Circumspecte

So I just finished voting in Ghana's first social media awards - an initiative of BloggingGhana - and I must say, it was such a tough decision. But that's a good thing. It means there's a ton of great content out there! What's more, I found out about some blogs I never knew existed and of course I immediately followed their owners via twitter. Congratulations to all participating blogs! Also, Circumspecte.com (Yes, this blog!) is a finalist under the "Best Citizen Journalism Blog" category. I've never actually described myself or this blog as "citizen journalism", so it's really humbling to be considered as such. Why? Because it means that all this writing - something I simply enjoy doing - counts for something. That in itself is enough. Thanks to all who've read, written to me, challenged, supported and egged me on. You can vote till March 8 at www.blogcampghana.com/voting  I couldn't have wished to be in better company....

Dear President Mahama, I typically do not reach out to specific government officials in my "The Letter Writing Project" series , but in this case, I'm making an exception. During your swearing in on January 7, you pledged to not let Ghanaians down. In turn, we Ghanaians pledged - as citizens - to hold you and the entire government accountable. More importantly, you emphasized the effect that the life of one ordinary citizen can have on an entire nation. You, Mr. President, are no ordinary citizen. It seems a given that for whatever reason, the name "John" has a presidential air to it. Many presidents aspire to do great things. I believe that the president who tackles Ghana's energy/electricity issues head on will go down as one of the best - if not the best - in Ghana's history. At the very least, he/she will earn the title of 'most proactive president' in my book. From what I understand, the notion of power outages might have ...

This blog was initially published on www.jabdulai.com -- M any Black Stars supporters often liken their relationship with Ghana's national team to a bad (maybe even toxic?) romance. We love, believe, hope, trust, support and boast about how amazing the Black Stars are - some of us even write about them. All this to no avail - the team still cheats (on) us...with none other than 'failure'. Then proceeds the usual heartbreak cycle - disbelief, tears, anger, questioning, and finally, acceptance. Thing is, right after we accept that our relationship isn't all that it's cut out to be - and that we deserve better - along comes another football tournament that has us loving, believing and hoping all over again. Our love interest seems to improve for a while (think World Cup ), before it's heartbreak all over again. It's like a never-ending cycle. But I guess that's what you sign up for when you declare yourself a patriot. Or is it? My belief in Africa...