Prince Kofi Amoabeng, an investor and former military officer, has made people think back to their time as students at the University of Ghana. This is the first time we can see how much a single Ghanaian cedi could buy.
Amoabeng told a story from college that really stuck with him and showed how much things cost back then. The driver of the taxi said they would wait for him to get some Rothmans and a small bottle of beer. “I would then take the same taxi back to campus, which would cost one cedi.”
Amoabeng laughed and said, “I meant one old cedi (OCD).” He then said, “The money was powerful, man,” meaning that a single note was worth a lot at the time.
He then said that you could go from Accra to Lomé, Togo, and back for only five cedis. You could use this money to shop or just have fun. He laughed because he remembered how hard it was to find apples in Ghana back then. He said, “You’d go to Togo to buy apples for a girl you liked.” “There were real supermarkets in Togo.”
He also remembered getting savon, the famous blue soap wrapped in French, to make his clothes smell better. He also said that it was common to buy fabric for sewing and other fun things that weren’t available in the area. “Put it in your clothes, and it smells great,” he said.
Amoabeng’s writing reminds younger people of a time when the cost of living and value for money were very different. This gives us a unique look at Ghana’s past economy and student life.