Obama fever grips Accra

4/07/09

Story: Musah Yahaya Jafaru
A WIDE range of Obama merchandise ranging from cloths, T-shirts, jerseys, paintings to bags are crowding out other items on some of the major streets of Accra ahead of the visit of the US President, Barack Obama.
The US President is scheduled to arrive in Accra next Saturday and ahead of that one of the streets awash with the Obama-related items is the Oxford Street at Osu. The traders hang the items in front of their sheds and on walls to attract customers.
The Centre for National Culture (Arts Centre) also has a host of Obama paraphernalia, including paintings and wooden bowls with inscriptions such as 'Obama in Ghana' and 'Welcome Obama'.
The cloths are in two types: One has only the photograph of President Obama and the other having photographs of President Obama and President Mills. A yard is sold at between GH¢7 and GH¢10, while six yards are sold for between GH¢25 and GH¢30.
Shirts sewn of the cloth go for between GH¢13 and GH¢15.
According to the traders, it was an individual entrepreneur who gave an order to the Akosombo Textiles Limited to design the cloth.
Sales of the Obama paraphernalia are picking up slowly, and the traders are confident that more people will rush to buy the items before and during President Obama’s visit.
Interestingly, according to the traders, the American and European tourists are competing with Ghanaians in the purchase of the Obama cloth.
One of the traders, Alex Owuradu, told the Daily Graphic that some of the Americans shedded tears when he cut the cloth and the scissors went through the face of Obama, cutting his image into two. He said they ended up buying the whole cloth just to save Obama's face. According to Alex, some of the tourists confided in him that they had travelled down to Ghana to see President Obama.
Some of the T-shirts that have President Obama's photograph with the First Family, have inscriptions such as ‘Obama - Change We Can Believe In, ‘Obama - A Leader We Can Believe In’. The T-shirts with pictures of President Mills and President Obama read: ‘Partnership for Change’, depicting their common campaign slogans of change.
The Obama T-shirts and jerseys sell for between GH¢7 and GH¢12. The Obama bags are sold for GH¢15 while the Obama wooden bowls go for between GH¢25 and GH¢30. They are sculptured in wood and decorated with fanciful African beads.
Some of the people who had bought the Obama paraphernalia told the Daily Graphic that they bought the items out of the love they have for the first black American President.
Besides, they said, they wanted to participate fully in the celebration of his visit to Ghana.
Alfred Kwasi Baku, who was seen buying the Obama cloth, said: “I am buying the cloth because I like Obama and because he is a black President of America. As a Ghanaian I want to be part of the celebration of his visit.”
On his expectations of President Obama’s visit, his request was for the American President to make some funds available to improve the road network in the Volta Region.