Bukom

Book excerpt: The wind of change had been blowing across the earth’s surface for centuries before someone made headlines with the phrase. This wind had been affecting nations, peoples, their attitudes and their ways of thinking; sometimes for the worse, and sometimes, for the better. Perhaps, one might justifiably say that this explains why the human race tends to be caught with its pants down in the matter of development; sometimes very positive, but all too often, far too negative. In every city, there is one area which remains defiantly and stubbornly averse to change or development. One such area in the municipality of Accra is James Town, with Bukom as its centre – the epitome of the black neighbourhood of the old order. Meet Ataa Kojo, who is satisfied to have won a gold tiepin for “twenty-five years of loyal service” to a European trading firm, and his family. At his age, he has not done badly at all. He would be completely satisfied with a modern toilet in his home, but the City Council says he needs a permit to “undertake construction works”… BUKOM was the first novel by Bill Marshall. This novel won the Ghana National Book Award for the young writer in 1979. Over the decades, his writings have been wide and diverse spanning film and television, radio, the press and books. Among his published books are Novels: Brother Man, The Oyster Man, Uncle Blanko’s Chair; Plays: Shadows of an Eagle, Stranger to Innocence, Son of Umbele, The Crows and Other Plays, Asana.