First things first ...

Most important when you're going to Africa is to have the necessary vaccinations and a valid passport :-)

So on December 22nd - after I consulted my employer about going to Accra - I needed to do two things urgently:
1) get a valid passport (must be valid for at least 6 months)
2) get vaccinations
I needed both as soon as possible because I was supposed to leave in 3 weeks ... in January.

And in order to get a ticket and a tourist visa you need a valid passport.
And if you want to enter the country you need at least a Yellow Fever vaccination. And Cholera and DTP injections are highly recommended.

And I had only 3 days before a long  Christmas weekend would start ....

Well, to make a long story short...

I got them both. Passport through the emergency procedure at the department of Civil Affairs of Gemeente Zaltbommel. Procedure even works just before Christmas: made a request on Dec 23rd and got the passport on Dec 24th.

As for the vaccinations, most GGD's (Municipal Health Departments) were either closed or full ... but I was able to make an appointment at GGD Oss on December 24th...
So I got the Yellow Fever, Hepatitis A and DTP vaccines.
Yellow Fever is a live vaccine but I already had one in 1990, for my visit to Nigeria. So I didn't get sick.
Only stiff arms and a bit crabby ...

So task 1 and 2 are done. Over to the next ...
3) Get a ticket :-)
4) Get visa

Only when that is done I can apply for visa at the Embassy of Ghana in The Hague ... I will probably have to go there two times...
Hopefully we will be able to manage all of this during the Christmas Holiday...