• 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.

  • A Conspiracy of Ravens

    In the Niger Delta creeks of Southern Nigeria, nine expatriates are being held hostage by militants fighting for control over the resources from their land. At the same time, a series of seemingly unconnected events rock the country.

    Alex Randa, an agent of the Department of State Services, a celebrated hostage negotiator with a compelling record of successes is tasked by the president to secure the release of the hostages; and to also uncover the sponsors behind the militants. With nothing to go on but the phrase ‘Operation Raven’, her instincts, and three unlikely allies, Alex quickly learns that nothing is what it seems. Together, they must race against time to save not just the hostages but a nation on the brink of a bloody Civil War.

    Othuke Ominiabohs’ second book, A Conspiracy of Ravens, is a deftly woven tale of love and hate, patriots and traitors, and of heros and villains . . . A tour de force.

  • Swallow

    It is the early 1830s, the countries of the global north are mired in internecine wars and poverty. The British Empire has set themselves up as the world power through the trans-atlantic slave trade and has started its long-term goal of sequestering and colonising the West Coast of Africa ahead of Germany and France. In their designs for Oduduwa nations, independent city-states in the south-west, they had factored in greed and the use of force, but what they hadn’t bargained for was resistance from the powerful women living in these areas.

    These women with intertwined lives will learn of love and betrayal in the fight for survival. Efunsetan Aniwura fights to keep her family’s power. Efunporonye craves a place for herself in a world that is unforgiving to timid women. In trying to make their mark in a society dominated by men and their wars, these women will rise up against the incursions of The British Empire.

    Swallow is a vivid reimagining of ancient Yoruba history that tells a sweeping tale of tradition and culture, family, legacy and love.

    Swallow

    150.00
  • The Stolen Daughters of Chibok

    In the middle of the night of April 14 to 15, 2014, terrorists abducted 276 girls from their secondary school’s dormitory in the town of Chibok, Northeast Nigeria. Over the following days, fifty-seven girls managed to escape. For two years, 219 girls remained missing.

    During the last four months of 2015, in the heat of the worst of the Boko Haram insurgency, Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode, the CEO of the Murtala Muhammed Foundation (MMF) embarked on a project to interview, photograph, and document the accounts of the parents of each of the missing girls. The MMF’s team managed to meet the relatives of 210 of them.

    In the intervening years, 107 girls have made it home: four by Nigerian military/paramilitary intervention, and 103 by negotiated release. At the time of going to press 112 girls remain unaccounted for.

    The Stolen Daughters of Chibok is a collection of written and pictorial narratives from the families of these stolen girls. It features the photography of awardwinner photographer Akintunde Akinleye. Essays and analyses from acclaimed experts append these personal histories to create a tribute to the girls, capturing their lives before the abduction and presenting the trauma of a community desperately learning to cope.

  • 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

  • Realigning and Repositioning Africa: Confronting Challenges and Charting its own Courses in the 21st Century

    One of the challenges facing the continent of Africa is the continued marginalization it experiences in terms of its global political, economic and socio-culutral significance.

    This book, based on a collection of original essays from academics in Africa and across the African diaspora, seeks to address some of these concerns by positing Afri-centric expositions. The central theme of this book is the need for African perspectives and solutions to tackle African challenges, and for the realigning and repositioning of Africa.

  • The ‘Kaya’ Diplomat: Diary Notes of a Ghanaian Diplomat (Hardcover)

    The ‘Kaya’ Diplomat: Diary Notes of a Ghanaian Diplomat is an account of event and episodes that I encountered in my forty-one years of service as a Foreign Service Officer.

    Inevitably, such a story coincides with the life and service of other high-ranking personalities who played a role or directed Foreign Policy of the Republic of Ghana, as our lives crossed. These interactions played a major role in developments in my career and fashioned the Diplomat that I became.

    This is my story.

  • Who Owns the Land and Who Rules the Land?

    Ghana is undergoing her fourth experiment in Constitutional Rule − the 4th Republic. She was the first Black African country south of the Sahara to gain her political independence in 1957 but economic independence has eluded her till now. Her development is at a snail-pace at best.

    According to the author, there are certain fundamental bottlenecks in the country’s governance system which make it difficult for her to realize her economic potential. The author compares Ghana’s governance system to Singapore which gained political independence around the same time as Ghana but has successfully transformed from Third World to First World economic status in 30 years and asks why the difference. The author calls for a national debate on the country’s governance system that will lead to a total review of the 1992 Constitution. The following are some of the key issues he calls the nation’s attention to:

     

    • A Feudal Land Tenure System whereby more than 90% of the land mass of Ghana is vested in the Chieftaincy institution as Stool Lands and the remaining 10% vested in the President on behalf of the people of Ghana as Public Lands. A system which greatly impedes development and benefits only a privileged few and yet there are no Land Reforms
    • The Legacy of the Colonial Indirect Rule leading to a “bifurcated state” in which traditional authority runs parallel to civilian political authority
    • An Ineffective Decentralization System which excludes the traditional leaders and refuses to allow the people to elect their own District Chief Executives whom they can hold accountable
    • An Adversarial Political System in which the two main political parties have indulged in violence since independence and thus refuse to reach consensus for national development
    • The Short Tenure of the Executive and Legislature which does not promote long term planning and execution for meaningful development
    • An expensive electoral system which engenders corruption and prevents well-meaning and qualified candidates from offering themselves for governance
    • The Lack of a National Agenda for development and dependence on party manifestoes thus ignoring the Directive Principles of State Policy. Development is thus not progressive but disjointed and depends on which party is in power
    • A Council of State which is merely advisory and has no power to serve as a check on the Executive
    • A National Mindset of Dependency Syndrome and Entitlement Mentality which has resulted in lack of effective mobilization of the populace by the political and traditional leadership. A national psyche that does not promote self-reliance and the can-do spirit
    • A Governance System which tries to copy Westminster and American systems instead of a home-grown system which suits our situation and promotes development
    • An Educational System that fails to build problem-solving abilities and patriotism into the youth and fails to make them proud of being Africans
    • A Very Strong Religious Atmosphere which feeds on superstition and does not enable the teeming members to transform their mindset and focus on teachings which promote hard work, wealth creation and prosperity
  • The Boy from Boadua: One African’s Journey of Hunger and Sacrifice in Pursuit of a Dream

    *Available from 7 February 2023

    Patrick Asare was born and raised by illiterate parents in the remote Ghanaian village of Boadua. His family was so large and impoverished that not even the earnings from crushing hard work could buy enough food to fill their bellies. No one in the village aspired to be educated beyond middle school.

    Until Patrick.

    Numerous obstacles stood in the way of Patrick’s yearning for higher knowledge, including gnawing hunger, lack of sleep, and backbreaking daily chores. During school vacations, he toiled in a jungle farm teeming with poisonous snakes and insects.

    Dedicating every stolen moment to study, Patrick passed the common entrance exam with flying colors. Despite major setbacks, he kept his eye on the prize. He graduated from an elite secondary school and earned his engineering degree in the Soviet Union during the perestroika era. Finding his way to the United States, he taught Russian and math and eventually obtained a superb education from top American universities.

    Patrick’s travels and adventures taught him that, regardless of his hardscrabble childhood, he was a lucky man. He was raised by loving and supportive parents and lived in a society where race was not an issue. Teaching in inner-city high schools alerted him to the particular challenges faced by America’s urban Black youth.

    Patrick’s amazing story offers insights, hope, and inspiration to others who face astronomical odds.

  • My Footprints in Ghana’s Black Gold

    This memoir — part historical and part autobiographical — traces the author’s involvement with the final phase of petroleum exploration in Ghana, a journey that took over a century, beginning with the first onshore well in 1896. It has been a most interesting journey, with many twists and turns.

    In the early days of the existence of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, there were various myths and half-truths about the presence or absence of commercial quantities of oil and gas in the basins of the Ghana.

    • Nigeria was draining Ghana’s oil and that all that was required was for Ghana to buy powerful machines and begin to pump and drain her own
    • Ghana would never find oil until the gods of Nzemaland and the Volta Region had been pacified
    • The GNPC Model Production Sharing Agreement was too stringent on contractors

    A major seismic interpretation of the Cape Three Points sub-basin of the Western Region, in 1992, would turn out to be the watershed of this new brave phase of exploration in Ghana.

    The book was finally launched in Ghana in April 2022.

    Hopefully, going to the heart of the matter should help future generations of ordinary Ghanaians, politicians and explorationists understand what it took to make Ghana a petroleum producing country, just in case the country was afflicted by the “Dutch disease.”

  • The Makings of A Diplomatist: The Memoirs of Alexander Quaison-Sackey (Hardcover)

    The book is a thrilling – albeit incomplete – life story, elegantly written. Starting from the author’s elementary school days at his birthplace, Winneba, where he obtained a distinction certificate at the Standard 7 school leaving Examinations, the Book takes the reader through the author’s sojourn at Mfantsipim Secondary School where he became Senior Prefect in his final year through Achimota College, where he became President of the Students’ Christian Movement (SCM), through Exeter College Oxford University where he served as President of the West African Students’ Union (WASU) through his years as a Labour officer in Ghana, his training as a pioneer career diplomat followed by a two-year stint as Head of Chancery in the Ghana High Commission in London up to his appointment as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations where he created history by becoming the First Black African to assume the Presidency of the UN General Assembly. A discerning factor in this historical account is obviously the author’s natural leadership endowment which was manifested again later in his accession to the lay Presidency of the Methodist Church of Ghana (not recorded in the Book).

    The greater part of the Book gives an exciting and insightful bird’s eye view of the author’s exertions at the UN during his tenure as Ambassador and Permanent Representative on such then burning issues as decolonisation, the Congo Crisis, Apartheid in South Africa, Cuban Missile Crisis, Arab-Israeli Conflict and the UN Financial Crisis of 1964 which nearly paralysed the Organisation. These are all issues of historical interest, particularly for research students in international affairs.

    The book ends with the author’s post-UN appointment as Foreign Minister of Ghana, his later incarceration, and subsequent release which enabled him to proceed to London to complete his law studies. Altogether a very interesting and instructive personal history that makes compelling and absorbing reading.

  • The Experience of Politics: A Manual for Ghanaian and African Politicians

    P.K.K. Quaidoo was educated at St. Augustine’s College, Cape Coast, Achimota College and the University of Bristol where he graduated in Mathematics, Philosophy and Latin, Magna cum laude. He was later elected to Parliament (1954-56; 1957-61) where he established himself as a debater with outstanding courage, thus earning the nickname ‘Asem Yi Di Ka’ (say it and be damned!).

    He held several portfolios as a Cabinet Minister: Trade and Labour (1957-58), Communications (1958) and Social Welfare (1960-61). He travelled widely: to Europe, the USA, Canada and the Far East and within Africa. He was decorated by the late Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia as a Knight Companion of the Lion of Juda.

    Mr. Quaidoo often contributed articles to the Catholic Standard. He got married and had two sons and four daughters.

    Contents

    • Preliminary requirements
    • Field discipleship and apprenticship
    • Strategies of reform and maintenance
    • Some puzzling questions about Ghanaian society
    • They also serve who only stand and wait
    • Building the support base
    • Inside the political arena
    • Global vision and horizon
    • The field of labour at a glance
    • Relics of the past
    • Priorities, programmes and the timetables.
  • Determined to Do More: The Mission is Possible (An Autobiography)

    Journey along with Nenyi George Andah as he weaves stories of his childhood, teens and adulthood, guided by his Can-Do attitude. His captivating and exciting life stories provide a brilliant tool for anyone to imagine their future. – Geraldine Nartey (nee Andah)

    Determined to Do More is an uplifting story of struggles, successes, personal tragedy and an unending desire not to give up. – Ras Mubarak, Former MP, Kumbungu Constituency

    My recommendation is to read how the last child of John and Theresa Andah got to where he is today. You wouldn’t struggle to go through in a few hours of light reading. – Ato Afful, MD, Graphic Communications Group Limited

    The life of Nenyi George Andah as detailed in this thriller is so captivating. Readers will be held spellbound by the roller-coaster events that define his illustrious life. – Dr Joseph K. Essibu

    The story of the young man who saw the possibilities of mobile money long before anyone believed Ghanaians could be persuaded to appreciate the merits of cashless transactions. – Elizabeth Akua Ohene, George Andah’s Special Grandma

    250.00500.00
  • Beyond the Political Spider: Critical Issues in African Humanities (African Humanities Series)

    Beyond the Political Spider: Critical Issues in African Humanities by Kwesi Yankah is the first title in the newly established African Humanities Association (AHA) publication series.

    By integrating his own biography into a critique of the global politics of knowledge production, Yankah, through a collection of essays, interrogates critical issues confronting the Humanities that spawn intellectual hegemonies and muffle African voices. Using the example of Ghana, he brings under scrutiny, amongst others, endemic issues of academic freedom, gender inequities, the unequal global academic order, and linguistic imperialism in language policies in governance.

    In the face of these challenges, the author deftly navigates the complex terrain of indigenous knowledge and language in the context of democratic politics, demonstrating that agency can be liberatory when emphasising indigenous knowledge, especially expressed through the idiom of local languages and symbols, including Ananse, the protean spider, folk hero in Ghana and most parts of the pan-African world.

    “Fascinating snapshots from an engaged scholarly life in Africa, valuable as an archival resource for the understanding of this period of higher education in Africa.” – John Higgins, Arderne Chair in Literature, Department of English Literary Studies, University of Cape Town

    “This book is unique and gives a powerful rendition of the state of the Humanities in Africa (with Ghana as a case in point). It grapples with some of the pertinent issues dogging the Humanities in Africa. It comments on the Humanities scholarship in Africa, and subtly throws a challenge for future scholarship. It draws on African traditions, communal heritage, and governance in discussing the role and place of the Humanities in Africa. It also brings into the analysis the ever-changing imperatives and modernity in re-configuring African Humanities.” – Mark Benge Okot, Head of Department, Literature, Makerere University, Uganda

    “Beyond the Political Spider’ effectively draws, in a unique fashion, from literature, history, linguistics and other cognate disciplines in the African Humanities.” – Sati Umaru Fwatshak, Department of History, University of Jos, Nigeria

  • Inside Out: Autobiographical Memoirs

    The author recounts a journey that starts in a small town in Ghana, through an academic and professional career in finance in Canada and the United States, culminating at the Ministry of Finance in Ghana where he served as Technical Advisor to three different Ministers of Finance from different political parties.

    The memoirs depict the complexities of decision-making that combine technical know-how with political reality using several instances of policymaking and financial transactions that he led at the Ministry. For the technical reader, the author recounts a 25-year history of his involvement in many key initiatives of financial market development in Ghana.

    The sweetener in Inside Out is an interesting case study of how to navigate political transitions and maintain relevance as a senior advisor to Ministers in a “winner-takes-all” political environment.

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