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!)

Bright Lights of Accra! Big Dreams for Order!

Who needs streetlamps when you can get the lights of cars stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic have theirs reflect and refract over all kinds of lights to create this mosaic of colours?

If there is anything I like about Accra is its singular ability to give you something to talk about!

I haven't even talked about these taxi-drivers waiting for passengers in a zone that has clearly been marked for them to remain only for two minutes!

This kind of cavalier attitude does not only come down to illiteracy (frankly, most taxi drivers are not!) but an obstinacy to not conform to order!!

But I still love Accra!;-)

Why Some Ghanaians Might Have Eschewed Accra Mall During Xmas 2009

Since we are all in the flashback kind of mode, I thought it fitting to do a re-dux of an Accra Mall post, with a slight difference. Here, I am hoping that the picture will do the proverbial and paint the required thousand words...

The picture shows the inside of Shoprite--and not for the first time. The twist is that it shows Shoprite with consumers...shopping, which would be a non-starter if it were not for the fact that there was more at the end of the corridor from which I snapped this.

More as in more shoppers! If the people in this picture were not enough to put anyone off shopping that day, I would not know what would be.

If I were a neophyte soldier, I might have buckled at the sight of the shopping crowd!

At the best of times, I do not fancy bumping into people shopping and having them pry into my basket(is that a human thing across cultures??)or worst of all, bumping into their baskets!

Least of all, at christmas...yet the inevitability of a new year meant stocking up, and kind of pretending you were getting rid of the old:-)

If You Thought This is Not Traffic at Accra Mall...

...around the infamous Tetteh-Quarshie interchange, wait till the 25th of December! It will be more than bumper-to-bumper.

Truth be told, it's more than that already!!

Busy Ghanaian Traffic Warden...

...directs traffic at the Accra Mall. Is he not a determined bee?

When a Paean to Ghanaian Films Turns into an Encomium of Accra Mall

I have always thought that it was exercise in laziness to regularly refer to the Accra Mall for my photoblogging, till a kind word from one of the regular visitors convinced me that if it is a part of my life, then why not?

So, far from a treatise on the ghanaian movie industry, which is seeing a renaissance thanks to the likes of the dynamic Shirley Frimpong-Manso and her movies (one of which I referred to in the last post), I am offering you a teaser of her upcoming latest movie "Sting in a Tale"...by showing you the movie poster--as advertised in Accra Mall!

long live Accra Mall? The jury's out on that one!

Another Way Accra Mall's "Game" Shop Cheats its Customers

How about a little arithmetic for you this side of the day? What do you get when you have 14 pouch meals in gravy (@100g) going for GHC17.50? What you get is a simple arithmetic where you divide 17.50 by 14 pouch meals. You get: GHC1.25. That's 1.25 ghana cedis per pouch meal.














So, how on earth is it possible to get the same pouch meal of 100g going for...GHp0.90?

1. Could it be that GAME management has poor supervisors?
2. Could it be that it is GAME's way of ensuring that they cheat customers, knowing most of them are middle class and would not miss a couple of ghana cedis?
3. Could it simply be that the profit motive for GAME blinds them to distraction?

Whatever your question/answer formulation, I was profoundly disappointed when I asked a GAME attendant why this discrepancy, and all he could say was..."ah, that's GAME for you!"

So, what is it? Conspiracy?

Remember my "Tale of Two Twixes" in March? To err is human, but to persist...

A Carriage at Accra Mall? Talk about Non-Essentials!

Two weeks ago, this carriage was located at the entrance of Accra Mall -- as if to say that all those who patronized the place were (A)middle class; (b)sufficiently "endowed" financially (c)had more money than sense.

Given the financial crisis which has already hit Africa--not to speak of Ghana--I am wont to believe that those in the last category are likely to consider even hiring this carriage for whatever it is people do with a carriage these days...

I am tempted to believe that its success was a non-starter, hence the rapid dispatch of it a week later!

Take Your Ghanaian Fruit Pick!

Well, at least, I hope they are all Ghanaian fruit! I'm a sucker for colour, and as such, a sucker for a picture like this. Never mind that people might raise an eyebrow or two for taking pictures of fruit!

I like to paint my own world, so if that means being considered a FRUITcake, I'm up for that.

All in the service of blogging!

Anyone for Accra Coconuts?

Whether it's on the path leading up to the Accra Mall or...



















...it's in front of a gargantuan Zain Ghana billboard -- also in front of the Accra Mall, coconut-eating in Accra is not just cheap, but so de rigeur you cannot miss it should you ever make it to this city.


Even as recently as last Saturday, there was a certain lack of vivacity to the picture on account of the rather-dull weather post-rain.

Return of the Mass Metro Buses on Accra Roads?

A question like that might go some way to do a great disservice to those buses that actually have been plying on the Ghanaian roads, but it was important to ask! Especially because last time the regularity was indisputable, I was posting entries like this here: http://accradailyphoto.blogspot.com/2007/02/inside-ghanas-mass-metro-buses.html and http://accradailyphoto.blogspot.com/2006/10/heres-almost-how-packed-i-was-in.html

Yesterday morning, I needed to go downtown as part of my habitual service to the nation that I am rendering (all will be revealed soon!) alongside my regular work.

Running late, I decided I was going to have to charter a taxi, which would have been rather expensive (around 6-8 ghc, or roughly 4/5 US$). Rather fortuitously, a bus (as referred to above) pulls up, with a sticker by the window "SAKUMONO / [Accra] CIRCLE" [Sakumono is on the Spintex Road, and Circle is really downtown!!], with a young personable lady shouting for customers.

I boarded the bus to a sight of neat buses--very atypical to the tro-tro. I thought these buses had gone out of service this part of Accra!


I would rather coincidentally board this same bus on my way home from work, just across the Accra Mall. The young lady of the morning--looking rather tired--and I would exchange smiles for the very small world I am reminded daily of being a part of!

Whichever transport you take today, keep it safe, and have a great weekend!

A Vignette of Changing Accra Retail Landscape

What do you get when you get no "dresses to impress"...
















...nor any travel agency to enable travel--and all at A&C Shopping Mall?

What you really get is a narrative of how the formidable Accra Mall has consistently been offering serious competition to this localised super-store in East Legon, which started up so successfully in 2005.

Go to A&C Mall these days, and you'll be presented with a sorry sight of one, two, three shops shutting down, because the competition of Accra Mall is too much. At best, they will go to Accra Mall store instead, as the store--a bags/wallets/shoes enterprise--next to the second picture did only last week. Initially, they had a store at A&C and Accra Mall; now they've completely relocated to the latter.

Interestingly, the store that will come to take over the store in the first picture--T.M.Lewin (a shirt/trousers store)--started very successfully in Accra Mall, and has decided to open an additional branch at A&C!

As to whether T.M.Lewin has made a sound business choice, time will only tell!

TGIF!: Accra Mall Busy Internet Beckons!

Another Friday can mean the beckoning of a weekend. And that means usually one thing for many people in Accra--connecting with their loved ones by Facebook or otherwise at any available place. The magnetism of...

...Accra Mall--for all the headaches it induces for commuters and car-owners alike on the cusp of a Friday evening--still means more will likely come here, shop, and, if with a family, have their kids steal time to check their emails.

Enjoy your weekend!

A Tale of Two Twixes at Accra's Game Shop

Carefully take note of the caption: "If you buy these items anywhere else, you'll be paying too much." Got it? Great.


Now, here's a twix chocolate bar at GHC1.05 (roughly $US 0.80). It's a fine chocolate specimen, that you might assume to be just this price...



That is until you see this same twix some few metres away from the counter (where the former is located), sitting at a slightly cheaper rate of GHC0.90 (roughly $US0.73).

Now, what's going on? I pointed this out to one of the store-keepers, to which they responded something must have gone wrong?

Like, what, exactly?

Strange Signboards near Accra-Tema Motorway...Shame on Corporate Ghana!

I love the Accra-Tema motorway--and not just because it's Ghana's historical legacy to its people, having been established since 1964 by the BBC's greatest African of the twentieth century Dr.Kwame Nkrumah.

It's the route I like to take to cross to the the much-blogged-about Accra Mall--every day after work.

I decided to catch these signs for one reason--the bottom line.

These signs advertising BARCLAYS BANK; MTN; and PIERRE CARDIN are so out of place and out of touch it's not funny. The route is calling for a foot bridge so desperately, as an increasing number of Ghanaians--and foreigners--use that very convenient shortcut to cross from Accra Mall to East Legon.

Instead of authorities of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly realising [is that what local metropolitan authorities do?] that there are serious risks and dangers associated with the Accra-Tema motorway, it seems like they want accidents before they do something about it. Even then, I wonder.

I point the finger primarily at the AMA; and secondly to the above-mentioned companies that are seeking nothing more than the bottom line! You don't mind Ghanaians taking risks to cross the road to MTN or whatever, yet you are less inclined to advocate safety first!

Shame on you three!

(Nana Yaw, I appreciate your discerning eye for my paradoxes--I guess this takes the biscuit!)

Bluetooth Advertising in Accra...

Well, at least, in Accra Mall. This surely has to be digital exuberance gone mad!

Bluetooth advertising offered by "The Zone"? More like the Twilight zone!

A Tale of Two Christmas Wrappings!

Frivolity is no stranger in this season; and so this blog is no exception to the aura! Seeing as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I might be wrong about the frivolity, especially because I am not getting to the point!:-D

The point is that this gift wrapping at GAME at the Accra Mall was offering the wrapping for charity. Now, contrast it with...
...this one at A&C Shopping Mall, where it is about, well, profit! If that's not a case of two wrappings, I really don't know what is!

May the festive season bring you PROFOUND JOY and LOVE among you all, your families and friends from hereonin!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

James Bond Will be in Accra Mall till This Week!

Last Friday, a teeming crowd in the Accra Mall could have meant one thing--that they were there to see the reality of duplex cinema come to Accra--and no less than the Accra Mall...

...so they came in their numbers to witness not just snapshots of the movie, but to get the rather-prohibitive ticket cost of GHC10.00 (roughly $9.00)/person to enter the cinema...


...to watch none other than Daniel Craig playing what is a sequel to Casino Royale -- the much-talked about Quantum of Solace!

I believe it coincided with worldwide release. Clearly, the Accra Mall is not just set to make history for the average Ghanaian(and Western) teenager on Friday nights, but create sufficient traffic to drive commuters slowly...insane!

Have yourselves a good one!

This is the Kind of Accra Traffic I Abhor!

It's a good job I walk a lot.

Preoccupation becomes me, just in case you're unable to contrast my usually long-winded posts with these off-late very terse ones.

I'll be better next week.

Toodle-pip.

Make the weekend relaxing and constructive if you can!

Incidentally, this is taken from my favourite haunts--Accra Mall

Check out the Huge SHOPRITE Fish!

You could say that I'm being lazy by featuring and showcasing Shoprite stories. Perhaps I am. That said, I think the place offers a wide mosaique of emerging stories (especially on the types of food), which might not always make frontpage-news.

This big fish on the left is one of them. Just to show you that this is Ghanaian fish. At least that was the consensus among the Shoprite people I spoke to; I see no reason why they would lie.

I wouldn't want to imagine what that fish might look like at night!!