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Wow! What an eventful number of days it was in Ghana! My good friend announced a couple of months back that he was getting hitched to his long term girlfriend; so, I said to myself there was no way I was going to miss this event. Come D-day, I packed my baggage and travelled down to ‘Dumsorkrom’ for a couple of days. My short stay in Ghana was extremely jam-packed but eventful – met a number of people to discuss Ghana – i.e. political and socioeconomic developments, oil and gas, youth development and entrepreneurship, etc. Here are some highlights:

  1. Newsfile Appearance: I made my first appearance on Newsfile, the influential Joy FM programme, to discuss the Ghana-Cote d’Ivoire maritime border dispute. Some of the issues discussed together with the other panellists namely Prof. Kwame Mfodwo of the Ghana Maritime Boundary Secretariat, Michael Kottoh of Konfidants (a risk and opportunities consulting firm) and the venerable Kweku Baako included whether Ghana’s position been strengthened by this ruling and the implications of the ruling for Ghana’s oil exploration efforts among others.
  1. IMANI & Oxfam America Citizens’ Demand for Accountability in Ghana’s Oil and Gas Sector: I was part of a panel which included Kofi Boahen, Research Officer and Deputy Business Lead at IMANI and chaired by Dr Steve Manteaw of ISODEC and the Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas which discussed oil revenue expenditure and analysis and other developments within Ghana’s oil and gas sector. I provided contextual responses to the following questions:
  1. Prospects for Ghana – Is Ghana on track?
  2. Four years into oil production, where are we?
  3. Capacity of the country in revenue monitoring and expenditure for our Oil and the Economy in general
  4. Ghana’s oil and gas legal framework and the recent ITLOS ruling on the Ghana-Ivory Coast maritime dispute – what are the emerging issues?
  1. Media Engagements: I was interviewed by a number of radio and TV stations on oil and gas, the economy and energy sector developments. Of particular mention are the BBC and Infoboxx​Daily. Do watch out for my interview on the Ghana-Cote D’Ivoire maritime border dispute for the BBC’s Africa Business Report this Friday 15 May 2015.
  1. New Column at Infoboxx [www.infoboxdaily.com]: Starting this week, I will be writing a biweekly column for Infoboxx Daily. Name of the blog is “Reflections | …Perspectives on African and Global Affairs”. I do hope to chronicle some of my thoughts on development and the policy choices facing Ghana and other African countries within a wider geopolitical context in this column.
  1. Met my colleagues from the Ghana Growth and Development Platform (GGDP) to deliberate on the way forward for the group. GGDP seeks to promote active citizens’ engagement towards shaping the developmental agenda through a non-partisan activist network of people who are keen on seeing the status quo changed.
  1. Appreciate everyone who took time off their busy schedules to see me at such short notice. Really do appreciate the depth of the conversations and discussions we had and look to forward to follow-up discussions in the coming weeks.
  1. In all of these, God continues to show grace and mercy – He’s ever faithful.  Ghana must and will work again.
  2. #ForGodAndCountry #TheDanielEffect