting I had scheduled with my official supervisor was cancelled as I missed our deadline last week. These are the three types of supervisors I have managed to get for myself totally outside the structures of  the university.

1. The Mentor

Here is a person who knows university politics, who remembers what it was like being in your too large PhD shoes and always shows support interspersed with some practical advice.

Will ask you: How are you?

2. The Senior Researcher

The Senior researcher has seen it all before and will suggest you look at the bigger picture, read the classics and start planning for the next step of your career.

Will ask you: What are your main variables?

3. The Visionary

The visionary points you to interdisciplinary related readings that you didn’t know existed, briefs you about the newest methods on the block with a YouTube video and asks some uncomfortable questions about your work.

Will ask you: Have you read Spivak?

Ideally, I think the culture of the academy starts and begins with sharing information, roadmaps and ideas, however I am still amazed at the generosity at which my informal supervisors have approached and challenged my work. If you read this, thank you!