Ghana's Capital To Be Moved To Kumasi (1)

Accra, April 1, GHP -- Ghana?s capital is to be moved from Accra to Kumasi. The government and all the opposition parties agreed at a secret parliamentary session, last night that, the process should start with immediate effect. The ministry of health, ministry of agriculture and local government will move on Tuesday. The move will be completed by June 19 2006 when the seat of the government - the castle - is transferred to new premises in 'Nhyeiso'.

The ministry of foreign affairs and all the foreign embassies have been given permission to remain in Accra cuntil June 2007.

President John Agyekum Kufuor will be addressing the nation today at 10:00 local time to explain the reason for the move.

The REAL Reason for the Move

The origins of April Fool's Day go back, some say, to 16th century France, others say, further. In some accounts, the day of trickery is tied to a rite of spring, in others to the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. In 1983, an Associated Press story attempted to set the record straight, quoting Joseph Boskin, a history professor at Boston University, who had researched the subject.

He said that the practice began during the reign of Roman emperor Constantine, when his court's jesters and fools claimed they could do a better job of running the empire. Constantine allowed a jester named Kugel to be king for a day. Kugel passed an edict calling for nothing but absurdity on that day, and the custom became an annual event.

Shortly after the AP story ran, it came to light that Professor Boskin was a prankster and the explanation was just one more April Fool's Day prank. Alex Boese (pronounced burr-za) is a historian of hoaxes. He has collected scores of them in his 2002 book, "Museum of Hoaxes," and his Web site www.museumofhoaxes.com. He has recently published "Hippo Eats Dwarf: A Field Guide to Hoaxes and Other BS."