Kofi Kingston; the Jamaican Wrestler from.... Ghana?

 Jamaica's own son Kofi Kingston in a rich display of national colours

source: wrestlingvalley.org

Back in 2008, the BBC featured the fascinating story of Kofi Kingston; a professional wrestler claiming to be the first Jamaican wrestler with the multi-million dollar franchise the  World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

To be frank, I have not watched the WWE since it was the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) before those pesky legal problems with the other WWF (World Wildlife Fund for Nature). Back in those days, the hottest wrestlers on the bill were The Undertaker, Bret 'Hitman' Hart and Shawn Michaels! Nevertheless, I was impressed that there was  some young Caribbean representation in this eerily popular franchise. But...

• Apparently Kofi Kingston spoke with the worst Jamaican accent known to man
• Kofi's real name is Kofi Sarkodie-Mensah which sounds mysteriously like he was born on a Friday and hails straight from the hinterlands of Ghana
• Although  a large number of Jamaicans can trace their ancestry directly to Ghana, Kofi Kingston looks uncannily like dozens of Ghanaian guys I know or see on the streets of Accra  EVERYDAY!
• Kofi's mum was head of the Ghanaian-American Association and she claimed that Kofi was born in Ghana and not Jamaica.

So it appeared that poor Kofi Kingston was facing a cringe-worthy corporate-fueled identity crisis! Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I randomly tuned into the WWE on that new TV station eTV Ghana. Just as I was about to hop to another channel I heard: 

"...hailing from Ghana, West Africa...Kofi Kingston!"

What? What happened to Trenchtown? What happened to the land of Bob Marley and reggae? According to the good people at Wikipedia, Kofi Kingston has been billed as coming from Ghana since October 2009.

So what brought about this change? 'Change' may just be the key word. Could the ephemeral spotlight shone on Ghana by  the Obama family visit in July 2009 have had a ripple effect? Very possible.

Speaking of change, since the whole Jamaica facade has  been dropped, isn't Kofi in need of a new ring name:

"Kofi Accra" ?

"Kofi Tamale" ?

"Kofi Kumasi" ?

"Kofi Koforidua" ?

 "Kofi Kintampo" ?

I like the sound of Kofi Kintampo!

Those finely-toned buttocks could only be of Ghanaian origin!

Source: wikipedia

Blogging Endorsement from my workplace?

After 5 grueling days working outside of Accra, I  stumbled into work on Tuesday and was delighted to hear that our new staff IDs were ready. Seems like the people at work are regular followers of my blog and decided to drop my surname outright. I'm taking this as an endorsement of my procrastinatory ways! 

 I feel like Angelina Jolie !

He's the Gaffe-r!: Pat Robertson and his 'Pact with the Devil'

Once a upon a time in the Kingdom of Swaziland, the folks in charge of programming at the state television station decided that controversial televangelist Jimmy Swaggart on Sundays was not sufficient for the spiritual nourishment of the people. 

 Jimmy Swaggart in one of his trademark weepy moments. This may have been the one he admitted to frequenting a commercial sex worker. That was one episode I missed! 
Source: bbc.co.uk

So somewhere in the mid-80s, Swazi TV added a daily early evening offering of the religious programme The 700 Club. Children like me were shattered since we would have preferred more Transformers, GI Joe or Care Bears but instead got televangelist Pat Robertson sitting on a couch talking about things we did not quite understand. He seemed pious, sincere and very spiritual.  (Above) Pat Robertson and his 700 Club panelists. Source: http://www.payer.de

More than 20 years later, the same Pat Robertson has resurfaced on my radar. This is because, from the comfort of his Christian Broadcasting  Network base in Virgina, he has offered some 'helpful' observations regarding the real reason behind the recent earthquake in Haiti. Unlike what many of us may have thought, it had nothing to do with nature but is all to do with the Haitian revolution that started in 1791 and saw the establishment of the first black republic.

 Depiction of Haitian Revolution
Source: Wikipedia

Mr. Robertson's comments are reproduced in a Reuters blog as follows:

“...They were under the heel of the French … and they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, ‘We will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French.’ True story,” Robertson said in a matter-of-fact tone on the broadcast.
“And so the devil said, ‘OK, it’s a deal. .. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after another,” he said.

This statement led many on Twitter and Facebook to conclude that either Pat Robertson is:

• Battling senility
• Smoking *very hard* narcotics or 
  
• Was there when this pact was made
  

At first I thought it was all a joke but fortunately the broadcast is on YouTube. Is Mr Robertson...

• suggesting that slaves rebelling against slave-owners  was morally wrong?
• saying all Haitians and generations to come are cursed?
  
•  reinforcing the old notion popular among racist bigots that black people are cursed?

Pat Robertson
Source: Sikh Times Online

Interestingly, Pat Robertson is no stranger to  nonsensical statements. Time Magazine online has a wonderful piece on the Top 10 Pat Robertson Gaffes. "Top 10"  suggests there are many more gems out there. All I can say is thank goodness us kids did not understand what Mr. Robertson was saying back in the '80s.