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Detty December, a popular term for Ghana and Nigeria’s end-of-year party season, can have “negative connotations”, Ghana’s official for diaspora affairs has said, adding that he does not want the label linked with his country.

“On a personal level I don’t want the word ‘detty’ to be associated with anything Ghana… that’s something I’m not very comfortable with,” Kofi Okyere-Darko said.

“Detty”, West African Pidgin for “dirty”, is used to express unrestricted fun when it comes to seeing the year out.

The celebrations are thought to be a huge boost to Ghana’s economy. Last December more than 125,000 international visitors, many of whom were diasporans, flocked to Ghana.

It was a notable increase from the number of people arriving during any other month – and the same can be said for the three years before that.

Government branding avoids the term Detty December instead choosing to push a tourism initiative named December in Ghana, Mr Okyere-Darko, who oversees his country’s relationship with its sizeable diaspora, told the BBC at the Ghana Diaspora Summit in capital city, Accra.

“The young people somehow prefer ‘Detty December’, but officially, that’s not the name,” he said.

“I don’t think December is what attracts people to Ghana. People started coming to Ghana a long time ago. I remember December in Ghana at the turn of the millennium, with initiatives like Akwaaba UK.

Mr Okyere-Darko responded positively to suggestions that the season could be rebranded in a way that still appeals to younger audiences, saying that December in Ghana could be shortened to the initials “D.I.G.. Let’s dig it!”

The phrase Detty December gained popularity roughly eight years ago, after Nigerian musician Mr Eazi launched his Detty Rave festival in Accra.

This December, festivals, parties and concerts have Accra teeming with diasporans and other tourists. They are mostly from the US and Europe, with ages ranging from early 20s and mid-40s, and are out socialising seven days a week.

US hip-hop legend Busta Rhymes performed in Accra as part of the Rhythm and Brunch concert on Saturday, while popular UK rapper Giggs is playing at the Afro Paradise festival on 31 December.

Local stars such as Samini – considered to be the “godfather” of Ghanaian dancehall – and Reggie Rockstone will also play at major events later this month.

Ghana in recent years has been promoting itself as a destination for people from the continent and the African diaspora to visit. In 2019, the government launched the Year of Return – an initiative encouraging those with African roots to invest in the country.

The influx of foreign visitors in December is seen as a positive by many, but some locals complain of price gouging, overcrowding and intense traffic during this period.

This year has proven that December in Ghana no longer revolves around non-stop partying.

Alongside the expected concerts and festivals, there is a growing calendar of investment seminars, networking sessions and cultural showcases, offering the diaspora routes into property, minerals, fashion and textiles.

BBC

Civil rights groups and pro-gun advocates in Australia have raised concerns that new fast-tracked laws will place undue restrictions on firearms and protests in the wake of the Bondi shootings.

On Monday, the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) recalled its parliament to debate a raft of new laws such as banning the phrase “globalise the intifada”, limiting the number of guns one person can own, and greater police powers for protests.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said some may feel the changes had “gone too far” but they were needed to keep the community safe.

A pro-gun politician said the laws unfairly target law-abiding gun owners while civil libertarians said restrictions on protests were an affront to democracy.

On banning the “intifada” phrase, Minns said its use at protests in Australia and around the world “are a call to a global intifada. That is what it means. Not in the Middle East, not in Israel or Gaza but here in Sydney”.

“I do believe it leads to a culture and environment of heightened disunity,” he said, and “an invitation to violence”.

The term intifada came into popular use during the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1987.

Some have described the term as a call for violence against Jewish people. Others have said it is a call for peaceful resistance to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and actions in Gaza.

In the aftermath of the Bondi attacks, in which 15 people were killed, the Jewish community accused the government of not doing enough to protect it from rising antisemitism.

The new protest laws will also allow police to restrict demonstrations at places of worship, with stronger penalties for breaches.

Timothy Roberts, president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, said the new law ignores a recent decision by the state’s supreme court which found the so-called “move-on power” at religious locations went against Australia’s implied constitutional freedom of political communication.

Religious institutions exercise significant and overt political power in Australian politics and this makes them a legitimate site of protest in a democratic society, Mr Roberts said.

“The laws introduced today are an affront to our right to assemble and communicate with each other,” he said, adding they “damage our democracy”.

He said Minns wants social cohesion but he does not know the meaning of the term.

“He thinks silence is peace, and does not seem to realise it can also reflect oppression. Passing laws that oppress some parts of our community in the wake of an attack like we saw, does not bring us closer – it drives us further apart and stops us from healing well in this time of grief.”

Police will also be able to remove face coverings from protesters who are suspected of committing an offence – including low-level offences – during a protest.

Previously, police could only do so if someone is arrested or suspected of committing an indictable offence.

On gun reform, the new laws will mean licence holders in NSW cannot own more than four firearms with exceptions for farmers and sport shooters who can have up to ten.

The move follows similar laws introduced in Western Australia earlier this year to cap gun ownership. Elsewhere across the country, there are no limits.

One of the gunmen in the Bondi shooting, Sajid Akram, had six registered firearms.

Other gun law changes include more regular renewals for gun licence holders from every five years to every two years, and a review of the types of firearms available to most gun owners.

Mark Banasiak from the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party – which lobbies for more relaxed gun laws – said the state’s 260,000 gun licence holders were being “punished” and “made a scapegoat for agency failings”.

“We’re diverting away from what the real problem is,” he said, referring to “a climate of hate and division that’s been allowed to fester for two and a half years because government haven’t done enough to stop that.”

Walter Mikac, whose wife and two young daughters were among the 35 people shot dead in Tasmania by a lone gunman in 1996 in what is Australia’s deadliest mass shooting, welcomed the reforms.

The changes will “close critical gaps in our gun laws” and put community safety first, he said.

The government also aims to crackdown on hate speech and symbols, as well as enabling police to ban protests for up to three months after a terrorist attack.

Palestine Action Group spokesperson Josh Lees said the new laws were “incredibly draconian”.

“Australia is seen as a safe country,” he said, “where freedom of speech is very important” but the Bondi shooting was “perhaps changing the dynamics of that democracy and that freedom”.

David Ossip, president of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, said moves to ban “intifada” chants was a “watershed moment” in confronting hate and incitement.

He also welcomed greater police powers during protests.

“The right to protest is a core Australian value and a fundamental tenet of a democratic society,” he said.

“But it has never included the right to hide your face and shout slogans calling for violence against one’s fellow Australians or waving the flags of groups devoted to murder and destruction.”

Additional reporting by Katy Watson