Ghana Day 16

So my article did not appear in either of the two subsequent papers – it may come out on the weekend, since I think there are fewer reporters doin stuff and they need filler.

On Thursday I went to parliament for the first time. It was a bit like the House of Commons in terms of unruliness, and people talked rather loudly while others had the floor. A couple people got shouted down and told they were wasting time, sit down! When we got there they were all talking about child labor, because June 12 is International Child Labor Day or something like that. It was sort of a point counterpoint almost, with some people decrying horrible working conditions for children and the under-attendance at school and so forth, while others emphasized that the idea shouldn’t be taken to an extreme since children helping out with their families to make money is very important (just to be done outside of school hours). Lots of people were very upset about international opinion that the Ghana cocoa trade uses “child labor” because they say the skills are being passed on to the new generation, the kids go to school as well as work, etc. All god arguments I think. It’s rather silly to say children can’t work if there are school fees to be covered that would not otherwise be found (or if they otherwise would not eat). Of course where they are driving down labor prices and amount of employment for adults, that’s also a problem. It’s generally a sticky issue.

After that they debated the wording of a question for an hour (I think—it’s hard to follow, even in English). At the end of that time they withdrew the question. Then the session was adjourned. I’m afraid no pictures are allowed, so you don’t get to see it : (

Following the session we chased after an MP for an interview because he is suing another paper for defamation for saying he used state funds to fly his girlfriend to Europe, or something like that. I didn’t get to sit in on the interview – Awudu had me sit outside : ( After that we chased down the deputy minority leader, who repeated some things we’ve already printed about how the president broke faith with Ghanaians when he increased the price of petrol. So that was kind of cool.

As a sidenote, commuting home in the rain after dark sucks. I very fortunately got a seat in a car going home, but there were 30 people waiting to mob the next tro tro to come by (I think I was at an advantage because I was willing to pay the higher price). It was a little scary. Also, people drive much slower in the rain, so even though I left the office at 6, I was only home at 9. Yikes.