SO PROUD TO BE A GHANAIAN!

I am writing today's posting en route, as I am being driven to meet with someone at the old Salaga market, near the General Post Office headquarters - my two thumbs picking out letters to form words, on my RIM smart phone's keyboard, at lightening speed.

Looking around me as we head towards the city centre from my Accra base at McCarthy Hill, it strikes me that Accra, our chaotic capital city, is actually a very fascinating place, despite its many shortcomings.

It pulsates with life that is full of energy. And what a phenomenally hard-working people most Ghanaians are. Ditto a pretty cheerful lot too, generally - despite the many difficulties their challenging economic and social environments make them face daily.

There is definitely something very energising about Accra - and the same phenomenon seems to be at work in most of the other towns and cities across Ghana. Cool - as many young Ghanaians are wont to say.

This is a very special place, and Ghanaians are a very special people, indeed - and certainly deserve their reputation as one of the friendliest people in the world.

We may have our fair share of the deviants and dodgy characters that virtually every nation on the surface of the planet Earth has, but this is a great place to be, nonetheless, at this point in time, in our fast-changing continent's history.

Somehow, today, I simply can't help feeling proud to be a Ghanaian - and to live in the stable oil-producing and democratic African nation-state, whose fascinating capital city, this fairly safe, welcoming and tolerant modern African urban environment, is.

The continued stability of our country is vital. That is why it is important that ordinary Ghanaians, particularly the non-tribalistic younger generation, don't allow Ghana's mostly self-seeking politicians to divide them.

Selfish politicians must not be allowed to succeed in setting ordinary Ghanaians against each other - just so that they can ride off the backs of the masses to power and enrich themselves, members of their family clans and their cronies, at the expense of the rest of us: exactly like the perfidious Kufuor & Co., ended up doing. But I digress.

Now parked at Gbese, in the heart of Accra - and hometown of the indigenous people of one of the Ga State divisions. I can hear a power drill at work in an old building being renovated - one of many such projects one comes across often, in Accra. I see two young builders, one in a hard hat, at work filling a wheelbarrow with sand. (Incidentally, stylish new buildings seem to be springing up everywhere, too. Amazing.)

This part of Gbese, which borders and merges seamlessly into the old Salaga market, seems to have lots of micro-entrepreneurs - selling provisions and food mainly. There's a lot of good-humoured ribbing going on too. No wonder many well-travelled foreign visitors think Ghanaians are at the top of the list of the world's friendliest people.

Gbese is a place where a sense of community is deeply ingrained in most people. As a matter of fact, it is more like a village than part of a major city - which in a sense it is: being part of the hometown of the people of the Gbese division of the pre-colonial Ga State.

And there are lots of mobile phones being used to connect their owners to others - probably doing business deals or touching base with family and friends. Mobile technology is definitely an enabler and pervasive in the Ghana of today - empowering millions of people in diverse ways.

Above all, there are so many young people around - our great nation's future. Of course, I probably won't be around when they take over the running of our country, but I am sure they'll make it work for their generation when the time comes.

I wish them and our marvellous country, well. I am now finishing this posting in the last stop on my to-do-list for today - the Vodafone internet cafe at the High Street.

Again that is also full of many young people. There's an agitated Chinese customer, talking loudly on his mobile phone, blasting someone at the other end, in heavily-accented English - attracting attention and considerable mirth from the relatively laid-back Ghanaians in the internet cafe, who probably instinctively know that getting one's blood pressure up needlessly like that, shortens one's life.

Now heading back home to McCarthy Hill again - to meet with yet some more people: this time farmers from Thompsonakura near Kyekyewere and Teacher Mante - and as I look around me observing life in fascinating Accra, I can't help feeling so very proud to be a Ghanaian. If there is indeed a God, may he bless and protect our homeland Ghana, always!

Tel (Powered by Tigo - the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109.