Ghana: A funny place to be

The University of Ghana, Legon, posted on its FB page „The University has received an additional 2,000 brand-new laptops...donated to the University...“ on 29.07.2026 with speeches by the Minister for Communication and University officials. In countries like Germany, this would never hit the news. Universities and schools get funding from which they, in their own right, procure laptops and computers. When they get delivered, they get distributed to students and pupils through the school secretariat and/or teachers involved.

In rural Germany, most fire stations are manned by volunteers. Only towns and cities have professional firefighters. Firefighters operate most ambulances in Germany, aside from the Red Cross, Johanniter, and Malteser. In villages, towns and small cities, a brand new ambulance or fire station wagon, much needed and waited for a long time, is received by the volunteer firefighters; the local press is in attendance, and the authorities hand over the keys to them. These events walk the talk for long before the new equipment becomes part of daily life.

In cities like Hamburg, Munich, Essen, Berlin, Bremen or Düsseldorf, citizens will never be informed and have no interest in knowing when a new ambulance or fire station wagon is put into operation. It would rather trigger laughter and complaints: „Why disturb us with common news? The system should work but not bother us?“ citizens of Hamburg would ask.

In Ghana, new ambulances, police cars, laptops for schools and universities, and even launching a 16-seater public toilet with an inscription that, when opened, becomes news with Presidents, Ministers, Royals, and government officials in attendance. Speeches are held, and smiles exchanged. These people feel good, having a blast of a good job done for the nation. Former President Nana Akufo-Addo used Black Star Square in Accra to show off 200 new ambulances for the entire nation to see and international media to take notice of. His counterpart shows off police cars, MRT buses branded with the heads of previous presidents and his own instead of using it as a marketing tool for corporations to rent the outside of the buses for advertisement, helping to reduce the fares for passengers and hospitals and E-block schools no German President, Chancellor or Minister makes time for unless for strategically important interventions. Time is money. While travelling to launching events and time spent there, politicians could and should think of better solutions for their people.

What strikes critical and concerned observers most is the wording used by the University of Ghana: „...donated...“. The University of the nation should not depend on or get donations from the state, only from private or corporate donors. It should receive funding that does not need to hit the news when it does not cover the expected outcome of research, lecturing and capacity to accept more students. The University of Ghana should not be seen as a beggar for items; rather approach politics with a strong backbone. Seeing Professors and Doctors low like that, standing beside smiling politicians, giving them laptops, is disgraceful.

What service to the nation needs no words but action.