Policeman Stops Tro-Tro...on Spintex Road

Looks like someone's going to have a bad day. I'm thinking it's the tro-tro driver whom I presume is in the green t-shirt.

Scenes like these are common Ghanaian currency, especially in the mornings when Ghanaians are going to work. Tro-tro drivers often capitalise on the chaos of traffic to do all sort of unconventional things, such as driving on shoulders and whatnot. Occasionally, a hawk-eyed police officer will put paid to such antics! The other side of the coin is that the police officer will necessarily stop a tro-tro driver, knowing he can extort money from him!

You pick your choice;-)

Car-Related Vignettes of Accra...

No surprises that there will still be vestiges of the accident in the minds of Ghanaians, for an accident of the magnitude of last week Wednesday that involved no less than the President of the nation, will prompt discussions for a while, and queries--like this one here. The photo shows the front cover of the what could be described as the "morning after (the night before)" picture, by the Daily Graphic...

That said, I thought I'd continue the car vignette by posting this one here of one I took earlier this morning on my way to work in a taxi. The driver of this car either inherited the car, or put all those stickers which were all generating a tag of "sanctimony" the more I looked. Sanctimony that can only be Ghana-style;-)

I mean where on earth in this world do you find a sticker of "I love my wife"! (look closely at the top of the brake light, located in the middle

What tosh!

Spintex Road Traffic at Night

It's already bad experiencing Spintex road traffic, which I can only describe as "legendary", but it's especially worse this time of the year, when the whole world is a whisker away from festivities of Christmas...

This is Ghana's National Theatre!

This is the front of the National Theatre. Located minutes away from the British Council, it certainly is an inimitable structure...built for us by the Chinese!!!

Have a good weekend!

Accra by Night: Night Traffic...with a Twist!

The combination of speed, and headlamps of oncoming cars produced these fancy and funky lights by this white Nissan Terrano travelling southwards.

Traffic. A Crowd. An Accident. Involving the Ghanaian President

Traffic on the 37 military road

.

A crowd

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A police tow van

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a police officer directing traffic

A crowd is able to congregate round a green light, against the backdrop of what looks like heavy traffic

Something's certainly caught the crowd's attention

This is the perfect scene for comment. Some twenty-five minutes before I arrived here from a work-related press conference to see this scene--and take a picture of it--my Mum called me to ask me whether I had heard the news about no less than the President of Ghana John Kufuor being involved in a near-fatal car crash that involved the car somersaulting THREE times, after a car, travelling at top speed hit it.

Here is how Reuters reported it:

Ghanaian President Kufuor involved in car accident - witnesses

Wed 14 Nov 2007, 13:34 GMT
[-] Text [+]

ACCRA (Reuters) - Ghanaian President John Kufuor, chairman of the African Union, escaped unhurt when a car crashed into his vehicle on Wednesday, rolling it over several times, officials and witnesses said.

Presidential Press Secretary Andy Awuni said Kufuor appeared healthy and composed but was undergoing medical checks in the presidential palace to ensure he was not at risk.

Witnesses said a red car coming from the opposite direction struck the president's vehicle at a major intersection near the Kotoka International Airport in the capital Accra.


"The car finally rested on the sidewalk and the people around helped his security men to pull him out. The president came out holding his head," James Kobinah, an electrician working nearby, told Reuters.

Awuni said police were investigating the cause of the accident and would question the driver of the red car, who was being treated in hospital. Some other people involved in the accident were also receiving medical attention.

"The picture is not very clear about the accident," Awuni said. "It's a bit strange for the car to run into his car directly."

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved
from: http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN447886.html

This is how Ghana's Joy FM reported it:

President Kufuor escapes unhurt after his car was rammed late morning Wednesday while on his way to his office.

President Kufuor is reported to be in good health and already back in his seat at the Castle, Osu, after he escaped unhurt in a late morning accident on Wednesday.

A man yet to be identified is said to have driven a Benz saloon car straight into that of the President at the Opeibea Intersection on the Airport – 37 Military Hospital road.

President Kufuor was said to be on his way to his office.

According to Mr. Andrew Awuni, Press Secretary to the President, those who were injured, including the President’s driver, have been moved to the 37 Military Hospital for medical check-up.

“But the President is doing well. He is right in his seat here at the Castle,” Awuni assured.

Awuni, who described the accident as a strange one, said only two cars were involved but added it was not clear how many people may have been involved. He could also not tell the whereabouts of the driver of the other vehicle and suggested he might be at the hospital or with the President’s security detail.

Explaining why the accident appeared strange, he said usually outriders would be fending off all junctions, which they did, “nevertheless this car came and just ran into the President’s car and of course nobody expects to see an accident so sometimes you don’t get to see how it happens.”

News filtering from the rumour mill as I walked round to take pictures was that the driver was a Lebanese man. The taxi driver who brought me to the office speculated about how problematic it would have been if it had been a Ghanaian that crashed into the presidential convoy!!

"Little England": A Nice Cosy Spot in East Legon

In yet another free marketing venture, I present to you..."Little England". Owned by a Ghanaian lady, married to a Brit, this place offers...English food, such as fish and chips and much more.

Shame I haven't been there yet to savour the food, but I'll be sure to go there one of these days and report back!

I checked out the prices, and they're decent, as in GHC7.50 ($US8.00) for what are supposedly "large prawns" in salad, which comes with a side order of chips/rice.

Bon appetit...in advance!

Here's your Ghana Taxi!

Just in case you have any doubt, this is a picture of what a typical taxi in Ghana looks like: double-coloured (always either yellow and white, yellow and brown, with at least a yellow colour in there somewhere!).

It is also followed by yellow number plates, with black lettering/digits. Private cars, conversely, have WHITE backgrounds as their plates. The "GW" at the beginning is always a tell-tale sign of where in Ghana it was registered. Here, the "GW" means Accra. Given the speed with which cars are being registered in the country these days, you will now see "GS", which is also Accra.

It originally started with "GR" for Greater Accra Region; whilst those who registered it at Tema got "GT".

Of Serene Snapshots & Signboards in East Legon (on a Weekday)

Too right! There is quite a lot of greenery in East Legon...



...and signboards, too!

Remember Eastgate Hotel?

(Talk about free advertising! Wonder whether I'm gonna get paid for this;-)) )

Have yourselves a stress-free weekend!

Ghana's Biggest Mobile Service Provider MTN Makes Dastardly Big Claims...

Check the two billboards out. Which is the biggest? South Africa-based MTN is certainly the biggest, exhorting one to "Go Make that Call".

The capital of Accra has been replete with an unprecedented psychedelic quality of yellow in the sense that there is a lot of yellow around--and it is certainly not the Ghanaian sun!

It's about MTN and its campaign of y'ello--ness, which is doing very little for its self-esteem off-late. This is because Ghana's regulator, the National Communications Authority, in an unprecedented move called on MTN and ONETOUCH, which has 70% stake owned by Ghana (which purchase is being bidded by Singapore Telecom) to shape up or be caused to audit their accounts, and face severe sanctions. You can read the story here: http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=20073&email=html.

Whilst you are at it, you might want to check out MTN's yellow plane ensconced in the grassy knoll, of sorts, of Tetteh Quarshie interchange!



STOP PRESS: just heard that the regulator has apparently settled with both companies! It will be up to the media to inform us of the extent of these discussions!!

DEMOLITION MEN!!: Clean-up of Accra Begins...

It began Monday with what would prove to be a discerning afternoon, replete with dramatic and cascading scenes of pockets of crowds congregating in clusters of emotion, awe, surprise and resignation as men fron Accra Metropolitan Assembly, in collaboration with Zoom Lion--all clad in reflective attire--started demolishing structures, kiosks and whatnot.

All this was happening in a messy atmosphere of smoke, emanating from the furious fire of burning wood and metal.

It truly was a sight to behold.

The helplessness of those whose kiosks were being destroyed was palpable. The glimmer of hope in their eyes for a daily income must have died there and then.

But this was to be expected--for in the past few weeks, the AMA has undertaken a clean-up exercise of Accra--to rid the capital of filth before 15 countries descend into the country in January 2008 for the Cup of African Nations, to be hosted in Ghana.

Either way, the taxi driver who brought me back to the office was ambivalent. He felt that Ghanaians are too stubborn for their own good and that, whilst the situation was sad, the "squatters" had been informed as recently as a six months to a year ago.

"We Ghanaians, we are too stubborn!" he added as he fropped me off, taking my fee.

Could't agree more!!

Ghana Petrol Prices Increase...

The increase came yesterday--very much to the chagrin of consumers.

As someone who commutes with taxis off and on, I was shocked to learn that a short distance that would attract a cost of GHC1.00, or $US1.07, now is GHC1.50! Ofcourse, that might have been an arbitrary price--as taxi drivers are wont to fix--but what's clear is that the price increases are real:

New Petrol Prices Announced

General News - Thu, 01 Nov 2007

THE NATIONAL PETROLEUM Authority (NPA) has announced new prices for petroleum products effective today November I, 2007.
The new prices show an increase in the cost of petrol by 4 per cent.

This means that a litre of petrol will now sell at 97.78Gp from a previous price of 93Gp.

The upward adjustment has become necessary because of the hike in crude oil prices on the world market. The price of crude oil on the world market continues to surge. As at last night, a barrel of crude was selling for $93.38 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
http://www.modernghana.com/GhanaHome/NewsArchive/news_details.asp?menu_id=1&id=VFZSUk1rNVVVWG89

Too bad for the Ghanaian pocket?

Wanna See Accra by bus? Try ACCRA TOURS...

Here's the news item announcing Accra tours in January this year:

Accra Tours Project Launched

By Times Reporter

Saturday, 27 January 2007

SOME school children boarding a bus after the launch yesterday of Accra Tours, a new tourism project.(Inset): Mr. Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Tourism and of Diasporan Relations, performing the launch. With him is Mrs. Stella Appenteng (left), president of the Tour Operations Union.

Accra Tours, an initiative of the Tourism Ministry in collaboration with the Tour Operators Union, Tour Guides Association and Metro Mass Transit, commences operations on January 31. It will be a professionally-run guided tour service aimed at promoting domestic tourism.

Enjoy!!

Eating Out...at Cafe de Paris, on a Warm Afternoon in Accra

This afternoon, passed by Max Mart, and then decided to pass by this place for a bite. Considering the taciturn atmosphere, only punctuated with antiquated songs by Julio Iglesias on the tv (which turned out to be a DVD), I was left alone to commune with my thoughts and take a look at how this opportunity could be used to make it an "Accra Daily Photo" one.

First of all, "Cafe du Paris" is located on the ground floor of A&C Shopping Mall, and it's been a great while since I came here, as the food is not all that cheap.

I made the mistake of asking the waiter to recommend a sandwich dish to me, which he gladly did. I found out that he was recommending that, because that was the only dish he knew! out of the five proposed in the menu I am holding above.

Anyway, the food arrives, and this is what it looks like:



I was déçu**! It looked more like a glorified Club Sandwich than anything exotic:-( Either way, must say that on the positive side, the chips were this side of heaven--crisp to the hilt! I have to admit, though, that with the word "club" prefacing the "Club Cafebar", which went for a cool GHC4.70, or exactly $5.00, small wonder I got what I got!!

In any event, Paz, if you're reading, I hope it's whetted your appetite, and given great inspiration for your great site, which all of you can access here: http://thecookingadventuresofchefpaz.blogspot.com/

bon appetit!






**french for disappointed

Spintex Road at its Calmest

Here is a view of the Spintex Road, which I took last Friday afternoon, with the characteristic "shot from behind" angle I like to deploy once in a while. You can see that unusually, the traffic is flowing very smoothly as the taxi I was in took me to Accra Mall.

If you are wondering what that is on the left of the picture, wonder no more--they are indeed beds, designed to be slept on!

Nothing more, nothing less.

The Spintex Road is replete with many sights like these up until after GOIL filling station, when you begin to see more industries, and whatnot;-)

Accra Mall Update: The Banks Fight Back!

As you go and have a good weekend, just enjoy this one from Accra Mall, where ECOBANK, Stanbic, and BARCLAYS bank have all pitched camp.

Battle for customers is certainly a serious understatement!!

Too Much Accra Traffic? Here's What You Can Do...

Let's use the bicycle!

I was, as you might imagine, stuck in some lunch-time traffic near so-called 37 military hospital, when I saw this elderly man cruise past us, and proceed casually on his way--by way of his trusted bike! I so felt like conjuring my bike from the sky to do the same thing!;-))

Anyone for Labone Kebab?

Actually, there's no difference between kebab in Labone--an up-market suburb of Accra--and anywhere else in Accra! The only thing is that this kebab has been better packaged, and it's going for an unbelievable GHC0.50 (SO ghana pesewas), or $0.60 (60 cents) or so.

When you request one, they put some spice on it, and then onto a fire. Within five minutes, you got yourself a hot and nicely-condimented kebab!

Orders from the Accra Metropolitan Assembly!

Got anything to post in Accra?

Remember--you saw this notice from the Accra Metropolitan Assembly here first!!

Have a good weekend!

Who Said Teaching Had to be Easy?: Web 2.0, Here Journalists Come!!

Currently at Ghana's Kofi Annan IT Centre of Excellence (http://www.aiti-kace.com.gh/), where my voice is taking a break after having done some tutoring / coaching / teaching on web journalism.

This is a great passion--and coincidentally my main are of work professionally--which I am thankful to be using to impart to journalists and media practitioners that are more senior than myself  the art of...blogging.

It is reputed that I have a quintessential skill in blogging.

I say, for every one, there are many unsung heroes who know more than I do--and I am not just being humble.

It's been a while since I did public speaking, but for some strange reason, this felt great! Regrettably, I am unable to meet great minds here tomorrow, as work beckons, but, for sure, I'll be in touch with them all!

More pictures to follow soon!

Welcome to Monte Carlo...in Accra (in Labone)

Last Friday, my organisation asked a colleague and myself to accompany a group of Dutch students that were in Ghana to a restaurant Macquis Tante Marie. Situated in one of the plush parts of Accra, Labone, I got there a bit earlier than the time, and decided to take a look around--only to uncover that there's a Monte Carlo right here in Accra!!

Ghana International Press Centre

This is the quintessential home of Ghanaian journalists--and also where most press conferences are held in the country.

The Length and Breadth of...

...a Mass Metro Transport Bus!

You can visit the website here

Other links on this blog:/

http://accradailyphoto.blogspot.com/2007/02/inside-ghanas-mass-metro-buses.html

http://accradailyphoto.blogspot.com/2006/10/heres-almost-how-packed-i-was-in.html

Oh, this Accra Traffic!

Do you see the scaleof the traffic that can be visited upon the capital of Accra? Especially at rush-hour? You m ay see from the picture that there's a white van--that's a tro-tro, understandably trying to get in file of the traffic (after having left a shoulder where it dropped off (and took some) passengers).

Meanwhile, despite the green light from the traffic lights, and a bit of movement for vehicles, the density of traffic is nothing to write home about!

Views from a Tro-Tro: Traffic on the Tetteh-Quarshie Interchange

If you're a regular visitor to this blog, then you'll know that Tetteh-Quarshie interchange is a regular feature in this blog. Primarily because that is where I pass to go to and from home often.

This particular entry is a different take: yesterday I came back from town, heading for the office at East Legon, around 5.10pm. Bad timing, because that is categorical rush-hour time. I was in a tro-tro this time, and decided to take a shot from my camera-phone. I got a few quizzed faces, but it was worth it!

Open for Business! Pippa's Health Centre @ A&C Shopping Mall

No, I don't get paid for this free publicity! But I thought I'd give this new centre--recently opened--at the A & C Shopping Mall a name-check, of sorts.

If you re-call from that post last year, I said that the following would be coming:

Leisure and Fitness Centre

Beauty Therapy Clinic

Health Spa and Sauna

Restaurant

Night Club

Shops, and Offices

Well, we can tick off items 1-4, as they are in the works, and with 2, 3, and 4, to be completed by the end of the year.

I checked out Pippa's Health Centre this afternoon, and was impressed by the rest-rooms--all equipped with showers. A very plush place. You'll have to contact the centre itself for the prices. Not my job!;-)

I am personally looking forward to the swimming pool in December. Swim sessions in the afternoon wouldn't be bad at all!

Palm Trees Abound in Central Region, at Elmina Beach Resort Hotel

Need I say anymore?

Check out the lush palm trees, and plush surroundings. This is heaven on Earth!

You will only find it in the Central Region--the tourism region of the country;-)

The balcony there looks over onto the Atlantic Ocean.

Waiting to Board a (Public Transport) Bus

This is a familiar scene all over Accra--especially rush-hour, when many Ghanaians are hoping to get home as quickly as possible.

This is one of the many different types of transport we have available for Ghanaians to commute, albeit more popular--not just for the very low cost of around 10 Ghana pesewas, or circa $0.13, but because it's also positively more comfortable than the usual tro-tros!

The tyres are another rather typical scene; they help remind motorists that there are vulcanizers in the 'hood who can fix tyres for you!;-)

Personalised Number Plates in Ghana...More Money than Sense?

There is a perception about car-owners who personalise their number-plates.

Considering the hefty prices (1000 Ghana cedis or US$930) minimum, I often put it down to these types simply having more money than...sense!

Have a good weekend!

Ghana Banks: SG-SSB

Ghana has some twenty-four banks, including this one, which is SG-SSB, and is a merger between what was then Ghana's Social and Security Bank, and the multinational Societe Generale.

I had a horrible experience with these bankers, who used to be my bankers, which I wrote about in November last year

Snapshot of Downtown Accra (37)

This is a random shot taken last year of town.

You can see billboards (National Health Insurance); street (on the right), and many other psychedelic signboards.

How an Itinerant Newspaper Vendor on a Rainy September Day Threw Open the Debate on Education

See the guy in the picture? He's selling newspapers in traffic--a very common sight in Accra, and much of the metropolis all over the country...

Common, because Ghanaians like to carry newspapers when driving, so that when they stop, they can read--or so I think. The whole irony surrounding the act of reading is that despite this, it's difficult to meet any politically-minded Ghanaian--as many are--that can not only argue with a passionate intensity about what one party is or not doing, and also string a coherent and correct sentence together in English!!

A report from one of the popular and leading ENglish-speaking private radio stations wrote a report that maintained:

Back home in Ghana, over 10 percent of Ghanaian children in class six cannot read while about 50 percent of the adult population is said to be totally illiterate
http://www.myjoyonline.com/education/read.asp?contentid=7970

Obviously, this is a VERY serious cause for concern. According to the CIA World Fact Book, Ghana's literacy is listed as 66.4% of males being literate (according to 2000 census) and 49.8% of women.

Evidently, our educational standards have dropped significantly. The incumbent government's new educational policy might just help address this deficit in the most significant manner possible!!

According to the article above, the new syllabus is already available on the Ministry of Education's website here: www.edughana.net

Welcome to Cresta Atlantic Resort in Bortianor, Old Weija Barrier: A Site for Robust Campaigners!

Not to be confused with what used to be Cresta Royale Hotel, but has been fo ra few months now FIESTA Royale Hotel, part of the Sterling group of hotels.

This is the place I went to from Saturday 1 September up until this past Tuesday. It is the reason for the few-day absence, as we were seriously strategising with partners on stopping some nefarious trade agreements the EU wants Africa to sign by 31st December, 2007.

Back by 7th September

Am currently in campaign-mode at work, working with my colleagues, away from the office; and some time away from my desk...seriously deprived of my habitual radio-fixes!;-)

How the Ubiquitous Two-Colored Taxi Reflects Ghana's Multi-facetted Life...

Ok, so perhaps a bit of a wordy entry.

Looking at this picture of a taxi, I cannot help but feel patriotic: you've got your red and yellow; green, and a bit of black--all against the backdrop of some palm trees, set against the backdrop, in turn, of a hustling and bustling metropolis...that is veritably Accra.

A Typical Scene in East Legon, Accra

Here, from the rooftop of "Special Plaza II" in East Legon, I was able to snap a picture of "Special Plaza I", and the surrounding activities that go along, such as taxis plying the route; food vendors and whatnot plying their trade...

That yellow umbrella is that of MTN, which has made itself more than ubiquitous off-late!!

Welcome to Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA)

Problems with the press nothwithstanding over whether the Rector Dr.Stephen Adei is a professor or not, GIMPA remains a beautifully plush (and expensive) place to enjoy very high-quality education. Here's what the website says:

The Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) was established in 1961 as a joint Ghana Government/United Nations special Fund Project. It was originally the Institute of Public Administration established as one of the key strategic institutions to develop the public administrative system and to produce civil servants with administrative and professional competence to plan and administer national, regional and local services.

In 1966, the joint sponsorship ended and the UN formally handed over the Institute to the Government of Ghana. The Institute was re-designated the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) in 1969 to reflect its enlarged focus.

GIMPA’s activities over the past forty five (45) years have been guided by five successive mandates from the first Legislative Instrument of 1961 to the current GIMPA Law 2004 (Act 676). Each one has affirmed the status of the Institute as the nation’s leading management development institution to provide the study of Public Administration and Management in Ghana. In line with the government’s public sector reform initiatives, GIMPA has been restructured into a self-financing organization with a new structure to meet its new mandate.

from:http://www.gimpa.edu.gh/home/gimpa/

Generators in Accra no More?

For the past two weeks, many parts of Accra has been enjoying many days without interruption of electricity. This contrasts starkly with personal anecdotes last year which run like this:

Accra is in the Dark Ages.

Ever since the load-shedding started, the country’s electricity provider ECG, has decided to ride on the back of the "load management programme" by continuing to deliver increasingly execrable service.

Yesterday, on an evening that was not supposed to experience load-shedding at 6pm, the lights went out, eliciting a collective sigh of resignation and frustration all-rolled-in-one. Calls were made, and it transpired that there was "a fault" in one of the stations near the motorway of Tema. Later, I found out that it wasn’t quite near the motorway, but somewhere around Tema. Not to mention the lack of consistency in the lies (you don’t even know where the genesis of the so-called fault is?) but to buttress all that is the frustration associated with feeling the lights will come on soon when you call, only to find out that the problem has not finished being worked on!
from: http://ekbensahinghana.blogspot.com/2006/10/darkness-falls-in-accra-1.html

This generator outside is reminiscent of many scenes all over the capital up until some two weeks ago. I can say with certainty that last night, the electricity was suposed to go off. Pleasurably, it did not.

Normality in the offing?

No Way to Get Lost in Accra...

With one of these fortified pillars explaining to you how far you are away into and out of the centre of Accra, how can you possibly get lost?;-)

Let There Be Light!! (2)...

...my neighborhood...one night, several mobile phone camera evening shots ago;-))

Short of being blasphemous, I could't help but take this shot to expose the contrast of the yellow lights versus the darkness...

Lest I forget, peculiar V, I got you covered! I owe you a response;-)

A&C Shopping Mall at Night--A Litany of Lights!

I took this picture from the balcony of A&C Shopping mall one fine evening in 2005.

Although a bit blurred, the lights are this side of phenomenal!:-) You can guess that the two yellow lights are streetlights emphasizing themselves in the darkness...