When Ghana Walks for the Gambia on its "Freedom Day"

In a nod and a wink to the story of Ghana's "Media Foundation for West Africa", I am posting some pictures of the demonstration that took place.

I was representing my organisation at the press conference organised by Media Foundation for West Africa yesterday. The objective was primarily to draw attention to the fact that the celebration of "Freedom Day" in fellow West African country of The Gambia was not just ironic, but a misnomer. Not forgetting the fact that 44 Ghanaians had been killed in that country in 2005 (sadly, the Government of Ghana accepted only 6! a few weeks ago), The Gambia has been ruled by a dictator since 1994. The executive and judiciary is in chaos and freedom is under threat. Ghana is priviledged, frankly, to still be considered an "island of peace", developmental challenges notwithstanding...Please find below some pictures I took yesterday that offer a snapshot of the demo.


Demonstrators who sat in at a press conference to mark Gambia's "Freedom Day" get ready to march to Ghana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration to dispatch a petition to the Ministry for them to do more about The Gambia's abuse of human rights.









Demonstrators from the press conference walk with the Ghana Police who have to walk behind to ensure all goes smoothly!;-)










Demonstrators march towards the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration...












At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Regional Integration, demonstrators listen to what a Deputy Minister has to say about The Gambia.

Prepare yourself for Nigeria's "Chicken Republic"!

As a testament of Ghana's ever-continuous friendship with Nigeria on account of being both its "little brother" of the 1975-established Economic Community of West African States, and "gateway to West Africa", with Nigeria being the "destination to West Africa", there are a number of Nigerian outlets and banks in the country. Food outlets are no exception. If you have forgotten "Mr.Biggs", which is a Nigerian franchise that has been around since the 1970s, I bring to you Chicken Republic, which is described elsewhere on the "Net as:

Chicken Republic is our QSR and flagship brand. It launched in 2005 and is currently the fastest growing chicken franchise in West Africa. In 2007, we sold over 6 million pieces of chicken from our 17 stores in Nigeria.

A major milestone in Chicken Republic's history was also attained in December 2007 when we opened our 1st offshore outlet in Sunnyside, Pretoria, South Africa. This extends our mission - to make Chicken Republic a foremost chicken brand in Africa.

Chicken Republic historically accounts for circa 44% of our Gross Revenues. We intend to grow Chicken Republic from the current 18 stores to 300 stores by 2012. 80% of these stores will be located in Nigeria, whilst the balance in other African countries such as South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Cameroon, and Uganda, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Mauritius, Gambia, Liberia, Guinea, Republic of Benin, Congo, Angola, Tanzania, Zambia and Botswana.

We believe our success is aptly summarised by Chicken Republic’s highly focused and energised brand essence -: “extraordinary chicken for extraordinary people”.

According to its website (http://www.foodconcept.biz/about/history.asp),...

Food Concepts and Entertainment Plc commenced operations in 2001 as a private limited liability company, with the sole aim of revolutionizing the Food and Entertainment industry in the West African region. Food Concepts is uniquely conceived company that is that is built on an insightful and strategic approach to market. Moreover, our track record speaks for itself. We not only pioneered the food court concept in Nigeria, but our committed and highly skilled team has also successfully launched several other brands including Chicken Republic, Butterfield Bakery, Reeds and St Elmos.

Today, we continue to repeat past successes by remaining focused on the core elements of our business: We bring food and entertainment brands to life as we constantly strive to deliver on our vision of “extraordinary satisfaction” for all who interact with our brand

We focus on the preparation and consistent delivery of high quality food products and create contemporary ambient restaurant environments

Belief in extraordinary people is at the heart of what we do and we constantly invest in our employees through training, incentive and reward

Exceptional customer service and added value are our key ingredients

We constantly develop and refine our systems and processes to leverage new business opportunities that deliver excellent returns on investment to our shareholders

Actually no-one has paid me for this--maybe I should ask?--but in the interest of West African solidarity, I am glad to write about it. Honestly, though, it puts Ghanaians to shame to see such quintessentially well-done food outlets like these make their home in Ghana, when Ghanaians claim that they are the "gateway" to West Africa!

My foot!

Next time, will eat there, and bring you some insight into their prices. I did go in, and saw the place was packed for a Saturday. Good stuff!

Welcome to Ghana, Bye-bye, Togo / Au Revoir Ghana, Bienvenue le Togo!

West Africa has some of the most porous borders in Africa. A legacy of colonialism you could say. The bright side is that it has helped foster and facilitate regional integration--as exemplified by the West Africa regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a fifteen-member bloc that has been in existence since 1975. Togo is also a member, and in this picture, after having being dropped off by a colleague's family, back in 2004, I took this picture to capture how really fluid the Togo-Ghana border was.


See those people walking into and through that arch? That territory there is...Togo!! and the area where the 4X4 is...Ghana! The Black star on the arch, like Ghana's flag could be construed as an indication that you're in anglophone Ghana!