The northern suburbs of Accra tell contrasting stories. One is the astonishing number of houses under construction, evidence of new-found confidence, a thriving building industry and money returning from Ghanaians based abroad. Another, close to some of the smarter addresses, is the jumble of shanties making up the districts of Nima, Maamobi and New Town, a migrant Muslim ghetto of narrow alleys and open drains, notorious for gangs of youths and home to about 150,000 people.

  Relentless urbanisation has brought a shift in patterns of poverty. Overall, Ghana’s unusually consistent growth record, between 3 and 6 per cent a year for the last 20 years, has resulted in one of the fastest rates of poverty reduction in Africa. Acute poverty – income of less than $1 a day – has fallen from 51 per cent in the early 1990s to 42 per cent in 1998 and 35 per cent in 2003. Most poverty is still rural, but the last figures showed an increase in urban areas, from 8 to 9 per cent, and there have been worsening nutrition indicators for urban children.