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www.ghanaweb.com: Press Review of Monday, 2 May 2005
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=80545

EDITORIAL: Liberians Looking Down on Ghana ...

... While It Rises Above Us
The road to the beach here twists through dozens of
neighborhoods, and every one of them is God-fearing.
"Believe in Jesus Electrical Parts Store," says one
colorfully painted sign hanging in front of, well, an
electrical parts store. "God is Great Catering and
Fast Food," says a sign in front of a shack selling
cans of Fanta and Coca-Cola and tins of biscuits.

My friends and I - all Liberian - are on the way to
the beach, and indulging in a favorite Liberian
pastime: making fun of Ghana. Sure, Ghana is one of
our West African neighbors, but the country just seems
so different. Beyond the Ghanaian quirk - which occurs
far less often in Liberia - of naming businesses after
Bible verses, people here like kooky logos on their
buses that have nothing to do with transportation.
"Observers Are Worried" is posted on one bus. "Sea
Never Dry" is on another.

We don't like the food. "I can't believe these people
put tomatoes in ground-pea soup," I complain to one
Liberian friend over lunch at a local restaurant in
Accra.

We don't understand the social system. Ghanaian men
seem to like going out stag. "I just don't get it,"
says my friend, Richard, shaking his head. "When I
first moved here, these dudes invited me out. But the
whole night, it was just us guys. Who wants to go out
with just guys?"

Now, I'm not normally particularly nationalistic - I
dropped my Liberian passport after becoming a citizen
of my new home, America - but when I'm in Ghana, this
side comes out. Why? The answer, actually, is simple.
Even as I'm joining my Liberian expat friends in
making fun of Ghanaians, I know exactly why we're
doing this. We are jealous. We'll never say it out
loud, but Ghana is what we Liberians aspire to.

The list of what Ghanaians have that we don't is a
mile long:

Electricity Liberia hasn't had it since 1991, thanks
to the former President Charles Taylor and the civil
war he started. But here in Ghana, you can just walk
into a room and turn on a light, and it works. And
when it gets dark, you can still see.

Running water We don't have that in Liberia either,
again thanks to Mr. Taylor and Liberian government
officials more concerned with lining their own pockets
than with providing services most people would
consider basic. Taking a bath usually requires
contortions involving buckets. Alas, in Ghana, you can
take showers. What a treat.

A functional country

These Ghanaians may spend a lot of time coming up with
Biblical passages to name their businesses after, but
they seem to have figured out how to run a country,
something we Liberians have proved to be woefully
dismal at. People actually - though sporadically -
remove the garbage from the street in downtown Accra.
Downtown Monrovia has trash piled up higher than the
S.U.V.'s that the United Nations workers use.

To rub salt in the wound, there's even a Liberian
refugee camp just outside Accra for some 70,000
Liberians who fled the war. There are few amenities at
the camp; replicating things at home, the place is
devoid of flush toilets. But all is not lost - I've
heard the food there is way better than anything you
can find in downtown Accra.

Was it the inability of Liberians to form a really
unified society that did us in, or is it that
Ghanaians are just far more industrious than we are?
We have great bars and discos, and we love to party,
but we've made a mess out of running our country.

A few months ago, I went home to Monrovia to take a
look at the rebuilding going on now that Charles
Taylor is finally gone and our civil wars are over. I
arrived at Robertsfield Airport in Liberia and was
promptly hit up for a bribe by the immigration woman
who demanded my passport.

I didn't even think twice about giving her a dollar
when she asked me what I had brought home for my
people. I knew that was code for "give me money or
I'll keep you here in this hot little room until you
come to your senses."

Within three hours of my arrival back in Monrovia, I
was cavorting with friends at Musu's Spot, a rowdy
outdoor bar across the street from the United Nations
relief mission. West African highlife music was
blaring, and people were laughing and drinking our
delicious Club Beer.

If it weren't for the dozens of one-legged former
child soldiers begging for money on the side of the
potholed road, you'd have no idea that you were in a
city still recovering from 10 years of vicious civil
war.

I called my Liberian friends in Accra. "You should be
here," I yelled at Richard. But while Richard is happy
enough to make fun of Ghanaians whenever the mood
strikes him, he's no fool.

"Nope," he said. "I'm happy right here."

Source: OBSERVER

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