-
Sand, Sun & Surprises: A Nigerian Expatriate in the Middle East – A Memoir
Sand, Sun & Surprises is a personal story told by a Nigerian Professor about his experiences and observations working in, and visiting countries in the Middle East over 23 years.
The 316-page memoir includes descriptions of the social life, leisure and religious practices in the region. It captures a snapshot of the socio-economic landscape of Nigeria reeling from the economic depression of the late 1980s and the surprising contrasts with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, societies adjusting to dramatically improved standards of living as a result of their massive oil wealth.
This book is a compelling read for those who intend to visit or work in the Middle East, or indeed pursue careers outside their countries.
₵135.00 -
A Stranger in their Midst: A Memoir (2nd Edition)
Charles E. Archibong was elevated to the bench of the Federal High Court of Nigeria in 2002—the primary superintending forum of Nigeria’s federal system, with jurisdiction over the executive activity of the federal government and all its agencies.
This book details matters that came before Archibong during his time as a Federal Judge. His characteristic approach to adjudication was a decided bent toward speedy conclusion of proceedings before him. These cases ranged from the abduction of a sitting state governor, the recall of the Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate, a trial of activists of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), to pushing through trial a civil claim against federal authorities over publication of an air accident report, oil magnates and communication czars tangling with their creditors. The stories are told with the skill and pathos of an excellent writer.
Things reach a climax when Justice Archibong collides with senior lawyers engaged on behalf of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to conduct a major criminal trial, and about the same time the Judge gets caught in the crossfire of feuding political bigwigs litigating for the control of party political structures. These conflicts will lead to the premature termination of his judicial career.
₵135.00 -
The Pen at Risk: Spilling My Little Beans
“The Pen at Risk is more than a memoir. It is a piece of authentic, ungarnished history by a writer and public intellectual who is too modest to accept the title of a historian, but who witnessed and chronicled the most intriguing epochs of Ghana’s national life. Laced with the innate Fante humour, this book is a piece of deep but entertaining non-fiction that is told with the demystified simplicity of one of Ghana’s greatest academics and writers. Kwesi Yankah is a gift to humanity, and this memoir is a greater gift to an unfortunate generation like mine that did not live in the era of the incisive writings of the great Kwatriot.” – Manasseh Azure Awuni, Editor-in-Chief, The Fourth Estate
“When a citizen who has spent his whole life scrutinising society, turns the spotlight on himself, the risks include this epic engagement that spares no one, him included. In this bare-it-all memoir, the Yankah enigma is fully bared, warts and all. As it turns out, Yankah has had more than his fair share of privileged roles, ultimately impacting the national narrative. The richness of ethnography here, is as riveting as his urban-savvy accounts of the intrigues of university and national politics. While we watch him weave his wizardry of words, we are also awed by the totality of his humanity. The Pen at Risk is a hilarious package of eruditions. It is about the exalted gossips of our Motherland. The narratives are so sweet they hurt. If this isn’t the best book you have read in years, call me illiterate.” – Kofi Akpabli, Scholar, Author, Journalist
“In this memoir, Kwesi Yankah delivers a sparkling tableau of key aspects of his life, tabling his charmed childhood and amazing trajectory as an academic. He then rolls out his long stint as an audacious social commentator and columnist for leading papers (which may have put his pen at risk). With a penmanship characterized by a keen eye for detail, this autobiography is an entertaining and captivating book that should be read by all interested in media and social history as well as autobiography as a literary genre.” – Professor Mansah Prah, University of Cape Coast
“Intriguing, revealing, and brilliant. The Pen at Risk is unvarnished introspection beautifully strung together with anecdotes in a way that is vibrant and colorful. Kwesi Yankah’s work is a refreshingly modest invitation to see life through a different lens, even for a fleeting moment.” – Dr Obeng Amoako Edmonds, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
₵250.00 -
The Lady in Boots: Memoirs of Ghana’s First Female Major General
Available from 11th September, 2023
The book is Major General Constance Edjeani-Afenu’s remarkable memoir. It chronicles her 43-year extraordinary journey in the Ghana Armed Forces.
She was the first female Commanding Officer, and the first female Major General. Her story is a testimony to dedication, leadership, and resilience.₵100.00 -
The Military, My Life: 43 Years – 5 Months – 25 Days: Autobiography
The Military, My Life: 43 Years – 5 Months – 25 Days: Autobiography is General Frimpong’s fifth book.
Starting from his primary school days across Ghana, his secondary education and enlistment into the Ghana Armed Forces in 1970, he discusses his long career in the military, community service, diplomatic life, incursions into academia, retirement in 2014 after over forty-three years’ service, and life after retirement.
He also discusses his sojourns in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Canada and the USA.
Maj Don-Chebe states in the Foreword:
“For the officers who have schooled peacefully and smoothly in the Ghana Armed Forces, spare a thought for officers like Brig Gen Dan Frimpong, who blazed the trail and suffered all kinds of indignities to his person and unholy twists in his career path. His numerous runs-in with the Military High Command is a subject that should inform commanders at various levels that, a knowledge-based and future-focused Armed Forces needs a certain kind of officer hungry for knowledge and determined to compete with the best inside and outside.
“The autobiography of Brig Gen Dan Frimpong should give hope and confidence to young persons, inside and outside the Military to continue to pursue their dreams and aspirations. Any setback can only be temporary; persistence, perseverance, determination and grit should drive you forward.”
₵200.00 -
Politics in Ghana: From the Earliest Times to the Eve of the Fourth Republic
Politics in Ghana: From the Earliest Times to the Eve of the Fourth Republic has been introduced to equip political science students and avid readers interested in the subject as well as both budding and seasoned politicians with effective tools that give them a firm understanding of Ghana’s political development.
The book provides a bird’s eyes view and a penetrating insight into controversial issues that shaped events and developments of the country from the pre-colonial times through the struggle for independence to the post-independence era.
In an accessible and engaging writing style, the book effectively analyses the nexus between the geographical features of the country, particularly the ethnic and regional distributions of the people and how they impacted on the political development during the period under review. It also traverses the constitutional development and other factors that triggered political action from the late 1800s to the eve of the Fourth Republic. Ghana witnessed three republics each of which was truncated by military juntas that provided interim administration to fill the hiatuses before the eventual transition to democratic rule for the fourth time. Factors that occasioned the interruptions and the subsequent return to constitutional rule together with the performances of the various regimes and their ramifications are incisively analysed.
Politics in Ghana: From the Earliest Times to the Eve of the Fourth Republic is an authentic reference document for any person who is thirsty for a better understanding of political events that preceded the final return to constitutional rule in 1993.
₵100.00 -
Contemporary Issues in Foreign Policy, Diplomacy and International Affairs
This is a collection of essays derived from a series of symposia and online webinars hosted by the Council of Foreign Relations- Ghana.
From the inaugural symposium chaired by Ambassador James Victor Gbeho, with addresses by The President of Ghana, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, the CFR-Ghana elicits interesting views and opinions from people best placed to be aware of the big picture of contemporary issues in international affairs, particularly from the perspective of how they impact our African Continent.
Totally informative and engaging, sometimes entertaining and mentally provocative, which challenges us all to seriously reflect upon contemporary issues in foreign policy, diplomacy and international affairs.
“The setting up of CFR-Ghana is long overdue and I’m glad that finally it has been done. The Executives and Founding Members are to be commended for this achievement and I wish them the very best of luck in the years to come. “
– H.E President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo (President of the Republic of Ghana)
₵150.00 – ₵200.00 -
The Mumfordians: Memories of a Sea Boy
In one beautiful swoop, this book takes you to the nostalgic past and the aspirational future of an African nation still in the throes of defining self-determination. With the brilliance of powerful recalls, it dissects the socio-cultural as well as the political. It is one man’s journey from an idyllic African fishing village, through his self-improvement to become the executive secretary of a Pan-African body travelling several capitals of the world in the service of his employer.
It is also a book about people − their history, their dreams and the ills they seem unable to decidedly confront. But what makes The Mumfordians a keepsake is its richness in national promise and communal nostalgia.
₵210.00 -
Kofi Chokosi Speaks: From Archaeology to Zoology (1985-2015)
This book provides all connoisseurs of Social Literature with a delightful array of bite-sized vignettes of man as a social animal. Kofi Chokosi’s extensive travels as a soldier have provided us with various perspectives of the enthralling human condition, whether in the military Cantonment of Burma Camp, Ghana, the hot steamy jungles of Cambodia or the lush green meadows of Southern England…next time you buy the Daily Graphic, look out for the musing of Kofi Chokosi – soldier, scholar, teacher and writer.
₵60.00 -
Retirement Musings
This collection of articles in the author’s personality captured in writing. They show his versatility and depth. General Frimpong’s writing is a model for writing crisp, straight-to-the-opinion pieces for mass circulation newspapers. But that doesn’t mean the pieces are dry. On the contrary, they shine with his sense of humour while retaining the discipline of word economy and sweet crunchy sentences.
It is especially telling that the General studied and taught at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Ghana, Legon. No subject is off limit and all thoughts are allowed! So, he discusses football, discipline, Kofi Annan, history and airplanes in this breathless book which reads like a single narrative, even though it is a collection of stories.
₵60.00Retirement Musings
₵60.00 -
Kwame Nkrumah: A Leninist Czar or Radical Pan Africanist and Visionary?
There have been several misconceptions and distortions concerning the Man Kwame Nkrumah. This book attempts to correct these. It sheds light on the life and accomplishments of Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana and Africa’s Man of the Millennium. It does an objective appraisal of him through critical issues that engaged his energies during his time; including his world outlook, the nature and direction of the African revolution; African unity and the role of the state; the DR Congo and imperialism; democracy, the nation and social justice; etc.
₵20.00 -
5 Presidents, 8 Elections, 30 Years Later: How Ghanaians See Their Democracy
Ghana’s Fourth Republic, a multiparty democracy, has seen five presidents, held eight successful elections and, as of this writing, is in its thirtieth year. This makes it unique in several ways, compared to previous attempts at multiparty democracy, in that it is the longest-lasting republic so far in the country’s post-independence history. It has outlived the first, second, and third republics combined by more than eighteen years.
What explains this unique period and change in the political trajectory of Ghana? Why has the country’s most recent attempt at multiparty democracy lasted this long?
Drawing on answers to questions in the Afrobarometer survey, administered nine times at periodic intervals between 1999 and 2022, this book describes in twenty themes and fifty-one observations, how Ghanaians see their democracy. The book covers themes such as trust in institutions, partisanship, support for democracy, governments handling of the policy priorities of Ghanaians, among many others. The book points out the key lessons of the last thirty and the challenges ahead in the country’s efforts to deepen democratic governance.₵95.00 -
The Putin Mystique: Inside Russia’s Power Cult (Pre-Order)
Getting to grips with Russia’s 21st century Tsar.
Vladimir V. Putin has confounded world leaders and defied their assumptions as they tried to figure him out, only to misjudge him time and again. The Putin Mystique takes the reader on a journey through the Russia of Vladimir Putin, named by Forbes magazine in 2013 as the most powerful man in the world. It is a neo-feudal world where iPads, WTO membership, and Brioni business suits conceal a power structure straight out of the Middle Ages, where the Sovereign is perceived as both divine and demonic, where a man’s riches are determined by his proximity to the Kremlin, and where large swathes of the populace live in precarious complacency interrupted by bouts of revolt.
Where does that kind of power come from? The answer lies not in the leader, but in the people: from the impoverished worker who appeals directly to Putin for aid, to the businessmen, security officers and officials in Putin’s often dysfunctional government who look to their leader for instruction and protection.
In her writing career, Anna Arutunyan has travelled throughout Russia to report on modern Russian politics. She has interviewed oligarchs and policemen, bishops and politicians, and many ordinary Russians. Her book is a vivid and revealing exploration of the way in which myth, power, and even religion interact to produce the love-hate relationship between the Russian people and Vladimir Putin.
₵536.00 -
Investigative Journalism in Africa: A Practical Manual
“Few African investigative journalists I know are as invested in principled investigative journalism as Manasseh Azure Awuni. That trait has always come through in his exhaustive, impactful stories (some of which have featured in GIJN’s monthly and annual picks of top investigative stories from Africa). It is also abundantly evident in his new book, Investigative Journalism in Africa: A Practical Manual. In his own distinct, matter-of-fact style, Manasseh crafts a book that borrows from his own experiences to map a path for journalists who want to follow in his footsteps or learn from his unique experiences. By doing so, Manasseh has laid a crucial brick towards building African literature on investigative journalism on the continent. Most of the watchdog journalism study materials available in Africa come from the West. Manasseh’s effort is a commendable and timely step in the right direction, which I hope other investigative journalists across Africa can aspire to emulate.” − Benon Herbert Oluka, Africa Editor of Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN)
“Manasseh Azure Awuni makes investigative journalism so practical in this manual. He dissects the thorny and hidden issues that you would not get in your average classroom. This book crafts the very basis of my intellectual thinking of what investigative journalism should be about. It is a must- read for every student who wants to achieve greater heights in investigative journalism across the world.” − Anas Aremeyaw Anas, Award-winning Ghanaian investigative journalist
“This book is rich with practical and theoretical knowledge from one of the foremost investigative journalists in Africa. An invaluable resource for both professionals and students.” − Prof. Audrey Gadzekpo, former Dean of the School of Information and Communication Studies, University of Ghana
“Students with a dream to pursue public interest and accountability journalism will find exceptional value here, but practitioners will do themselves a world of great value if they also keep a copy on the reading table.” − Dapo Olorunyomi, Publisher of Premium Times, Nigeria
₵100.00 -
Leadership and the Challenges of Command: The Ghana Military Academy Experience
Brigadier General Daniel Kwadjo Frimpong was born on 2 February 1953 in Accra. He had his Secondary School Education at Mfantsipim School and the Ghana Secondary Technical School and had his first degree from the University of Ghana, Legon, where he also served as a Teaching Assistant for a year.
He also has an M.A. in Public Administration from Carleton University, Ottawa (Canada) and studied Strategic Planning and Management at GIMPA.
Brigadier General Frimpong had his basic Military Training at the Ghana Military Academy and the Cadets Training School in Canada and was commissioned on 21st July, 1973. He undertook a host of Professional Military Courses including the Senior Command and Staff Course in Jaji-Kaduna (in Nigeria). Brig. Gen. Daniel Frimpong has had varied experiences including service with the United Nations in peace-keeping operations in the Sinai, Lebanon and Cambodia. He was a member of the Consultative Assembly, which drew the constitution for the Fourth Republic.
He has been a Directing Staff in both Ghana and Nigeria at the Senior Command and Staff Colleges prior to being the Commanding Officer of the Ghana Military Academy, the singular experience out of which this book has emerged. He is currently the Military Attache at the Permanent Mission of Ghana to the United Nations in New York.
In this book Brigadier General Daniel Frimpong extensively discusses virtues, that is the excellences of character that is crucially important not only to military leadership and command but to all kinds of Leadership. Though his views and recommendations were derived from his experience as the Commanding Officer of the Ghana Military Academy, they apply to leadership outside the barracks.
Among the qualities emphasised are firmness, integrity and determination to adhere to principles and the ability for quick and correct assessment of unexpected situations. His analyses are incisive and convincing.
There is a lot to learn from this book on how to come to grips with quandaries of leadership.
₵40.00