But first, the John Legend concert! The concert was scheduled for Saturday night but was rained out due to a freak late-rainy season storm. Seeing as this was a concert to support flood relief, I thought that was pretty ironic. The concert was rescheduled for Sunday.
The show itself it was more of a reggae show with a very long guest appearance by John Legend (who, by the way, is quite a good showman). Based on the prevalence of dreadlocks and absence of women, I assume that most people were actually there to see Luciano, a big reggae start. Programming a performer like John Legend on the same bill as a Luciano is like putting Neil Young in the same show with Neil Diamond: there is not a lot of cross over. The Rastafarians were polite during John Legend's set, but with songs like “I Can Change” and “Stay with You” that, from what I gather, are primarily aimed at women, the “Rasta man” was not feeling it. But it was a neat show, and nice to be there. I had to keep my beverage intake down since there was one Porto potty for the five thousand people at the show. I also realized that any organizer who would forget to make bathroom facilities available (not to mention garbage cans or security of any type) would also not plan for an orderly exit, so I left a little early. It was a good thing I did, since leaving was a mob scene and I’m pretty sure that someone tried to pickpocket me, but they got nothing. I was warned about pickpockets at these types of events and properly secured my cell phone and cash.
Saturday’s other event, the Akwantukese Festival, which is held in the town of Koforidua, in the eastern region, was also water logged due to the same freak storm. The festival is supposed to “commemorate the historical exodus of the people of New Juaben from Ashanti to the East in the 1870’s.” If all had gone according to plan, there was to be drumming and dancing and general pageantry. Instead, there was lots of rain and little in the way of shelter. One of the tents that had been set up actually blew away. So the festival was a bit of a wash out. But I did have a nice lunch. I’m sure I’ll get to another festival before my time here is done.
So now I’m the lovely town of Elmina, home of the Castle of St. George, which is reputed to be the oldest European structure in sub-Saharan Africa. I was built by the Portuguese for the gold trade, and, later, taken over by the Dutch for the slave trade. But I’m not here for the tourist sites (although I will get to town to see them). No, I’ve been invited to help set up an organization called the Civil Society Coalition on Land (“CICOL”). As such, I’m about half a mile from the town, at the lovely Elmina Beach Resort. Its supposed to be one of the fancier places in Elmina, but the neither the room safe nor the T.V. work, and, despite two calls to the front desk, no one came to fix them. It also has this weird 1970’sAfrican decor that was inspired, I guess, from its proximity to one of Ghana’s best slave castles. Or maybe by Shaft. I don’t know. But there are a few restaurants, a nice pool, and its beach front. The CICOL meeting is not the only one at the hotel. There is also a United Nations Development Program conference, and a meeting of Guinness Ghana, Ltd, (they brew Guinness in Ghana). Beer and NGOs are big businesses in Ghana.
I helped plan the conference last week, and I know for a fact that there is only a day and a half of events. Nevertheless, the large international NGO that is funding this conference has paid for us all to stay for three whole nights, all meals included (but no booze). So I get the feeling it’s a big of a junket, although certainly important work will be done. I’m not complaining (except about the T.V. and the safe).
Note that I never said that name of the NGO that is sponsoring this event. Its not because the NGO may be wasting resources on bloated conferences (although I wonder). Rather, its because AJWS has asked me not to identify the NGOs that the Development Institute has partnered with on its projects. I assume that there are two reasons for the AJWS policy. First, sometimes NGOs don’t want there operations revealed, and its important to respect that. Another, less gracious, reason is that some international NGOs, when not working in Ghana, are doing things that are not kosher, especially in the Middle East, and AJWS wants to keep its distance. Oh, politics.
Anyhow, the Civil Society Coalition on Land is being set up to address Ghana’s land administration system. See, about 80% of the land in Ghana is held by tribes with what is known as allodial title, or absolute ownership free and clear of any outside intervention. Because tribes own the lands free and clear, traditional land administration is done through “customary law.” That is a fancy way to say that the tribes can use what ever land administration system they damn well please- they can give leases, title, deeds, or any other instrument to who ever they want how ever they want. The problem with that system is that, in reality, no one really knows who owns what land. Some tribes keep records, some don’t and, worse, some keep records which are all wrong. This stymies the market for land and prevents development because, without knowing, definitively, who owns what piece of property, you can’t finance construction with mortgages on land (you can’t get a mortgage if there is a question about whether you own the land). Thus, Ghana is littered with half built building because of the lack of financing. Likewise, because there are no good records, putting up a foundation of a house is the only way to definitively show ownership, so the country is riddled with house foundations, even if the owner does not actually plan to build anything. Nor can owners sell their property, since, chances are, there is cloud on the title that needs to be cleared up before anyone would by the property. It’s a tremendous waste of resources, and represents a huge amount of trapped capital (all this property that can’t be sold and half built houses that will never be finished). Basically, we take our land administration system in the U.S. for granted, but its super important, especially when you see what happens when you don’t have one.
Ghana has made two previous attempts to move from a customary land administration system to a civil land administration system (a civil land system is just laws requiring all land to be surveyed and registered in one central place in a uniform manner). Both efforts have failed due to a combination of bureaucratic mismanagement and outright corruption. This time, Ghana has embarked on a 25 year program to thoroughly reform its land administration system, write a new law, survey the land, fast track disputes, and get everything registered with its proper owner. Its an ambitious plan, but, who knows, maybe some junkets to semi-fancy beach resorts will help in the implementation.
The specific job of CICOL is to make sure that the land administration reforms are done in a way that does not simply transfer land from its customary owners (the tribes) to a small group of private land owners. Right now, under the customary system, chiefs control land on behalf of the tribe, and, although there are no real records, there is a general understanding of who belongs where, enforced by the chief. The concern is that if the system is reformed in the wrong way, land will be registered in the name of the tribe, and then sold to the chief for a song (he controls the tribe, after all). The chief will then be a landowner (as opposed to custodian) and he will go ahead and sell it off (or lease it or whatever) to the highest bidder. While this might benefit the overall development of the country (and make a few chiefs very rich), it will also dispossess millions of people of the land they had a “customary” right to be on and use. Anyone can see how this might be a problem. So, between frozen drinks at the bar and dips in the pool, I will help create an organization that will try to prevent this from happening.
On another note, my bogging trailed off a bit because I was actually pretty busy last week into the weekend. Work has picked up, and I’m making some friends, but none Ghanaian, except the people I work with. At work, I’ve realized the problem was not that there was too little work, but rather that no one bothers to tell me anything about what the organization is doing. Now that I have a better understanding of why these guys need a volunteer, I’m actually doing some interesting stuff, and learning interesting stuff too. All is well. I’ll write again as soon as I can. I'll also put up some pictures as soon as I get to an internet connection that can support it. Look out for that early next week.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
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1 comment:
glad your safe and sound at a beach resort. Keep on learning and writing! Dad
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