From Taxi Hell...to Taxi Sanity at Accra Mall?

Ghanaians like to pretend they're paragons of virtue, but some of us like to think we know what paragons they are of--and it's certainly not cleanliness!

While this is a blog to showcase the great sides of Accra and Ghana, it's important to show the bad as well--just for balance, you understand;-)

Taxis are those groups likely to go straight to Hell if God were suddenly to appear in Accra (and you believed in Him ofcourse!) to do an inspection of the country: they're mostly impatient; indiscriminate about the fares they charge, and even when the regulator has given them a rate; and often possess very mercurial tempers.

Sometimes, someday, they err on the wrong side of a policeman, and end up doing the right thing.

I'm not quite sure which police officer ordered them to park here, but I witnessed, weeks back, a very exaggerated anger from a policeman who ended up removing the bolts of a taxi-driver's car that had parked wrongly, and headed off to Accra Mall on a whim.

The scene was not pretty: a policeman arguing with a poor, lanky, taxi-driver about where he had parked. After that, most of the taxi-drivers have been parking at the end of the bus-stop (as pictured here).

Bottom line is that while some have tried to renege on the unwritten contract to park there, most have stuck there safely...and littered the place in the process as well:-(

Still, I wouldn't exchange Ghana with any country!

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!

Cautionary Tales of ...Ghanaian Taxis!

There I was last evening sitting in a shared taxi (that's a taxi that takes you to a destination with the price split among the number of occupants) of four people almost at GOIL filling station on the Spintex Road, when the taxi blurts to a rude stop.

The reason was a simple one: petrol--or lack thereof! We had to wait some ten minutes before the taxi driver ran up to GOIL, get some fuel, and get back to the car to fill it up.

As you can imagine, I took the opportunity to take a picture to memorialise some of the hazards our taxi-drivers put us through!

If you Ever Doubted You're Watching Accra...

...now, hopefully, your doubts have been well and truly defenestrated!

Taken a few months ago near Accra Mall.