The Blogging Passion's Still Burning...But Like That, He was Gone!

I thought I'd eschew any vestige of melodrama by being as incisive about my point as possible.

But knowing me, it was always going to be difficult!

It is not so much that I have goofed or erred -- just that I've become more of a human being, both pretending to be, and actually being busier than I ever expected.

Undoubtedly, this has affected my blogging. I cannot tell you the number of entries I have started only for them to be lost somewhere in my written diary/journal.

Somewhere.

Like the fire burning in this picture, the passion of blogging remains -- as does my passion of all things Ghanaian and all pictures Ghanaian.

I also love my area of expertise: comparative global regional integration, which is simply how the emerging regions in the world -- the European Union, African Union, ECOWAS, ASEAN -- compare with each other in their respective sectors. Closer to home, there's been a lot of talk about ECOWAS, because of the still-unresolved Ivorian Crisis, which has seen Laurent Gbagbo still in power.

My take is that the African Union meddled too much, leaving egg on the face of the West African bloc of ECOWAS.

I am glad, though, to have seen the ARAB LEAGUE get proactive about Libya; and the AU's powerful Peace and Security Council finally issue a communique about Libya (considering Libya's sponsoring of the Pan-African body to the tune of 15% of the AU's budget!)

I guess life's like that: we're all shades of gray, and a LOT of work-in-progress.

Suffice-to-say, I have more bombastic claims when I get back to regular blogging in April.

I shall be away from blogging proper for a good one month. I'm already getting withdrawal symptoms...

Just like the smoke in the picture, I've been lingering for a while, while the passion burns.

The only difference between me and the picture is that my passion won't ever ebb away -- just gone on hiatus.

Till then!

See you first week of April...

Non-Visible License Plates on Taxi--Only in Ghana!!

Erm. What exactly do I write now? Does my title not explain it all?


I love my country, honestly I do, but sometimes the exhibition of eccentricities is too much.

How on earth is it possible for a commercial vehicle, like this taxi, to entertain the idea of putting the duster he has used to clean his car on his bumper...in a way that hides his number plate?

Either  the doode forgot he had done this, or he was deliberately being stubborn.

In this country, one is not sure which is more de rigeur!

Welcome to Latest Entry of Taxis in Accra...TOP CAB!

 It was bound to happen sooner rather than later: a new taxi service that would rival Gold Cab, which I have been patronising since 2006, when it broke out on the Ghanaian market.

Interesting thing, though, is that this taxi service has most of its employees coming directly from...Gold Cab!

The downs: No uniform; some 3GHC more expensive than Gold Cab; not all the drivers speak good English; they don't charge per half-hour, meaning ten minutes after an hour, you pay for TWO hours!; very little publicity yet

The upsides: you can ride discreetly in a car with private number plates (white), like GOLD CAB. Only thing is a passing glance might make others feel you're in a limousine BMW 5-series!!; the 15GHC, or roughly US$10.5 for a drop, and an hour, they charge is almost akin to regular  yellow-plated taxis; the car is spacious and more discreet than GOLD CAB's UK Cab, which is too conspicuous; you can pay at the end of the month when you patronise their services

So far, so very Chinese for a car! The Chinese are not coming; they're already here!

These guys at TOP CAB have a fleet of some 16 cars--all black-like "BRILLIANCE" cars.

Happy New Year 2011! Happy New Change of Name...for A&C Mall?

The absence is unforgivable if you're into moral theorizing and whatnot, but if you're carefree, sue me!;-)


Life needed to be lived outside the computer, so I lived it;-) The festive season called--as always--for intimate times spent together, so I did that, too!

It's not just kind of great to be back--it's truly to be back.

I will not make any promises for 2011--save to say that it promises--in theory--to be a great one for all! As for this blog, I will do the very best to bring you more unique insights into the capital of Accra.

Over the next couple of days, I will bring you sights from the festive season...as a way of warming one up for the year--especially February when I pretend to bring you sharper and more distinctive entries;-)

On the specific case of the erstwhile A&C Shopping Mall, the name-change has not come as a surprise. Bye-bye A&C Mall, welcome A&C, erm, Square!

Waiting for Kelewele (fried, ripe plantain with ginger)...in Accra

I know it's been a while, so you really will have to forgive me. The winding-down of the year is accompanied with a litany of things to be done, including preparing to end the year in style, and getting over-and-done with other work-related issues.

Back to this scene, which is a typical scene all across the country among itinerant vendors. Though this lady is more a non-itinerant one (in the sense that she can re-locate her stuff, rather than walking up and down the streets of Accra and through traffic), she continues to serve the purpose of offering food...even at the taxi rank of Accra Mall!!

In this specific case, kelewele (pronounced kay-lay-way-lay), which is, in essence, fried, ripe plantain (generally sweet), with ginger. You can occasionally take it with peanuts as a meal. Sometimes, people take it as dessert!

Either way, it's a very tasty snack, heavy on the oily side, but nonetheless, to-die-for!





labels: fried plantain, plantain, kelewele, Ghana food, Ghana snacks

Re: Waiting for Kelewele (fried, ripe plantain with ginger)...in Accra

 

I know it's been a while, so you really will have to forgive me. The winding-down of the year is accompanied with a litany of things to be done, including preparing to end the year in style, and getting over-and-done with other work-related issues.

Back to this scene, which is a typical scene all across the country among itinerant vendors. Though this lady is more a non-itinerant one (in the sense that she can re-locate her stuff, rather than walking up and down the streets of Accra and through traffic), she continues to serve the purpose of offering food...even at the taxi rank of Accra Mall!!

In this specific case, kelewele (pronounced kay-lay-way-lay), which is, in essence, fried, ripe plantain (generally sweet), with ginger. You can occasionally take it with peanuts as a meal. Sometimes, people take it as dessert!

Either way, it's a very tasty snack, heavy on the oily side, but nonetheless, to-die-for!





labels: fried plantain, plantain, kelewele, Ghana food, Ghana snacks

Masters of Timber in Accra?

Well, not quite. Just that the further you get out of Accra, the more
you're likely to see creativity manifested in this way.

Even if rudimentary, it provides shelter when it's raining; and is
most often a good starting structure for what one might ordinarily
call "a workshop".

labels: ghana timber, ghana wood, ghana creativity

Rain forces Roadworks in Accra?

To tell you the truth, it is generally hard to establish a logical link between rain and roadworks in this country.

Usually, there has to be some kind of untimely death or an upcry before much is done during the rainy season. But since we live in hope, we can only hope that these kind of roadworks that have multiplied across the capital are being done to help contain flooding in the capital.

I do so hope that it is being replicated in the other nine regional capitals as well, including in the outskirts.
If so, then I hope it will become more de rigeur and less of an ad-hoc initiative by the government.

Either way, more grease to these elbows!

The Mendacity of MTN

I am beginning to think that if this country is going to go anywhere, then we must begin to mummify mendacity of the likes of Ghana's telco (with the highest number of subscribers) so that we can all stop hiding behind its corporate sponsorship. For too long, we have danced with the devil over tariffs because of such sponsorship.

Time to tell MTN that it can be everywhere you go, but enough of being Numbed by Terrible Mendacity!

------------------Sent from...
*twitter.com/ekbensah
*www.ekbensah.net
*Contact me: +233.268.891.841

Heard of Ghana's "Rex Cinema"?

Asking that question is like contemporaneously saying "Ghana does not have many cinemas!"

And you would be right.

I saw a tweep (a Ghanaian "twitterer") wondering why after so many years since independence, why is it that Ghana boasts of only ONE major cinema -- read SILVERBIRD at Accra Mall, which rates are rather prohibitive to boot!

I understand from my parents that this place used to be the "it"-thing some four-decades ago.

Of course, that was before the blasted CIA-sponsored coup that removed Ghana's first president Dr.Kwame Nkrumah from power took place in 1966.

Coming back to this cinema, it is now ensconced between some non-descript building and the Electricity Company of Ghana office at Makola.

I am confident the cinema no longer receives custom, and am even more confident there are unknown squatters mulling around. I like that it's enjoyed a lick of paint rather recently;-)



labels: ghana cinema, rex cinema

RAIN!

The skies opened two days ago and poured in most parts of the country in a fairly ferocious manner. I believe this picture captures the ferocity!

Good to be back, and praying for wisdom by our leaders to take measures to contain the impending rain;-)

Make your weekend safe!

The Unbearable Lightness of Blogging -- Back the week of 18 October!

As a blogger, there's definitely one thing you cannot escape -- your
private life. When you're blogging, the assumption is that a lot of
much of your life is put up for public scrutiny.

We all now know that this is rarely the case. The smarter blogger is
the one who is consistent with the themes he writes about. I have
fallen short on consistency at times, but the passion is clearly there
to continue blogging.

Some important and personal issues need to be attended to as I take a
break from full-throttle blogging.

It's only a hiatus...and one that will certainly recharge the batteries!

So here's to when I come back the week of 18 October!

Like British actor Daniel Hoffman-Gill, who I both follow on twitter
and his blog (http://danielhg.blogspot.com), I will also be available
on twitter.

I would be happy to receive and follow your tweets as well. I'm on
http://www.twitter.com/ekbensah.

See you!

Ghana's Experimentation with Bus Rapid Transit Shapes Up...

Ghana's experimentation with Bus Rapid Transit is a misnomer; it's fully on course, with ads on radio on some stations in full swing. Wikipedia describes it thus:

Bus rapid transit (BRT) is a term applied to a variety of public transportation systems using buses to provide faster, more efficient service than an ordinary bus line. Often this is achieved by making improvements to existing infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling. The goal of these systems is to approach the service quality of rail transit while still enjoying the cost savings and flexibility of bus transit.^[1] The expression BRT is mainly used in North America; in Europe and Australia, it is often called a busway, while elsewhere, it may be called a quality bus.

The definition is all well and good--except that it excludes Africa. For all the chaos associated with Nigeria (celebrating its 50 years), it is one of the first African countries to have implemented BRT. A couple of months ago, Ghanaian policy-makers in the transport system had to go down to Lagos to take notes! Check out the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (http://www.lamata-ng.com/publictransport.htm) to see what I mean.


I took this picture of Mallam junction, en route to the Accra-Cape Coast highway. The above picture shows the beginning of the BRT. I write beginning specifically because there was a signboard on the road where you see the buses indicating that it is only for "dropping". Sadly, I saw private cars (including a diplomatic-licensed car) using that route--most likely to avoid traffic. Once it is in shape, this part of Accra is likely to reduce traffic considerably.

To be sure of Ghana's intentions on BRT, check out the Mass Metro Transit(MMT) website here: http://metromass.com/transit_system.htm.

All I have left to say is: bye-bye traffic!!!

Not Quite Ghana's Ambulance Service!

Ghana does have a National Ambulance Service (check here: http://www.grsproadsafety.org/page-ghana-21.html.) However, unlike our Nigerian counterparts that have a comparative service with a website (http://www.crinigeria.com/), Ghana has paid scant attention to obtaining a site that will proffer useful info about emergency medical services.

I am not particularly enthused that this second-hand ambulance (that looks like one from a US medical show) has landed on the shores of Ghana, and is being paraded with a view to being sold. For what, exactly??

At Long Last, Ghana's Census Has a Fixed Date!

Oh yes. We are all going to be counted the night of 26th September. Quite why it will be at night--and not daytime--is beyond me, but, hey, let us all rejoice and merry-make in  the knowledge that we shall be counted. Last time Ghanaians were counted was in 2000. Given that it is done every ten years, can we say we are fully on track?

I'm not too au fait with the technicalities associated with Ghana's census, but what I do know is that it will help Ghanaian ministries, departments and agencies(MDAs) obtain a better sense of the "state of the nation". You might also not know this, but there is a countdown on the Ghana Statistical Website, which can be found here: http://www.statsghana.gov.gh/.

Here's a snapshot of the website (see below):

Have yourself a good weekend, and keep it safe!

Who's Afraid of China? Ghana Certainly Isn't...

...as exemplified by this "celebration" here. China has been instrumental in building many of our roads--not just yesterday, but for no good than 5 decades.

It would seem common-sense to continue to nurture the relationship!

Accra Mall Telefonika, Edit your English, Please!

 This is the kind of English you get when you mix grammar-challenged Ghanaians with a Lebanese owner of a shop too keen to make a profit at the expense of everything else!

Tomorrow, Ghanaians celebrate a public holiday in honour of our Moslem friends and brothers who have just completed their fast.


Baraka de Sala? 


(looks like I'm not the only one grammatically-challenged!)

Welcome to CEDI House, Just Opposite British Council Ghana

It really is a delicious irony to see this rather-gargantuan building (ofcourse, not quite a skyscraper) towering over the British Council. If you're not quite sure of the link, I am referring to the fact that it is the British that colonized Ghana till 1957, when we obtained our independence.

The irony resides in the fact that this is the building that houses Ghana's only (indigenous) Agricultural Development Bank, Ghana's Stock Exchange, and a slew of other companies. I would like to think that it's a reflection of Ghana's rising status not just in West Africa, but the continent.

Ofcourse, the British can take comfort in the fact that they continue to offer substantial donor support to the country! I am still trying to work out why Ghana's stock exchange (http://www.gse.com.gh/), reputed many times to be one of the more buoyant on the continent, has a website, when CEDI House does not!!

Penguins and Hawkers in Accra--an Unearthly Combination?

No worries.

Nothing unearthly about plastic/rubber penguins being handled by our very own itinerant vendors! The hawkers are only plying their trade. I can assure you that no animals were harmed in the taking of this picture, and the creation of this scene!;-)

Welcome to Accra's Changing Landscape!

From left to right: Holiday Inn, which prices are not just downright hostile to the Ghanaian (what do you say about over 250 US$/night in Accra?!?!) pocket; a flashy-looking building that houses some financial institutions; and more glitzy-looking buildings that are bound to house more institutions that are close to the financial sector.

This trio is located in what will be known as "AIRPORT CITY". In fact, it is AIRPORT CITY. More buildings, including a mall, which will be known as "Marina Mall".