EXCERPTS PART 2

When my case was moved to the Crown court, a different Barrister was assigned to me, an elderly fellow. I asked my solicitors why the change in Barrister. I was told as the case moved to the Crown Court, the charges had been reviewed, and some were quite heavy. So it would require a more experienced Barrister to handle it. During my first meeting with my barrister in court, he told me he had been reading my blog, and enjoyed reading my writings. He likened me to African leaders who had resisted oppression. He asked if I knew of Patrice Lumumba of Congo.

He mentioned Nelson Mandela, Kwame Nkrumah and some American civil right leaders. We had a long chat. My barrister would look at me for long and say: "Maxwell, you’re very intelligent; it's unfortunate the system has worked against you." My barrister explained that his priority was to get me out of prison, and that he'd try to secure a plea bargain with prosecution in order to drop one of the charges, which carried a maximum of five (5) years. According to my barrister, if we didn’t get that charge dropped, I'd be in trouble. The white man was bent on screwing me big time.

I was told in Pentonville that: "You can't fight the system. If you try to, they'll put you down." Yes, I tried fighting the system. And indeed they put me down, really down. It was now left with my legal team to negotiate how down I’d go. When I returned from court, I went to the library to search for books on those black leaders my barrister spoke about. I found Jessie Carney Smith's BLACK HEROES, and it became my favourite book ever. As I read through the biographies of all the Black Heroes, I saw a common theme of Faith in God, and that encouraged me the more to put my trust in God. I couldn't help but take my prison copy of the Black Heroes home with me.

Back in Ghana, the struggle continued. Getting a job proved futile. I decided to focus more on the public sector due to my prison convictions. But there was an embargo on public sector employment. I realised that I had missed the golden years. I saw several banks that were not in existence when I last left Ghana. I'd have loved to work in the bank, but I had missed the era of Ghana's banking revolution. I spent days, weeks and months glued to my laptop. I applied to thousands of jobs online. I went from place to place. I even tried lecturing but that was beset with problems.

In November 2014, I submitted an application to the Central Bank of Ghana. In October 2015, I had a call from Bank of Ghana to come for an Aptitude Test. It took place at West African Examination Council's (WAEC) Hall, Community 5, Tema. Three thousand applicants turned up for the Aptitude Test on a Saturday - morning and afternoon sessions. In January 2016, I was called to come for an interview letter. On 23rd January 2016, I had an interview with Ghana's Central Bank. This was my best shot at a decent career, but sadly, as it turned out to be, my fate lies in the hands of Her Majesty's Beasts of England.

My journey in life had been inter-twined, like a web - webs. My birth name was Eli Kwaku Azameti. Along came Maxwell when I was in lower Primary. So I was Maxwell Eli Azameti through primary, Junior and Senior High Schools. To put paternal family pains behind me, I swore an Affidavit in 1999, after Senior High School and changed my name to Maxwell Kwaku Maundy. I applied to the University of Ghana as Maxwell Kwaku Maundy and was admitted as such. Then I had a birth certificate done, with which I applied for my Passport in 2002, my fateful passport. Then I embarked on my epic journey - The British Dream - The Odyssey.

In England, I became Miguel Kwaku Webbs. On my return home, I felt I couldn't carry on as Miguel Webbs - it sounds too white - too English - too British. So I swore another affidavit and changed back to the origin - Eli Kwaku Azameti - with which I made the application to the Bank of Ghana. I submitted my application without my certificates. I don’t submit my certificates with applications. I'd only bring them along when invited for an interview. On the morning of the interview in Bank of Ghana, we were given forms to complete, a detail disclosure...