He stayed on after making history and breaking his own records. Eventually, he lost the trust of his own people and bowed out with mixed reactions.

The local tactician is adored in African football and beyond. He is the most successful coach with regards to the African Cup of Nations tournament, and his records with the Pharaohs will take a great deal for any successor to break.

Shehata’s exit as coach of the north African country was a classic case of anticlimax. The 61-year-old was hailed as a demi-god, who did the unpredictable.

He won the continental flagship back-to-back-to-back, a feat yet to repeat itself in Nations Cup history.

For seven years he terrorized African teams with his tactics that almost never failed. Between 2006 and 2010 he made both friends and foes on the continent. During that period he won the trophy three consecutive times.

The longest serving Egyptian coach could not transcend the African continent during his love fable with the Pharaohs. His biggest failure is the fact that he never managed to qualify for the World Cup with Egypt. He came close in November 2009, but a fiercely contested play-off with arch-rivals Algeria did not swing his way. That said he was still regarded as the most successful trainer in Africa.

Highest ranking ever

There are more records. During his tenure, the former Zamalek forward led Egypt to their highest ever Fifa ranking. They held on to the ninth slot for three months in 2010 – July to September. The seven-time African champions ruled the chart on the continent for a very long time before west African nation Ghana toppled them. It is no wonder he was ranked 14th worldwide in the Best Coaches chart for 2010 by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS).
Coming fresh from Angola 2010 with his third consecutive trophy, The Emperor’s market value skyrocketed. Nigeria were one of the suitors that approached him that same year to hold their hands and lead them to the World Cup, if only for a few months around the tournament, but he turned them down. He criss-crossed the continent, letting out secrets of his successes at Caf/Fifa organised events.

That glory did not last. The Master allowed loyalty to his employer, the Egyptian FA, to influence his decision and he clinged to his job. A difficult decision was made. The same bosses that cajoled him to remain with all the bumper enticements plotted his exit when the going got tough. Shehata should have read between the lines when everything began to bend in the 2012 Nations Cup campaign.
Out of 12 points, Egypt struggled to steal two. Four games with only two draws against the likes of Niger, Sierra Leone and South Africa in Group G is nerve-racking. His first game against Sierra Leone at home was a draw. Minnows Niger stunned the giants with a 1-0 win, before the 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa heightened the Pharaohs fear with another 1-0 victory in March.

Unbearable heat

The heat became unbearable last week. Shehata was held to a goalless draw at home by
Bafana Bafana. A result that makes it virtually impossible for the 2006 Nations Cup hosts to defend their title in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

They have two games left to redeem their image. However, it is obvious the Pharaohs have lost the magic that could have taken them to the 28th edition of the Caf competition.

With hindsight, the two-time Egyptian league top scorer [1976-77 and 1979-80], should have rejuvenate his team, but the grandmaster refused to send call-ups to the U20 and U17 squads to join the senior side, thinking he had a formidable and everlasting team, not knowing age was beginning to seriously tell in the Pharaohs squad. A point that he must not miss in his final notes before handing the reigns over to his successor.

In the world of love, it is often said the very one that makes you happy is the same one that makes you sad. Shehata brought many smiles to Egyptians, and was the very person taking them away.

He will forever be remembered in the annals of Egyptian and African football as the man who led the north Africans to their three consecutive African Cup titles and at the same time the very person essentially leading them out of the tournament for the first time. What an oxymoron!

Sadly, Shehata failed to read the signs on the wall and did not walk off the stage while the applause was loudest, instead waiting until the crowd turned and booed at him. What a sad way to end his love career with the Pharaohs, although the ups and downs throughout his journey have made for a fantastic story in itself.

Anas Aremeyaw Anas

One of the most decorated investigative journalists in Africa, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, looks very athletic, but apparently what he hates is the most followed game on earth, football. The Ghanaian, who operates incognito, at least for the past 11 years, opened his doors to Goal.com to share with the public why he sees the beautiful game as ugly.

“In fact, I hate football,” the Kurt Schork Award winner surprisingly pointed out to Goal.com. “Football is something that when I see being played I become very angry. I don’t know why, but I hate football.”

The man of several disguises – a catholic priest in Bangkok prison, janitor at a brothel, smuggler, psychiatric patient, factory worker, philanthropist, crown prince, iman – did not mince words when he confessed he would not waste his savings to watch football. But at least, the soft-spoken journalist can give the sport some level of attention when it involves the Ghana national team, the Black Stars, on certain occasions.

“I think I couldn’t play football when I was young so I hated it. I don’t know why, but I will never spend a dime to go to a stadium and to watch football.

“Sometimes we all get patriotic if Ghana is playing, but I have never gone beyond our national team to support any other team like Hearts [of Oak] or [Asante] Kotoko and RTU. Even now I hear Arsenal and Chelsea [being mentioned all over], but I have no clue what they are doing.

“I enjoy the debate around football, especially superstition [because] for me it works. History will support the point that I’m making that on some number of occasions we have seen miraculous incidents happening within football that tells me strongly that there must be some level of superstition in the game and that it is not all the skills that comes to bare gives us the level of scores on the field,” the law student argued.

The former Ghana Journalist of the Year cited a scenario that happened in 1998 involving the two top clubs of Ghana, Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko to buttress his case. According to the grapevine, the oracles had told both teams to reserve one player to be the last to enter the pitch in a league game. Both teams played with 10 men and the referee had to stop proceedings to force the remaining two to be on the field. Their 11th players had to enter the inner parameter simultaneously, and the match ended 1-1.

The three-time Ghana Investigative Journalist of the Year recalled another incident involving RTU and AshantiGold some years back. He said an oracle had foretold that a particular lady needed to enter the pitch before the northern club can win that crucial game.

“RTU gave the lady a badge to indicate she was an official of the team. When she got to the gate for some reasons Goldfields fans got to know it was that lady. So they decided not to allow her in. It became a big scuffle.

“They kept pulling her dress until she became naked somehow, but as soon as her leg and head entered here was the first and then the second goal. RTU carried the day. If this is not superstition then what is it?” the 32-year-old quipped.

“Let’s not forget ‘the Miracle of El-Wak’ when Kotoko played Zamalek in 1987. Nobody expected Kotoko to win that match. How can we score three goals in the dying minutes and Kotoko fans will testify that it was the exact score given them from the oracles.

“Everyone is entitled to take his or her position on this topic, but I am saying I have seen superstition not working in many other fields, but in football yes. The facts are clear and I believe that it is always not the most excellent and skillful team that wins the match,” Anas stressed.

He is a walking trophy cabinet. The number of awards he has won is close to his years on earth. Among them he includes the Every Human Has Rights Media Award, KC Kuilsh International Award for Excellence in Print Journalism – 2009, Hero’s Award from the US State Department, Global Shining Light Award, a recognition by US president Barack Obama for “risk[ing] his life to report the truth” and ‘The Africa Pulitzer’.

The stadium is packed. Tension grips the air. The atmosphere tingles with excitement. The camera turns to one side of the arena and there is a huge man with a protruding belly fully dressed in African regalia. Both hands are aloft with live fowls. He looks to be in a trance as he paces back and forth, left and right and keeps chanting silently, words no one can understand.

He is there to cast a spell on the opposing team. At the other end of the stadium is another man daubed in his team colours and holding a pot full of a concoction made of leaves, water and dead frog. It is sacrilegious to the gods for him to sit. He goes around the pitch to exorcise the field of evils against his team. A spectacle synonymous at many domestic league centres of African countries. For the Christians who frown on such beliefs, they have already held ‘cleansing services’ in their churches.

Believe it or not superstition and other forms of religious rituals form part of African football, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Africans are notoriously religious and believe it takes a deity – Allah for the Muslims, God for the Christians and in the case of the traditionalists the smaller gods living in mountains, trees, under water and among other obscure places – to achieve success on the pitch. It is a common practice for clubs to resort to the underworld to determine the outcomes of league games. It is an open secret no player or club official will be happy to accept.

Juju exists

However, African football legend Abedi Ayew Pele has admitted it does exists. “As for juju, I have been in it many times because in the Black Stars they were bringing us things to wash, things to drink and bathe with,” the former Ghana captain revealed to GMS Press. “In your own local clubs you were introduced to so many of them.”

Traits of juju, popularly known as “ways and means” almost always show before and during games at league centres. A team will either delay in bringing on its 11th player on the field or will refuse to use an entrance of the hosts’ dressing room. At times both teams end up consorting the same oracle, witchdoctor or mallam and will be given the instructions to follow for success.

Malawi

Three years ago in the southern African country of Malawi, superstition heralded a league game between Dwanga United and Moyale Barracks.

“It all reportedly started in the first half when visiting Moyale realised that Dwangwa’s 11th player, Winter Mpota, was outside the field of play and only entered the pitch when the full squad for the visitors hand marched onto the pitch,” the Daily News reported in January 2008.

“Suspicious of the hosts’ behaviour, Moyale also followed suit at the start of the second half when they instructed their midfielder Charles Kamanga to stay outside the field of play, waiting for Dwangwa’s Mpota to enter first.

“To the surprise of the sizable crowd, Mpota never entered the pitch and Moyale’s Kamanga also stayed put, forcing referee A. Maseko to proceed with game with both teams featuring 10 men each.

“And so it stayed, all because of fears of juju.

“One of our players alerted us that Dwangwa have a funny habit of delaying in fielding their 11th player … so we agreed that we should also delay ours in the second half, to dilute the juju,” Moyale’s manager Lieutenant Precious Gausi said.

“Dwangwa coach Lloyd Nkhwazi admitted that he featured only 10 players after the break, but he insisted that it was Moyale who started the practice.

“We just followed suit after Moyale had held back their player due to the juju beliefs, which visiting teams have that we use juju at Chitowe, but there is no grain of truth in this,” said Nkhwazi.

“Teams have refused to use the entrance to the dressing rooms at soccer venues in fear of juju, while other clubs have climbed fences instead of the usual gates to the pitch, fearing juju,” the paper concluded.

Ghana

The Black Stars in prayer session at training

On Sunday, March 20 2011, a fierce derby between Ghana giants Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko witnessed a controversial issue that was clearly linked to juju. A cat invaded the pitch and was severely lynched by Hearts fans because they believed it had superstitious connotation. No one knew where the cat came from.

Also, a carbon copy of the Malawian incident above happened between these two clubs in the west African nation back in 1998. According to the grapevine, the oracles had told both teams to reserve one player to be the last to enter the pitch. Both teams played with 10 men and the referee had to stop proceedings to force the remaining two to be on the field. Their 11th players had to enter the inner parameter simultaneously, and the match ended 1-1.

In another incident, a female referee confided in a priest she was haunted by an object in the shape of a lion as she was officiating a game while she could see the face of someone among the fans with the head of a python in the mouth. Also, a goalkeeper had revealed he saw three footballs coming in his direction and when he went for one of them all he heard was “goal” from the stands. He missed the actual ball.

In 2009, when the Black Satellites became the first African side to win the U20 World Cup in Egypt, a popular Nigerian pastor T.B Joshua came out publicly to claim glory for that victory, as he had been on phone praying with the team before, during and after matches. He even claimed God had revealed to him who should take the deciding penalty for the team. Interestingly, the coach of Ghana, Sellas Tetteh wore the same shirt throughout the tournament.

Tanzania

The rains have something to do with a win for the two biggest clubs in Tanzania. For Simba and their arch-rivals Yanga, when the heavens cry, it is believed that victory must come. Superstition has eaten deep into domestic football and it has been accepted as the norm. “It’s just a tradition, sometimes, such kind of superstitious practices spice up the match,” Simba fan Godfrey Allen told The Citizen newspaper after a league game.

According to the newspaper, there was a time in yesteryear when both Yanga and Simba players resorted to magic rituals before their national championship match in Dar es Salaam. Simba players went around sprinkling a strange powder in their goal area. The goalkeeper also broke two eggs and spread the yolks and albumen around both goalposts.

Two Yanga players then counteracted this ritual by carrying out one of their own – urinating on the field. As if this was not enough to negate each other’s strange rituals, most players from both teams have entered the stadium with their backs to the pitch; apparently as a way of negating the other team’s witchcraft.

In another incident that took place a decade ago, former Yanga captain Paul John Masanja had allegedly refused to shake hands with Simba captain, Seleman Matola, on the instructions of the team’s witchdoctor. However, for some, the result was a clear indication that magic worked. Since the teams had cancelled out each other’s witchcraft, and the result, appropriately, was a draw.

These stories might sound like a fairy tale or some strange way to approach matches, but there are other even more unbelievable incidents across the continent, such as the burial of a live bull by a team behind a stadium before a game took place, as well as club officials forcing players to bath or wash their hands in stinking concoctions ahead of a crucial encounter.

While others believe it works, for some it is just a psychological ploy to mess with the opposing team. Abedi, who captained the Black Stars for six years [1992-1998], believes superstition exists in African football, but doubts its efficacy.
“I don’t think any such thing like juju works in football, because it has been proved worldwide that we Africans have more juju than any other people, but we cannot win the World Cup.

“I think we must acknowledge that juju is part of the African tradition, and we shouldn’t forget our tradition… When I was playing and the ball was going into the net, I never saw a juju man who could prevent the ball from entering the net. It has never happened.

“Yes, juju exists but it doesn’t work in football. In Europe, I didn’t hear or see anything of that sort. We just worked so hard and achieved results, so it’s interesting,” he added.

Africans are notoriously religious

However, the national circles chaplain of Ghana’s Asante Kotoko, Reverend Bro. Emmanuel-Kenneth Goode, told Goal.com superstition is not an allegory. “It is something really happening,” the man of God said. “Teams are spending huge sums of money to go into ‘ways and means’.”

“The African is notoriously religious. Almost everything the African does he wants to believe in something. So they want to believe that some deity or power can assist them to win matches.”

Although he does not believe in it, Goode feels superstition enhances the fortunes of clubs.

“Personally, I think it increases the luck of the team. Many are into it. I believe that juju doesn’t really score goals or play football, but only enhances luck,” he added.

The Porcupine Warriors aficionado was certain juju or superstition will cease to exist in African football when structures are improved, players are motivated to play with their hearts and clubs believe in winning from the pitch.

God of football

However, he insisted there is a “god of football” who helps those who help themselves. “In Christian circles yes. I have asked people to pray for Kotoko and it has brought good results. God will only support the best side. Even if you say all the prayers of Hearts and Kotoko and you go to face Barcelona, I believe you can’t stand the might of Barcelona,” he argued.

“If you prepare very well,” Goode noted. “The God of football will give you a win. He only favours the side that has prepared very well.”

But there have been many occasions teams have prepared well, prayed before, during and after games and still lose a game.

So as both teams take to each side of the pitch well prepared with their top stars and crouch together while the captain or the ‘chief priest’ among them kneels in the middle to pray thus: “Oh God, hear our prayers as we bow before you at this crucial moment, please bless our team, victory against our opponent should be ours, and let us know no injury. Amen,” who will the supernatural being of football support?

A Togo fan praying for divine intervention in a match

According to the August 2 1994 Awake magazine, in an article entitled “Save Your Prayers, Please,” a sports columnist wrote: “Just because you rant and rave about how tight you are with God, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true. . . . In World War II, German soldiers had a phrase inscribed on their belt buckle: Gott mit uns. The translation: ‘God is with us.’” Another sportswriter observed: “God does not take sides in football games. Temporal matters like these are decided by men and women, not the Almighty.”

The belief in deities will continue to dominate African football and beyond. Whether juju from the smaller gods or prayers to the Almighty God works in football depends on the individual in question. However, perhaps the question is, if juju or prayers to God really work in African football, why have no teams from the continent won the World Cup at the senior level since its inception?

First published on Goal.com

Aspiring to be a goalkeeper in Europe is young Michael Acquah Photo: Kent Mensah

The deafening sound of children shouting fills the air. Sounds like a heated bout of fisticuffs. Thumping bare feet vibrate on the arid ground. Dust billows into the hot skies. Fear of an area gangs’ brawl intensifies as one draws closer. The sight of a round but soft leather object bouncing and rolling across the street into a choked gutter deflates the heightened fear.

Just a few metres away from the self-made drainage alley are a chain of school bags. It is difficult to notice what they are, but their handles expose them. School uniforms cover a better part of them. Hugging them from behind are pairs of dirty socks. They belong to the school children now turned players who have taken over an uncompleted building and turned its wide hall into a playing pitch.

It is football time. Forget about home work. Household chores can wait. The day is never complete without the slightest chance to engage in the ‘leg battle’. A battle that usually ends with satisfaction and smiles. They will get home late drenched in sweat.
Football is the official natural childhood game for Ghanaian children. It is suicidal to hate football as a child. Dare you fall in love with ‘B’ ball [basketball] or ‘TT’ [table tennis] and you will forever get the tag ‘Mama Ba’, or mommy’s boy. Indoor games are reserves of the high class in society because they can afford them, but the beautiful game belongs to the masses.

Football is a culture to most Ghanaians, and especially the lower class. They worship it. They believe their destiny is in the hands of the game. Thousands of unemployed youths have taken to football because they see a gold mine in the prospect. The success stories of African football stars in top European leagues keep inspiring them.

Just across the uncompleted building turned a miniature park is Michael Acquah with his mates on a pebbly playing field. Acquah was born in James Town, then known as British Accra during the colonial era in the capital, Accra.

Kids playing small poles in uncompleted building in Ghana Photo: Kent Mensah

His ambition is to become a professional goalkeeper anywhere in Europe. He trains daily with his friends in the area. Owning a pair of gloves and boots would be dream come true. His only tools are his bare hands and feet. Yet he keeps that dream alive.

“I can’t go and steal. I can’t go and box. Football is what I can do and I do it better than anything else,” 15-year-old Acquah told Goal.com.

The European dream

As Acquah sweats under the burning sun with his naked feet firmly clutched on the baked gravel, he keeps a dream that he hopes to achieve when the opportune time strikes.

“I want to make my family proud. I want to be like Edwin van de Sar [Manchester United goalkeeper] or Black Stars keeper ‘Olele’ [Richard Kingson]. I want to take care of my parents and have a sound family. I want to be a professional footballer and this is the way to start.
“I can make it. I know I can make it to Europe. I want to play for either Chelsea or Barcelona. They are my dream teams. I always dream wearing their jerseys competing in the Uefa Champions League,” said Acquah, unveiling what would seem to many an overly ambitious expedition.

However, that has been the beginning of the journey of most of the African football icons overseas. It is on such dusty pitches that scouts spotted the likes of the only African to have become the world’s best player, George Weah.

The area football on uneven parks as well as unstructured community leagues brought the likes of Ghana’s Stephen Appiah to the limelight. Playing at car parks groomed the goal scoring feet of Ivory Coast’s captain Didier Drogba. All these players and countless others have been very successful in Europe.

Generally, standard playing fields in terms of size and even surface are nonexistent in most communities in Ghana. People create parks for themselves on the sight of small openings. Some quench their football thirst beside streets while others get the blessing of land owners to play on their undeveloped lands to prevent weeds from growing on them.

In order to satisfy everybody, Ghanaians usually enjoy playing the ‘small poles’ to accommodate about two to three games simultaneously depending on the size of the field. At certain places, games are often interrupted in a space of every 30 to 45 minutes to give way to passing vehicles. The fields are bald. Erosion has caused shallow gutters in between. Sharp stones sometimes lurk around the goalmouth. Going home with bruises on the body is the norm.

Football is in their blood

In spite of these challenges, Africans in particular and Ghanaians in general make it into the top flight leagues in Europe. So what really motivates them? Evans Ocansey, a counselling and guidance teacher believes it is the mindset.

“What you tell the mind is what you become. They have locked their minds that they want to become football stars and that is where it leads them despite all the challenges we have here in Africa.”

“Football is their blood. They take every opportunity to play. Give them five years and you’ll see them in the Premier League then the junior national teams and finally they are on a transfer to Europe. Until they achieve this aim, nothing can stop them, not even education,” Ocansey emphasized.

A gifted colts player Francis Kpakpo Adotey has corroborated Ocansey’s argument. “I have lost a lot of admirers, relatives and friends because I have chosen football ahead of education. It’s a tough decision and I understand them perfectly, but I know I can also make it in football,” Adotey once told Goal.com in a scouting report.

Adotey and Acquah, mentioned earlier, represent thousands of the Ghanaian youths defying the dusty air on the pitches and the scorching sun, hoping and praying to catch the eyes of scouts that will offer them another step to climb on the long road to Europe, where the neatly laid carpet grasses at the stadiums make even diving enjoyable after scoring a goal without the fear of any bruise.

Article first published on Goal.com

Meri Nana-Ama Danquah

Meri Nana-Ama Danquah is gifted with the prowess of playing with words which compels one to continue to read her works and even call for more. The native Ghanaian is versatile and her literary works exude professionalism. She authored the groundbreaking memoir, Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman’s Journey Through Depression.

She also edited three anthologies: Becoming American: Personal Essays by First Generation Immigrant Women, Shaking the Tree: New Fiction and Memoir by Black Women, and most recently, The Black Body. Danquah’s writing has been featured in several magazines and newspapers – The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Village Voice, Allure, Essence, Emerge and Los Angeles Magazine.

I caught up with her in the West African nation of Ghana to tell us all about herself and her profession:

Briefly tell us about yourself

Wow. Where to even begin? I was born in Ghana and raised mostly in the United States. I am now based primarily in Accra, Ghana. I’m a mother, an avid reader, an actress, an author, an editor, and a ghostwriter. Hopefully by 2012 I’ll be able to add filmmaker to that list.

Obviously, you’re a woman with many hats. Which do you enjoy doing most?

That’s like asking a parent to choose which one of their kids he or she loves the most. Each one of the things I do contains a spirit and a magic all its own and, as such, offers its own unique joy and satisfaction.

What motivates you to write?

The need to continue eating and paying bills. Just kidding. Well, maybe I’m being a little serious. I don’t think most writers have the luxury, financially or creatively, of being motivated. By that I mean most professional writers, people who are publishing or trying to publish, cannot afford to write only when the “spirit” hits them or when they suddenly find themselves inspired. Completing a full length work requires discipline and hard work, not just inspiration and talent. Also, I think most writers have a backlog of projects. If I didn’t have to worry about money for survival and I could devote every hour of every day to my writing, it would still take me more than one lifetime to get through all the ideas for stories, books, plays, and movies that I have floating around in my brain. And as if that’s not bad enough, I get new ideas every week so the “to do” list keeps getting longer!

Any role models?

Ah, another “impossible” question. I started out as a poet. In that genre, I admire the work of Lucille Clifton, Audre Lorde, Sharon Olds, Mary Oliver, Kim Addonizio, Yusef Komunyakaa, LeRoi Jones, Kofi Awoonor, Kofi Anyidoho, and Reetika Vazirani. In fiction and nonfiction my tastes are quirky and inconsistent, I can talk more about individual books than individual writers. The Stone Boat by Andrew Solomon is brilliant, as is Drown by Junot Diaz. Edwidge Danticat’s Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work really spoke to the core of who I am in a way nothing has since, perhaps, Eavan Boland’s Object Lessons: The Life of the Woman and the Poet in Our Time. Danzy Senna’s Where Did You Sleep Last Night? taught me a lot about the importance of honesty in a writer’s work and the price we must sometimes pay for it. Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche’s Purple Hibiscus, Helon Habila’s Waiting on an Angel, Aminatta Forna’s The Devil That Danced on Water, and Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come are all breathtaking and they have taught me to not be afraid to write about Africa, in my way and on my terms. I’m anxiously awaiting the May 2011 publication of Catherine McKinley’s book Indigo: In Search of the Color That Seduced the World. I’ve read the first few chapters and was blown away. It’s an important and powerful book.

Take us through your leisure time.

People call me a workaholic but I don’t see myself that way. I have been blessed with the ability to make my living doing what I most love, so shutting down the computer at 5pm and calling it a day is not as appealing an option for me as it is for some workaday folks. I will often spend my evenings and weekends reading or writing, not because I have to but because I want to. I want to finish that poem or that story and I can think of no place else I’d rather be than at my desk. I also enjoy spending time with my daughter. When she’s home from university, she and I hang out a lot. We go to the movies, we travel, we go shopping, we eat out at restaurants or we just sit around and talk. She’s got a great sense of humour so we do a lot of laughing together. I have a very small group of girlfriends in Accra, and in Los Angeles, and in Washington, D.C. and in New York. I spend a good deal of time in all of those places. Wherever I happen to be, I always make time to see my sister-friends, as I call them. If I’m dating or in a relationship with someone I will, of course, spend some of my leisure time with him as well.

Which subject(s) interest you most and what are your reasons?

I like to say that I know a little bit about everything in general and a whole lot about nothing in particular. Every subject fascinates me, especially if the person who is teaching or speaking with me is clearly passionate about it. That said, I’m more fascinated by some things than others. I often say that I’m not political but that’s not entirely true. I’m extremely political, but not in the way that people use the word these days; I’m not political in the US’s Republican/Democrat way or Ghana’s NDC/NPP way. Party politics, in my opinion, can be narrow and destructive, with people getting so caught up in the game of one-upping the other side that they forget entirely that their purpose is to serve their constituents and citizens and to do what is in their best interest. I’m more interested in grassroots politics, in everyday people becoming active and realising that they are empowered to navigate their own future and the future of their land. To that end, I’m interested in issues of social justice, especially ones that concern themselves with ending violence against women, exploitation of children for labour, trafficking of human body parts, eradicating poverty and bridging the gap between the haves and the have-nots. I try to do my part to raise awareness about these issues. My reasons? I’ll answer that by quoting the English statesman, Edmond Burke, who said, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

Among all your writings/books which is your favourite and any particular reason for that?

Once again, it’s like asking a parent to choose their favourite child. I’m sure that even if the parent could offer up the name of one child, the answer would change the next day to the name of one of his or her other children. I am proud of all the work that I’ve done. There are times when I’m more drawn to one than the others but that changes so quickly and often that it’s impossible to label any of them a favourite.

Are writers born or created? Explain.

You’re asking me? How would I know? I can only speak for and of myself…and in that case the answer is, “Both.” I believe I was born with my love of language, but it was nurtured by all of my mentors, many of whom are people I’ve never met, authors of books that changed my life and that drew me deeper into this desire to put pen to paper. I also studied. I took independent workshops, I went to formal school programmes.

Who is your audience?

My audience is whoever picks up my work and reads it. The whole point of reading is to be introduced to a world of the author’s creation, to see the world from his or her point of view. I would venture to say that it is every writer’s wish to have an audience that is beyond his or her wildest imagination, comprised of people who may seemingly be the most unlikely to be drawn to the author’s work.

On the average, how long does it take you to complete a book?

When I’m ghostwriting, I can complete a client’s book in as little as a few months. The downside, though, is that it means my own work has to be placed on the back burner. Because of this, it has taken me over ten years to complete a book of prose. I’ll be spending the months of May and June at a writer’s colony in the US to finish that manuscript.

Whose memoir are you hoping to pen one day?

As a writer of literary nonfiction/memoir, I have no desire to pen anyone’s memoirs except my own.

How would you describe your style of writing?

I’m the wrong person to ask that question. My job is to write. I’ll leave the reviewing, critiquing and describing to those whose job it is to do such things.

When should we expect your next major book?

My next book should be out by 2012, insha’Allah [God willing].

Tim Wall, host of Global Journalist introducing the guests

Last week, I had the opportunity to be a guest on Global Journalist, a radio, television, and internet program that brings together journalists and other experts from around the world to discuss topics in the international news.

Screenshot of GJ showing Kent speaking on phone from Accra, Ghana

The goal of the programme – hosted and produced by versatile Tim Wall – is to tell the story of the storytellers.

Last week’s edition discussed indigenous journalist and how local communities and their issues are being covered around the world. The guests on the show were superb and impregnated with issues on the ground. They were:

Eric Jackson, Editor, Panama News, Kirstie Parker, Editor, Koori Mail, Australia, Marley Shebala, Journalist, Navajo Times, Arizona. And yours truly, Kent Mensah, Journalist, Africa News, Ghana
Listen, watch and enjoy the show via this link:

http://globaljournalist.org/radio/2011/02/24/