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  • Ghana is named after the medieval Ghana Empire of West Africa. The actual name of the Empire was Wagadugu; Ghana was the title of the kings who ruled the kingdom.

  • Ghana boasts the oldest university in sub-Saharan Africa at Legon in Accra

  • Ghana replaced its tax collection bureau with a semi-autonomous agency--as a result, tax collections doubled. Ghana's taxes comprised 7 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) in 1984. The reforms came in 1985, and the ratio kept climbing, reaching 16 percent of GDP in 1996

  • In 1967, per-capita income in South Korea was an inflation-adjusted $550. In Ghana it was $800. By 1997, South Korean per capita income reached $10,360. In Ghana it had fallen to $370

  • New York - 18 million people, has a budget of more than $100 billion. Ghana - 20 million people, has a budget of just $1.6 billion.

  • The first football match in Ghana (Gold Coast) took place under moonlight at the Victoria Park in Cape Coast in 1903 and was organized by a Jamaican.

  • Acute Viral Haemorrhagic Conjunctivitis (AVHC) was first recognized in Ghana in 1969

  • The average GNP per capita in Ghana is just $390 a year; and roughly half the population lives on one dollar a day or less. To run for president Ghanaians must pay the sum of $8,000 as presidential filing fees

  • Ghana Avenue (in Ethiopia) runs from Ourael Church on Dessie Road to Atlas Hotel on the street to the new Medhane'alem (Saviour's) Cathedral on West Bole Road

  • The origin and meaning of Kotoko? The Asante soldiers used an art of lying down on the ground to fight their enemies. This made it very tough for their enemies to get them on target. This gave Asantes the name Koto-ko meaning bend low and fight.

  • Africa's exports to the US under Agoa was $9 billion in 2002, a 10% increase from 2001. Ghana's share stood at $35m. Madagascar - $79.7m, Kenya - $129m. Lesotho - $318m, Ethiopia $2,3m
  • In Ghana about 60% of children with high fever, presumably due to malaria, are treated with various locally available herbal medications
  • Ghana's capital city of Accra boasts about 500 internet cafes, roughly six times as many as London.

  • Ghana has signed a pact giving US citizens immunity from prosecution by the new International Criminal Court (ICC), the world's first permanent court set up to try cases of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

  • Ghanaians have blended their own hi-life to hip-hop creating a new offspring in "Hip-life."