GHexpat

In Ghana, telephone numbers tend to serve two purposes.  Besides their primary function, they're also the means by which most people save and transfer electronic money or "momo" (i.e. mobile money), as it's called in this part of the world. The reason I'm bringing that up is to clarify certain terminology.  When someone speaks of "credit" or "airtime", they're referring to the account set aside for phone calls.  But when they speak of "momo", that's actual electronic cash that can easily be converted into physical money. As of late, MTN Ghana has been siphoning my airtime.  If I purchase credit for phone calls and let it sit for a while, the account will start deducting on its own.  For example, the GH₵1.50 I deposited yesterday has gradually disappeared, even though I haven't made any calls. The logical assumption would be that these funds are being deducted by subscriptions.  But let me state with confidence that I am no...

The current internet outage makes it clear how this service has become a standard amenity, akin to electricity, even here in Africa. DUMSOR, INTERNET STYLE Some years ago I worked at an internet cafe.  The situation was such that often, my colleauges and I would use the workplace to hustle for our daily bread. So imagine you wake up in the morning, use your last money to get to the office, hoping and praying that you'll be able to make some dough, and bam, the electricity is off.  Not only that, but it's off for the entire day.  That was something we experienced semi-regularly.  I recently heard a local politician try to argue that dumsor did not began until the NDC years (i.e. the early 2010s), and I was thinking to myself that he must've not been around during the Kufuor era. Of course, many of us continue to depend on electricty for our livlihoods.  For example, there are some welders who live nearby, and when the lights go off during these current days of ...