Before today, I'd given myself, this blog and Reporting Ghana's Presidency a self imposed hiatus on reporting on politics.

I love politics and as a political scientist (my 1st/college degree certifies my cred), it was one of the most difficult things to do but Ghana's political climate called for cooler heads than inadvertent fanning of disgruntled political flames.

During the elections with the Ghana Decides team, we were able to report on the elections from polling stations through to collating offices and the party headquarters of the respective parties. After the electoral commissioner announced the NDC as the winner, the divide in the country became very very apparent. Besides isolated incidents of violence on the streets of Accra by the opposing NPP supporters, the general sentiment among peace-seekers was for us not to incite the already disgruntled NPP. I hate to admit it, but most Ghanaians' Christmas celebrations were tampered down because of the uncertainty caused by the NPP and other political parties refusing to concede and accept the electoral commissions results. The matter has been sent to Ghana's Supreme court.

But the swearing-in of the president-elect H.E. John Mahama was still an august occasion. It was colorful, patriotic and the pride tens of thousands of Northerners, a region John Mahama is from, showed by driving 12+ hours to attend the occasion made it a joy to document on camera. The Ghana Decides coordinator trashed out on epic proportions (slang for did a terrible job at coordinating) and I ended up by myself most of the day and not having the assistance/feeling comfortable to record video. Then again, a picture shares 1000 words, so enjoy:

Foreign observers at the swearing-in ceremony

A packed Independence Square, Accra

Supporters of the the NDC & President-elect Mahama

Venue for the swearing-in: Independence Square, Accra

Supporters and fans of NDC

Abedi Pele, Former Football and FIFA Ambassador

Forward in Unity, One Nation with Love

So I've been multitasking a lot, apparently any one born in the 80's/90's can attest to not just being an internet/technology baby, but also a multitasking addiction: we text without look at the keypad of our phones, write term papers and work reports while tweeting about the nearest natural disaster or posting a quote on Facebook for our numerous 'friends' to ruminate.

Well my youngest sister and my summer project turned into a full fledged company so I had the privilege of revamping my itake photos est. 1985 website so some eye candy here:

More on my sand creations and how much fun you can have when you visit the website (you can move the images around any which way you want):

I guess president Obama was right when he said "We're who we've been waiting for."

Earlier on in the month, my frat brother who works for the Tulsa Shock reserved tickets for the Shock/Mystics game at the Convention Center in DC. Jumping on the opportunity to fellowship with Gator alumn, I was more excited about the stories to share post-undergrad than the WNBA basketball game....and then it happened. Outside the Convention Center word spread that President Obama and his youngest daughter, Malia would be in attendance!

My priorities changed as I wanted to get my first one-on-one opportunity shoot (ahem a picture of) the president of Kenyan (and Hawaiian) origin. Realizing how far away from the court side my seat was and how ill-equipped I was to get decent pictures, I grudgingly took out my camera in hopes of getting any pictures of him to share with you all.



The Mystic mascot mistakenly shook hands with almost everyone on the first row except Malia, and was quickly reminded by the audience to go back and greet the Commander and Chief and his daughter.



Possibly one of the more famous back-of-the-heads ever photographed. I was envious of how close buddy had gotten to the prez.



The decent 'money shot' of the day and I'll explain why in a bit.



Just before this picture, I froze...sigh. I was close enough to President Obama and he seemed to stretch out his hand toward me! So instead of taking possibly my rendition of the HOPE poster picture of my own. I ended up with another pass-me-by picture.

Now if that isn't the presidential effect, I don't know what is. I couldn't beat myself down for too long though, at least I got a handshake from the most powerful man in the world. What did you do that was awesome this month?

Shola wanted to have a business professional-esque shoot. After we got the shots we needed we played around with the 'presidential Obama-shirt-no-tie' concept a little bit. Quite possibly Mr. Tojoula could be the next Obama Nigeria, the most populous West African country, has been looking for. History will tell.