According to the BBC, results from Ghana's presidential run-off have been delayed, because residents of the Tain region were not able to vote on Sunday. In an almost Minnesota-like finale, less than 24,000 votes separate the two presidential contenters.

Ghana holds a special place for me, in that it was the subject of my undergraduate Honors project. Back then (in the early 1980's), Ghana was something of a basket case. Rising like a phoenix in the 1990's, however, it became an example of the potential for African renewal. After years of working in Nigeria, I visited Ghana for the first time in 2000, and was thrilled by how well things seemed to work.

Mostly, I was impressed by how there seemed to be a real economy.

Unlike in Nigeria, where the main economic focus seems to be on getting access to oil money, in Ghana people seemed to be actually doing things. The government really seemed to care that the infrastructure was there to facilitate business, and the diversity of the Ghanaian economy seemed to show that the process was a success. More importantly, people were almost invariably optimistic.

The discovery of offshore oil reserves, which are expected to start yielding substantial revenue in 2010, has caused both euporia and concern in the country. Will the potential of oil spoils corrupt Ghana's body politic? I fear that it might. Oil is like that. It's like a giant blank check for whoever happens to be in power... and that makes people really really want to be in power.

Perhaps the BBC story linked above holds out some hope for Ghana. When crowds outside the electoral commission grew angry, and the police fired warning shots, somebody had a very Ghanaian idea. They brought in Ice Cream.