Thanks to 89% Electricity increase, I can emphatically ask: "Where are My Accra Streetlights?"

Yesterday, I launched what is to become a series of vituperative pronouncements on Ghana's streetlights--or lack thereof. Just to spare you going to the actual link, this is what I actually wrote:

I was in the Central region over the weekend, and noticed without fail that despite the ubiquity of the beautiful and well-maintained roads, there were no streetlights!

I believe this either remains the bane of contractors who come to Ghana to help us with our roads, or is a reflection of the myopia of our government.

From the Spintex Road (that has undergone a metamorphosis) to the already-well-done Accra-Cape Coast road, how can security ever be maintained without sufficient streetlights? No matter the number of police patrols you have set up, lights have–and will continue to remain–a great deterrent to criminals, both physical and otherwise!

I am not quite sure what else to say, except to say that it is heart-warming to see that there are actually government cars out there that have "Street Lighting projects" emblazoned on them. It is indicative of an effort.

Now, that the Public Utility Regulatory Authority announced 31 May that electricity has gone up by 89%, might we not finally sit up to protest for our streetlights?

A careful scrutiny of our electricity bill reveals that each and every blessed consumer pays an amount towards fire-fighting and street-lighting.

Bottom line: where are our streetlights?

The President's "Water Gallons"

I have never hid the fact that poverty in Ghana is well and truly real--even if those under the so-called poverty ladder are associated with what many might consider the "working class".

Whereas in the other parts of the world, the working class will have access to some type of water, in Ghana, the poor working class rarely do, because they are living in areas grappling with poor water provision. The irony of it all is that the so-called middle class has issues with water, too--although it is safe to say they manage a bit better than the former!

The past few weeks, water provision in Ghana has been in the news--and not without reason. A good piece here provides an insight why. It also underscores and re-inforces the need to have water container sellers like these yellow gallons--dubbed "Kufuor gallons"--who are willing to walk miles in the capital to ply their rather-lucrative trade of selling to those who need to store the water they are paying higher to obtain.