Hmmm. I think some of you have confused Ghana with other African nations. Ghana had its last coup in 1981, transitioned to the fourth republic peacefully in 1992, and international observers have noted the elections held every four years since have been reasonably fair and open.
I'd urge you all to review the state department and CIA travel sheets (
http://travel.state.gov/travel/ghana.html &
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications...k/geos/gh.html.) Ghana isn't Australia, but safety and the ability to travel freely are about as good as it gets in Africa. (Yeh, I know, that's not sayin' a lot.)
My son's employer pays extra for employees who go to dangerous places or places that are considered a hardship. Although he'll receive some hardship pay, no danger pay is paid for Ghana. (Unlike the Cote d'Iroire and most surrounding contries.) My daughter-in-law and my two grandchildren will accompany him, which is not always the case.
I wouldn't bring this up, but folks here are so off-base about Ghana that I'm wondering about the validity of your advise on using leaded gas. Thus, may I most respectfully issue a CFR (Call For References) on your dire predictions for my son's car. I've taken catalytic converters off before, but usually only on a temporary basis, just to save a few bucks on what the dealer charges for the brand-name converter. Admitedly, I haven't burned leaded gas, but am old enough to remember when we made the transition. The big worry then was how hard the unleaded stuff was on valves. Conventional wisdom was that spark plugs would last for 80,000 miles, but without he lubricating effect of the lead in the fuel, the valves wouldn't last very long.
The other stuff complained of (poor mileage, poor performance, O2 sensor damage, etc.) are what I'd expect if one clogged the converter with leaded fuel, not if one removed the converter.
Larry/DoubtingThomasNow