Ghana in the Guinness World Records: DNA sequencing first done on Ghanaian

The Guinness World Records was first published on August 27, 1955. Initially called Guinness Book of Records, it has sold more than a hundred million copies, and sells about 3.5 million copies a year in 23 languages in about one hundred countries.

Even though knowledge about the Records has been common in Ghana for a long time, it has recently increased.

The advent of social media and recent attempts by Nigerian Hilda Baci to break the record for a cook-a-thon for the longest cooking marathon and the currently ongoing sing-a-thon, by Ghanaian Afua Asantewaa Aduonum, attempting to break the record for the longest time an individual could sing have heightened interest and knowledge about the Records.

Aduonum is seeking to break the record set in 2012 by Indian, Sunil Waghmare. Waghmare sang continuously for 105 hours to set the record.

Aduonum started her attempt on December 24, 2023 and hopes to complete it on December 28.

Ghana is however no stranger in the Guinness World Records. The country has made it in the Records in as long as 1969 in various categories.

First DNA test done on Ghanaian

According to the Guinness World Records, a British scientist, Sir Alec Jeffreys invented the technique known as Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fingerprinting at Leicester University in the UK, and first published a paper on its potential in Nature (vol. 314, 67 – 73; 7 March 1985).

The practical use of the DNA technique, the Records show was first demonstrated in 1985 by determining the paternity of a child – a Ghanaian involved in an immigration debate.

The youngest son of a Ghanaian family who were based in the UK had visited Ghana, but on his return to the UK, he was deemed to either have been travelling on a fake passport or be someone else entirely.

“To test whether or not the boy was a substitute trying to enter the country illegally, Sir Alec used DNA reconstruction of known family members to confirm that the boy had the same father,” the Records say.

The Volta Lake

In 1969 the Guinness World Records acknowledged the Volta Lake as the world’s largest artificial lake measured by surface area. The Lake was formed as a result of the construction of the Akosombo dam, which was completed in 1965. By 1969 the lake had filled an area of 8,482km (3,275 miles), with a shoreline 7,250km (4,500 miles) in length.

The shiniest living objects in the world

The shiniest living objects in the world recorded, are found in Ghana.

In the Records, the shiniest living objects in the world are the fruit of the marble berry Pollia condensata – a 1-metre-tall herb native to Ghana.

The Records describes the herb as resembling the man-made iridescent baubles used for decorating Christmas trees. It says these vivid metallic-blue fruits have been shown in scientific studies to provide a total (unpolarised) light reflectivity of approximately 30% compared with a silver mirror.

“This is the highest reported light reflectivity of any biological material, including bird feathers, beetle exoskeletons and even the famously intense blue reflected by the scales on the wings of Morpho butterflies,” the Records says.

Ghana 2004 general elections

The general elections held in Ghana in December 2004 also made it into the Guinness World Records as part of all the elections held in that year.

According to the Records, in 2004 most votes were cast for different elections around the world.

A total of 58 presidential and parliamentary elections involved over 1.1 billion voters. The first was in Georgia, which held its Presidential election on January 4, and the final one for 2004 was the third round of the Ukraine’s presidential elections on December 26. Ghana’s elections was held on December 7.

Asamoah Gyan in the Records for missing penalties

Asamoah Gyan, Ghana’s all-time striker, has made it into the Records for missing penalties at the World Cup twice.

In 2006 during Ghana’s debut appearance at the World Cup in Cologne, Germany, Gyan lost a penalty. He hit the post with a penalty during a match against the Czech Republic on June 17.

But the pain caused by a Gyan penalty loss that Ghanaians have been struggling to overcome was in the quarter final game against Uruguay at the 2010 FIFA World Cup hosted by South Africa. Gyan hit the bar in a game that if Ghana had won, the country would have made history as the first African country to earn a semi-final spot at a World Cup. Ghana lost 4-2 on penalties. The game played on July 2, 2010 had ended in a 1-1 draw after extra time.

Two Ghanaian acrobats in the Records

Two Ghanaian acrobats, Daniel Ashitey Amarh and Richard Mensah Ofori made it into the Records in 2011.

They got in with the fastest time to walk over ten obstacles while carrying a person on the head (standing on one foot). They did it in 21.83 seconds on the set of Lo Show Dei Record, in Milan, Italy, on April 27, 2011.

The Boateng brothers

During the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the Boatengs made history and entered the Records.

The brothers played against each other in the World Cup, making them the first siblings to play against each other in a World Cup game.

Even though the brothers were born in Germany to a Ghanaian father but raised by different mothers in Berlin, Kevin-Prince Boateng played for Ghana and Jerome Boateng played for Germany, making them the first brothers to play against one another in the FIFA World Cup in Ghana vs Germany in Johannesburg, South Africa, on June 23, 2010.

The two spent much time together during childhood, but each chose to represent a different country at the top level of football.

Ghana has also appeared in the records where the incidents are about other countries, but happened in Ghana, and also where the instance occurred in several countries including Ghana.

The records also change with time, as some are displaced.

To begin

To start off, anyone attempting to set a new record or break an existing one must acquaint themselves with the rules. They must then log onto the Guinness World Records website and register to make an application.

Publishers of the Guinness World Records say it documents and celebrates superlative achievements that are the best in the world.

“Record breaking is a serious business, which means we have strict policies governing what constitutes a Guinness World Records title in order to maintain these high standards,” they say.

The organisers require that each record title must fulfil all of the following criteria. They must be:

Measurable – Can it be measured objectively? What is the unit of measurement?

Applications based on subjective variables such as beauty, kindness, loyalty are not accepted.

Breakable – Can the record be broken? The record titles must be open to being challenged.

Standardisable – Can the record be repeated by someone else? Is it possible to create a set of parameters and conditions that all challengers can follow?

Verifiable – Can the claim be proven? Will there be accurate evidence available to prove it occurred?

Based on one variable – Is the record based on one superlative and measured in one unit of measurement?

The best in the world – Has anyone else done better? If your record suggestion is new then Guinness World Records will set a challenging minimum requirement for you to beat.

The organisers assess all new record titles against their values of integrity, respect, inclusiveness and passion. As such, they have a number of internal policies that all records must adhere to.

For example they do not endorse the following:

Unsuitable activities or those which could cause potential harm or danger to spectators.

Any records that endanger or harm animals.

Excessive eating. “All of our eating records are limited to short time periods and small quantities of food, such as fastest time to eat three cream crackers,” they say.

They do not countenance food wastage. They require any record relating to food to follow strict policies regarding food consumption and donation.

They do not accept attempts involving the consumption of alcohol as part of drinking contests, binge drinking or speed drinking, illegal activities in pursuit of record breaking and people under the age of 16 to attempt or hold records which are considered unsuitable for minors.

With social media and the interest that social media is generating in the Guinness World Records, it’s likely a lot more people would make attempts in the near future.

Currently, apart from Aduonum, it has been reported that a Nigerian lady has completed an attempt to break the singing marathon record.

Aduonum has been singing since December 24 now and should be hitting more than 80 hours by the time this article was completed around 10:30am on December 27, 2023.

By Emmanuel K Dogbevi
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