I find days like these hard to write about. The safest way to comment on a day of national celebration is from a purely visual perspective: across the country parades were held to celebrate the day featuring marching school children and acrobatics and martial arts displays in line with this year’s theme: ‘Investing In The Youth For A Better Ghana’. It was a day of pageantry and celebration during which students were reminded that ‘there are no shortcuts in life. Hard work pays.’

I’ve tried to find other angles into the day’s celebrations but I keep coming back to that speech.

If I was a student in Ghana I’d be tempted to ask – does hard work really pay? Throughout the country there are people working incredibly hard. Many of the children listening to that speech would come from families who work long hours for minimal pay. And yet, fifty-three years after Independence, Ghana sits at 152 on the UN’s Human Development Index. Life expectancy is at 56.5, literacy 65% and nearly 30% of the population lives below the poverty line. National debt stands at $5.4 billion. And you don’t have to travel far to put a human face to those numbers.

As any number of analysts argue, there’s plenty of context to explain the current state of affairs including leadership issues, neo-colonialism, the outflow of capital and resources, environmental impact of climate change, food prices, global economic crisis, foreign food subsidies and the policies of organisations like the World Bank and IMF. It’s a complex situation without simple solutions, and one that requires more than just hard work.

Personally, I think ‘work hard’ is lousy advice. It implies that no matter what you do, as long as you work hard that’s all that matters. Sure it was a short speech, to kids, but there was scope for something more. What about – be creative? Look to fields where Ghana can be a leader in the international arena? Use knowledge and information as a stepping stone to innovative solutions? Or even, take the opportunity to reflect on what history has to teach us. The world is faced with global challenges like climate change – we here in Ghana have something to teach the world; if only that traditional techniques and land practises are as relevant today as they were a hundred years ago.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe those standing in the sun listening to Independence Day speeches will be inspired by talk of 'struggle and toil'. Just maybe though people, youth included, are ready for something else.

All jobs advertised in the Ghanaian dailies, read exactly or almost the same as written above. Are we serious?!? Do we have a labour commission in this country?!?

Take any newspaper and read the job advertisements, about 90% of these adverts demand for unbelievable durations as in number of years of work experience in specified fields.

I believe the job market is growing over time yet, there still are a couple of issues that need to be attended to and one of these, is the issue of experience in specified fields. My worry is the fact that all employers want employees who have already been made by someone else. You will definitely need a working experience to get employed yet the question is; who gives these work experiences and does not?

One fact I think these employers are ignoring is the fact that first degree holders need just a year of working experience which is offered by the government under the National Service Scheme. Does one really need the years of working experience to achieve meet his targets and execute projects and assignments accordingly? In my candid opinion, people should be given employment based on potentials and good assessment of applicants which does not include 5, 8 and 10 years of work experience for first degree holders.

In actual fact, I don’t have to make sense with you but I still need Ghanaians to understand the fact that even a Senior High School graduate deserves a good paying job in any respectable outfit.

May I or may I not call on the National Labour Commission to take critical notice of these employers who quote these numbers of years for work experience; query their adverts and make them aware of the stated labour commission’s employment qualification specifications.

I have seen something I feel is not right and I know I ought to say it loud with loads of echo so it gets to the right authorities and that is what I am going to be doing for a very long time.

Indiscipline on our roads has grown to the extent that I feel the syndrome has caught up with our security forces. I am talking about the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit of the Ghana police force, especially the Traffic Conductors.

I Thought traffic lights were mounted to conduct and facilitate orderly movement of automobiles until I realized this perception was redefined by the traffic conducting unit of the Ghana Police Force. On several occasions, I have noticed; these traffic conductors do not even consider the signals from these traffic lights. They stop you when the lights turn green and ask you to go when the lights turn red. My question is this right? If it is, what justifies it? Is it the fact that these traffic conductors are members of the police force?

Anyway, if you got the right answers, then you know what I am talking about.

Lets not forget; “If you see a traffic light, red means stop, yellow means get ready and green means go, go, go and go.”

KHA KHA KHA KHA

It gets 4 of 5 KHA’s.

Cinderama was a lovely and vivid play, easily the best I have seen at the National Theatre.

The play, which I wrote about last week here, was written by Efo Kodjo Mawugbe and had some funny and quirky details such as a storyteller who doubled as the Chief’s/King’s linguist or spokesperson and who switched between his roles with a comic “duty calls”. A prince who was studying in London and came onto stage with a hand luggage trolley. A main character in Cinderama who over all wanted to study “agricultural engineering” and who’s beads – not shoe – was left behind at the palace as an only clue to the one who caught the prince’s heart…

The direction of the crew of 16 by Fransesca Quartey was clearly successful in that the message came across (children have rights too!) and through imaginative and quick transitions between scenes (this is normally a problem in Ghanaian theatre). Also, I had to control myself to not shed a tear only 10 minutes into the play. We shrieked with laughter in other scenes. Well done!

Light and sound was coached by Technical Producer Tobias Stål and added a professional feel to the story. Afterwards someone said that the smoke maschine has not come on, well, we did not miss it!

Costumes were colorful and with that extra theatre glamour inclusive of glittering stones, gold threads and many costume changes by costume designer Fabiola Opare Darko and beads – which played an important role – by Kati Torda of Suntrade.

However, some scenes, particularly the one with the gravedigger was in local languages which left out parts of the crowd when others laughed seemingly without end. Throughout the 1,5 hours of the play the worst clichés were avoided, but towards the finale the fairytale ending became almost too sweet with Cinderama vowing to stay in Ghana to “help her country” and the prince nodding along. The interesting nuances in the evil sisters’ behavior earlier in the play were gone when curtains were drawn.

All in all, Cinderama is a heartwarming story.

And the best is yet to come, as the play now leaves the National Theatre and Accra and starts touring the country. I feel so glad many young people in Ghana will have the chance to embrace Cinderama and see family theatre at its best!

Ps. After touring in Ghana, the play travels to Sweden see schedule here or order your own performance here.

It is a fascinating concept. To date, e-books have primarily been a digital rendering of the paper version. The electronic format, however, offers the opportunity to completely challenge this format.

At a simple level, there’s the Choose Your Own Adventure model – the opportunity for the reader to send the story off in a variety of different directions. To date the reader has been given the chance to control the outcome, but what if the reader were to be offered even greater control?

What about the back story? While the main character’s years in the wilderness (or the like) may not be integral to the basic story, the reader may enjoy a brief diversion to delve into a few ulterior motives. (Hold my place! I’ll be back in a moment!) Or what of the secondary characters? Again, linked text would allow the reader to go off on a tangent.

With the removal of many of the physical limitations of publishing (ie.trees and shipping) there is also scope for an author to publish timely updates. Just as we have become used to downloading software updates, perhaps we are moving towards a time when readers will be able to lobby authors for an update on their favourite character; available for download in the months or years after initial publication.

It would also be good to see a non-linear telling emerge in non-fiction. History texts are one genre that would be perfect for this approach. In moving beyond a simple page-by-page rendering of events, history can be placed in multi-dimensional context. Imagine being able to give a high school student a history text on the second world war that layered politics and military strategy with sport, music and literature. And no matter how large the volume of information, it would only ever be an inch thick.

Perhaps the time is coming when we no longer teach prospective authors to plot like this,but rather, like this.