Witch hunt

Paul Evans Aidoo's Ghana gay spy call 'promotes hatred'

Mr Aidoo said he wanted to rid society of gay people and take them to court.

Homosexual acts are illegal in Ghana but someone would have to be caught having sex to be prosecuted.

Mr Aidoo was reacting to reports that 8,000 gay people in the Western Region had registered with Aids charities.

"I don't believe it; nobody believes it," the Western Region minister told Ghana's Joy FM radio station earlier this week.

He urged people - "landlords and tenants" - to come forward if they suspected someone was gay.

The suspects would be taken to court to see if they could be charged, Mr Aidoo said.

"All efforts are being made to get rid of these people in the society," he said.

That sounds ominous. And you don't have to actually be gay to be taken away and charged--suspicion is enough for this minister at least. Whether or not it will be put into action--in Ghana you're really supposed to be caught having homosexual sex in order to be charged--it promotes hate and ostracisation of those without proof or vindication in the courts.

I remember reading about this in 'National Geographic'

But this New York Times slideshow is very, very good at showing what happens to First World's castoff computers when they reach Africa...

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/08/04/magazine/20100815-dump.html

PS to the New York Times: Putting an ad in the middle of of slideshow is just tacky and annoying.

(Thanks to @JoelJohnson for re-tweeting the link from @dylan20)

For more, here's that National Geographic piece on hi-tech trash:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/01/high-tech-trash/carroll-text