Ghana to UK: the new trail of misery

With the trial of two British girls accused of smuggling drugs set to resume this week, Dan McDougall in Prampram reveals how cartels move their cocaine to Europe by exploiting the vulnerable and the poor
Sunday November 11, 2007
The Observer

THE condoms are smeared in margarine or local vegetable oil, 'to help them slip down', says Kawko, holding out the white grains of pure cocaine in his scarred palm. Behind him, on the palm-tree fringed beach of Prampram village, dozens of colourfully painted longboats make land; the bulky wooden vessels heaved and roped out of the roaring West Atlantic by slender teenage boys.

'There are many other couriers here in Ghana; some have made a dozen journeys to London and Amsterdam. You can see the benefit it has brought to their families, even here in our village. Their mothers have stopped working; some have motorbikes and have bought fishing boats. Some have also died. A schoolfriend of mine swallowed over 50 condoms and died within an hour. He dipped the condoms in honey and they ruptured. He was foolish; the condoms were local, not imported.' Kawko gestures to where his youngest son is playing in the sea with a yellow plastic oil drum. 'I wouldn't want this life for him.'

Over the past few years a concerted shift in trafficking routes has transformed West African countries like Ghana, Senegal and Guinea Bissau into volatile hubs for cocaine smuggled from South America to a booming European market. Using sophisticated transportation networks and the latest communication technology to elude woefully inept coastguards, Colombian traffickers are establishing transit areas along the Gulf of Guinea that can only worsen lawlessness in countries already overwhelmed by crime, poverty and instability.

For locals the route opens up a risky but tempting way out of poverty. A single flight to Amsterdam from Ghana, via Morocco, earlier this year carried 32 West Africans, all of whom had swallowed cocaine packets or concealed them in their luggage. Impatient with the increasing arrest rates of mules, the South American cartels have recruited London-based Nigerians and Ghanaians to scour Britain's capital for gullible teenage drug couriers.

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Floods devastate northern Ghana

By Will Ross
BBC News, Accra

The severe flooding in several West African countries has seen Ghana hit hardest.

In the north of the country at least 20 people have died and an estimated 400,000 have been affected. Many of them are now homeless.

It is feared that outbreaks of diseases such as cholera are likely due to the contamination of the water supply.

The north of the country is relatively poor and most rural homes are built from mud and thatch.
The floods have washed away many such homes and they have also destroyed crops and people have lost livestock.

The whole country's food supply will be affected.

Dam released

The head of the government's national disaster management organisation, George Azi Amoo, said that in some areas whole villages had been washed away.

He said a relief effort had now been intensified and food and clothing were being distributed.

Materials to rebuild homes are also being delivered and the country's small navy has sent two boats to help ferry people to safety.

The homeless have been relocated to schools and other government buildings awaiting assistance.

The flooding in Ghana intensified when water was recently released from a hydro-electric dam in neighbouring Burkina Faso.

This may have partially eased the problem there but the consequences downstream have been catastrophic.

Floods have also been a major problem in Mali and Togo but in recent years this region has been battling not with floods but drought, with electricity supply badly affected due to the impact on hydro-electric dams.

Chelsea FC to visit Ghana

English FA Cup holders Chelsea will embark on their first humanitarian visit to Africa with a trip to Ghana next week.

Manager Jose Mourinho will head the delegation, that includes BBC African Footballer of Year Michael Essien, to inspect projects run by the charity Right To Play.

The delegation will be Accra and Tamale from 29 May until 3 June to visit projects run by the club's global charity partner.

Links: Right To Play

Slavery's 'door of no return' in Ghana open to tourists

Story Highlights

• Elmina was "door of no return" for many Africans shipped off to slavery

• The fort was built by the Portuguese, later held by the Dutch and British

• Britain will mark bicentennial of its abolition of the slave trade on March 25

ELMINA, Ghana (Reuters) -- For many, it was their last glimpse of Africa.

Pushed through the "door of no return," millions of Africans were shipped from places like this whitewashed fort in Elmina, Ghana, to a life of slavery in Brazil, the Caribbean and America.
A band of light from that same door now cuts through the air in a small, dank room crowded with about 30 tourists.

"We are very lucky. Today we can go back out of this room the way we came," says Robert Kugbey, their soft-spoken guide.

As Britain marks the bicentennial of its abolition of the slave trade on March 25, Ghanaians are still coming to terms with slavery's impact on their country's development and the role Africans played in the capture and sale of fellow Africans.

More on this story...

Ghanaians risk death for abortion

By Rosie Goldsmith
BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents
Thousands of women in Ghana are seeking dangerous, illegal abortions every year with many ending in death or disability.

Read the full story and listen to the programme here.

Ghanaian boy's dream ends in a pool of blood

When Stephen Boachie arrived in England from Ghana aged 10, he missed Africa's warm climate. But the young boy whose parents came to the UK to give him a "better life" did not take long to find his feet in London, growing up to excel in his studies and sport and the future looked bright.

The 17-year-old, who lived in Dagenham, east London, was studying for his A-levels at Newham Sixth Form College. He was awaiting offers to study a degree in engineering and hoped to win a place at Birmingham University.

But as New Year's Eve celebrations were drawing to a close across the country, Stephen was stabbed fatally, just a few hundred yards from his home. A tribute on a banner in his memory, outside the Shell garage where he was attacked at 5.30am on New Year's Day, reads: "It was supposed to be a new year, new beginning, but you were not given that chance."
Stephen's father Kwasi, 49, said that after his son left Ahafo in the Bechem region of Ghana, he settled quickly in London, joining the football and rugby teams at Kingsford Secondary School in East Ham, and loved to play computer games.

Mr Boachie described his son as, "friendly and sociable with everyone and always willing to help people". He was a devout Christian, and in training to become a full Jehovah's Witness.

On New Year's Eve, Stephen had been to see a friend who lives locally and may have visited another friend in Canning Town. The stabbing took place next to the Thatched House pub in Dagenham, which is popular with the west African community, and police are trying to find out if he was in the pub during the hours before his death. Detective Chief Inspector Simon Moring is appealing for witnesses who were leaving the pub at the time of the attack, and CCTV footage is being examined.

Anyone with information about Stephen's murder is asked to contact police on 020-8345 4142.

Other links
Stephen Boachie memorial site

June "thrilled" at MBE

TV presenter June Sarpong, 29, has become an MBE in the New Year Honours


The bubbly host, who was born in London's East End to Ghanaian parents, is best known for her cheeky asides on Channel 4's youth programme T4.

But she also supports the Make Poverty History campaign, and has worked for the Prince's Trust for six years.

In the run-up to the 2005 general election she shadowed Tony Blair for two days before an interview where she challenged him on the war in Iraq.

Work experience

Sarpong began her career doing work experience at London radio station Kiss and, after a spell working for record company BMG, auditioned for a presenting job on MTV.

One of her first assignments on the station was to work on the magazine programme Planet Pop, which was also shown on Channel 4.

When the T4 job came up in 2001, bosses at the station were already aware of her easy-going, laid back style, and Sarpong was chosen to interview pop stars and present links between episodes of Friends and Hollyoaks.

Aside from T4, Sarpong has also presented game show Your Face or Mine and Strictly Dance Fever on BBC Three.

She previously dated Labour culture minister David Lammy.

But it was her time with the Prime Minister that brought the effervescent presenter widespread media attention in 2005.

'No flowers'

During her interview, Sarpong prompted Mr Blair to admit he had never bought his wife flowers and often "winged it" during press conferences.

A studio audience also pressed Mr Blair on sex education, binge drinking and Iraq.

Sarpong said she had come away "definitely liking" the prime minister, and went on to interview former US President Bill Clinton, who she called "charming" and "humble".

Although some commentators have expressed surprise at her desire to interview political heavyweights, Sarpong says she thinks television has a duty to inform people.

"My family is from Ghana, but we're from an affluent part of the country," she told The Guardian. "Without television, I wouldn't have known about the poverty there."

She travelled back to Ghana with Oxfam in 2005, where she visited rice farmers and women's groups to see how debt cancellation and improved trade conditions could help the country.

"I wish I'd seen this before I asked Tony Blair about Africa," she wrote on Oxfam's website.

Sarpong, who is being appointed an MBE in recognition of her services to broadcasting and charity, said she was "thrilled, delighted and honoured".