Ghanians New Novel; Highlights Ghana's Scam Year of Return Using Black Americans To Increase Tourism & Outlines The Hypocrisy Found In Ghana

Friday, 18 August 2023

By: TB Obwoge

First and foremost, this book, 'No One Dies Yet', is written by a Ghanian by the name of Kobby Ben Ben. It is not out yet, please get it, the end of August, I think this book will highlight the many things I hated about living in Ghana.

For those that want to get angry with me, of course NOT ALL Ghanians behave this way, however this is a country playing on the fact that they're welcoming to ALL (BLACK) PEOPLE AND IT IS NOT TRUE! However this was my life for 2 years and it was a lot of people, there are no laws or anything to make them stop the colorism and xenophobia especially. Ghana was NOT my first time living in an African country, I didn't see or get this in Kenya.

The colorism, the refusal to see American born Blacks as even real Black people, this was said by some. Others do not see lighter skin as Black at all. The "othering" of Black Americans, as if Blacks from America are "thugs, criminals, don't do anything, don't get an education."

Ghana's refusing to teach Ghanians about slavery and the slave trade. Many Ghanians don't know that their ancestors own slaves, there are several stories of child slavery in Ghana in modern day, check out articles about Lake Volta.

Ghanaian perceptions

The author said almost every person visiting Ghana has Yaa Gyasi’s award-winning novel Homegoing, an exploration of the legacy of slavery, “thrust into their hand, but there are other issues happening in Ghana too. We are more than the castles”.

“African Americans forget that although their ancestors were enslaved, we were colonised and still have a colonised mindset, particularly when it comes to the US,” he says.

Until the murder of George Floyd by a police officer, Ben Ben says many people in Ghana didn’t know that the US “was such a racist place and that people like us don’t thrive in America”.

“We should open channels and get people in the diaspora and locals together,” he says.

“I would love that people come to Ghana in a sustainable way, helping out locals and making sure that the economy doesn’t go to hell with the influx of the diaspora. But we should not be posing ourselves as the only African country to bring everyone home.”

Source: The African Report

The xenophobia and hatred for other Black Africans, especially Nigerians and South Africans. Housing discrimination is common practice and I've still documented recent housing adverts that don't allow Nigerians. Adverts reading "decent Nigerians", yet these morons are not asking for decent Ghanians because they assume Ghanians are better than anyone else.

After 2 years, I don't think I could ever continue living in Ghana, the discrimination and focus on my lighter Black skin, the hatred for other Black Africans is too much for me to ignore. Plus their government overlooking all their issues, schools, roads, healthcare and education is not good at all.

Also the prices are rising and it's the economy every where, however the foreigners are allowing the Ghanians to price things to high. Accra, the capital is too high for the average Ghanian and they are seeing how the Blacks from America and others are the cause.

 The Article was written by "The Africa Report" I will discuss portions. 

Kobby Ben Ben is an Accra-born multidisciplinary artist, bibliophile and bookstagrammer, who was inspired to document his country during this flagship year.

"I write about the euphoria in the city and the hypocrisy of the Ghanaian government strategising to bring in African Americans to restore the tourism economy and get foreign exchange into the country," Ben Ben says, speaking to The Africa Report from Ridge, the neighbourhood in Accra where his characters, Elton, Vincent and Scott, rent an Airbnb after arriving from the US.

Source: The Africa Report

After years of living in Ghana, you feel it, you hear it and you see it, it was not until a Chadian man in his early 20's said it, "Ghanians are hypocrites!" I felt that in my soul and he hit the nail on the head. 

PanAfricanist, yet hate all other Africans, especially the Black Africans around them. Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast gets all the blame for the around 100,000 street children, crime, trash and other issues.

Church goes yet judgmental of everyone else only their culture is prefect, but not those tiny tribes they're not one of us. The Asante's are everything, yet they don't tell you how their originally 4 feet tall and under, they used the Northerners to breed taller children. But you ain't heard that from me!

Not a celebration of Blackness

The Americans were interested in getting to know the city's underground queer scene, and for this, they hired the book-loving Kobby, whom they found on the Man4Man app.

When he's not foraging for second-hand books sold by street vendors or stockpiling over-the-counter drugs to use when he's depressed or bored, Kobby frequents the privileged and tolerant circles of Accras's art scene.

Source: The Africa Report 

When he's not foraging for second-hand books sold by street vendors or stockpiling over-the-counter drugs to use when he's depressed or bored, Kobby frequents the privileged and tolerant circles of Accras's art scene.

Read above, Kobby frequents the privileged and tolerant circles of Accra's art scene. That's it, that's it right there, I didn't have money, I didn't have a crash course in where to live, so that people wouldn't insult my fatness, my light skin, or my dreadlocks. I lived in areas like Santa Maria, Hill Top, there were no foreigners, ever that I saw in my almost 4 months there before I moved.

East Legon was more Lebanese but the mix of other Africans was good to me, they were kind and welcoming. I never had any issues with an African who was not Ghanian. We would talk about how they treated foreigners and how you need to shop with a Ghanian to get prices that locals were charged. I also had to use Ghanians to translate for me, I learned the insults in Twi quickly, there were a lot of insults.

Years of neglect

Ben Ben says that instead of the Year of Return being a celebration of Blackness, Ghanaians weren't included in the festivities, primarily because prices shot up and locals couldn't afford to participate. The protagonist reflects on this reality in the novel.

"For city dwellers like me, the Year of Return was a silo's worth of weevils boring holes into our savings."

The city of Accra is a central theme in the book, and Ben Ben doesn't hide his passion for his home city.

Source: The Africa Report 

Ghanaians weren't included in the festivities, primarily because prices shot up and locals couldn't afford to participate.

Ghanians daily minimum wage is around $1.10 (this is the newer wage) the housing in Accra, Ghana are the second most expensive according to the incomes of the average Ghanian. A water seller can make as little as 5–10 GHS a day, people often try to humiliate them, driving off while waving the money out of the vehicle. I have seen people do this to street venders. 

Ghanaian perceptions

The author said almost every person visiting Ghana has Yaa Gyasi's award-winning novel Homegoing, an exploration of the legacy of slavery, "thrust into their hand, but there are other issues happening in Ghana too. We are more than the castles".

"African Americans forget that although their ancestors were enslaved, we were colonised and still have a colonised mindset, particularly when it comes to the US," he says.

Until the murder of George Floyd by a police officer, Ben Ben says many people in Ghana didn't know that the US "was such a racist place and that people like us don't thrive in America".

"We should open channels and get people in the diaspora and locals together," he says.

"I would love that people come to Ghana in a sustainable way, helping out locals and making sure that the economy doesn't go to hell with the influx of the diaspora. But we should not be posing ourselves as the only African country to bring everyone home."

Source: The African Report

Oddly enough, the "colonized mind", I found so much White Supremacy mentality within Ghana, so much of it, it makes you sick.

Thank you for reading 🙏🏽 Please consider buying a coffee for Lacey’s House efforts in Gender Equality & Children’s Rights as it tries to move international.

©️TB Obwoge 2023 All Rights Reserved