Travelling Safely on the Ghanaian Roads, Onetouch Reminds Us to Drive with Care

My absence from here was due in part to a funeral I had to attend in my maternal grandmother's home town. Now, this town is some 1.5 hours away from the capital by road, and forms part of what has now become known as the Trans West African Highway Network, supposed to connect some of the West African countries together

[- Damane (Liberia border) 26 km in Côte d’Ivoire ;

- Bloloquin-Toulepleu-(Liberia border) 64 km - Côte d’Ivoire

- Ganta-Tappita-Douanes Tobli-Blay (Côte d’Ivoire border): 15 km in Liberia ;

- Bandajuma-Zimmi-Mru Bridge (Liberia border) : 97 km, in Sierra Leone ;

- Freetown-Pamelap (Guinea border : 126 km, in Sierra Leone;

- Boke (Guinea) - Quebo (Guinea Bissau) : 206 km

- Akatsi/Dzodze (Togo border): 31 km in Ghana ;

- Noepe-Hilla Condji (Benin border) : 80 km, in Togo. ]

In effect, the so-called Trans-West African Highway Network has been comprehensively completed since last week, prompting joys that the ECOWAS link-up is becoming more of a reality.

Sadly, it's coming at a cost, as exemplified by last Thursday's eerie accident that involved two articulators travelling at top speed in opposite directions; the helping of Ghanaian motorists of passengers of an overturned bus (comprising West Africans from Cote d' Ivoire, Liberia, Benin, Nigeria and Togo) resulting in their deaths as the second articulator hit them at top speed (after having lost control). Altogether, seven vehicles were involved in the very sad loss of lives that claimed 40 people.

The road on which this happened goes to one of Ghana's premier tourist regions--the Central Region, where there is much more greenery than in the capital of Accra.

The roads are so good and so speed-inducing it's not funny. Regrettably, badly-educated and opportunistic (not to mention tired) articulator truck drivers take advantage of these good roads and act as death merchants.

To remind Ghanaian motorists of the importance of preserving lives, my favourite network, Ghana's mobile network--Onetouch--has erected billboards throughout the highway that spans several kilometres, reminding drivers not just they can connect to ONETOUCH in the area they have passed, but that "life is precious, drive with care".

A publicity stunt, notwithstanding, it's important to read that as you cruise from one region to the next.

(May those West Africans who lost their lives, as well as those Ghanaians who stopped to help them, ending up killed, rest in perfect peace)

Apologies...but I am back!!

I was compelled to ask for a few days off on account of preparations for a funeral.

 

Regular posting is resumed as of today!

 

 

Thanks for your patience!
 

Need your Windscreen (in Accra) Cleaned?

I think I can already see some people shifting uncomfortably as this guy approaches towards the car. Not to worry: it's a regular refrain in Accra's traffic, sometimes, in some parts of town.

These guys are only trying to make a quick buck, but doing something to force you to give them a buck. In this case, a cedi;-)

Better than being an armed robber, no?

this picture was taken some five minutes drive away from the country's main airport in Accra

Chicken Run à la Ghanéen!

You should be so lucky!

It's not quite an exotic name for a fancy Chicken dish made in Ghana--yet.

See the rocks on the pavement. To the immediate right of that is some small greenery, and just near that greenery is a vestigial shape of what looks like a chicken--and, in fact, is a chicken.

Greenery is no stranger to Ghana, or this blog, but I have got to add how quizzed I was by this roving chicken. Did it escape someone's soup, or something? As I write, it's still trekking the neighborhood, and running away from small lizards and whatnot that live in the area!

Ghanaians are Nuts!...

...about cashews:-)

I took this picture after I virtually devoured this bag of cashew nuts, which is going at ç10,000 (Ghanaian cedis) or just under $1.00. Even for Ghanaians, cashews are rather prohibitive, or expensive. If you really think about it, this small bag, with some fifty cashews or so is priced this way, so you can imagine what a slightly bigger bag may attract, by way of price!

I found out that from 16-19 April, Ghana celebrated Cashew week, and there's plenty on the website of what is actually a cashew association. The length of the name of the association is sufficient to put you off alphabet soup...with plenty of cashew nuts in them;-): Cashew Processors and Exporters Association of Ghana (CAPEAG).

The theme of the week was "Cashing in on Cashew". You can read more about it on their website here: http://www.ghanacashewproducts.com/about.html.

Either way, here's a hot fact you might not have known:

Cashew is an important tropical crop because of its nuts which is the real fruit. It provides a valuable kernel which ranks third in world nuts economic importance after almonds and walnuts. World demand for raw cashew nuts in 2005 was 1.75 million metric tonnes with a supply of about 1.4 million metric tonnes. Ghana exported 47,962 metric tonnes in 2006 earning US$ 24 million. This figure is considered very small when compared with world excess demand of 430,000MT of raw nuts, valued at US$270 Million, and growing at a rate of 5-8% per annum

Anyone, now, for cashews?

(a belated MayDay!)

Sporadic Posts...

Sorry for the absence. This week will prove to be a difficult week time-wise, not just because I am turning thirty on the 26th April (hint, hint!), but other work-related factors...

B here sooner than you think!

Thanks for your understanding!

Ghanaian Shot in the Dark? (A Tale of Unlit Roads)

Not quite! Just a headlight on a dark -- and unlit -- road in Accra. This is not to say that our major roads and otherwise are unlit, but there seems to be a visceral dislike by our two past governments of well-lit roads, which probably explains why the streetlights that were erected on the Spintex Road remain, after four months, veritably unlit!

Apologies for a two-day absence.

I wish you all a Happy Friday and weekend!;-)

Ghana's Re-denomination Gains Speed

Two Fridays ago, Ghanaians woke up to the news that the Bank of Ghana had launched a new website on the re-denomination of the currency, scheduled for July 2007.

Getting to work, I checked Joy FM's website on the article, a story culled from the Ghana News Agency about the initiative. It was great to see the Bank of Ghana, in a manner reminiscent of the flyer it sent out in January with copies of the Daily Graphic.

By clicking http://www.ghanacedi.gov.gh, you are exposed to a fresh, rather hip webpage that is replete with funky graphics and bold colours that are pleasing to the eye. There is a download page, where you can download videos of the now-very-popular jingles all over radio and tv. The refrain is no longer recondite:

"There is no change in value, the value is the same"

The video can be downloaded on the page listed above, along with a few other less popular jingles.

Cars Stand Attention: Traffic Wardens in Sight!

See the man, wearing white uniform, to the right of the picture? He is one of many traffic wardens, from Ghana's MTTU, or Motor Traffic and Transport Unit of the Ghana Police Service.

Here, he is directing traffic exactly the lane down, where this picture was taken, near the airport.

Happy Easter!

There will be no posting from tomorrow up until Monday!

Happy Easter to all my lurkers and visitors!

May the good winds of April blow your way!:-)

A mardi!

Ghana Taxis -- Security Embossment Exercise A-Ok!

See that "912" embossment on the side of the picture of that taxi (which I didn't take)? Well, it's a security number provided by a private embossment company for taxi drivers in the metropolis by the capital of Ghana's metropolitan assembly, or Accra Metropolitan Assembly, also known as AMA.

A Ghana government document online outlines some of AMA's responsibiities:

While it cannot be denied that waste management is high on the agenda of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly under the new Mayor, other critical issues are also of serious concern.These include the resolution of chieftaincy disputes, the mobilization of revenue to tackle various development projects and the enforcement of discipline as regards conformity or otherwise to the bye – laws of the A.M.A.
from http://www.ghana.gov.gh/dexadd/feature/taatolai.pdf

Guess what? It has a website, that has some interesting pictures, but is under construction. You can click it here

"Sunday World" : Ghana's Sunday Paper

In fact, this is the edition of last two week's Sunday World--a not so original title for a Sunday paper, but, hey, what can you do?;-)

It's been running for a few months now, and judging by last week's edition, the pages are growing by the week! This past week's edition was a good 31 pages.

One big snag is that for a lot of Ghanaians -- irrespective of whether they go to church or not -- getting the paper on the day that it would be great to read is not always possible, on account of not so-well-planned areas that make delivering Sunday papers problematic. That is to say, it is only in well-established estates that delivery is less difficult, because the planning is far better.

Streetnames do exist, ofcourse, but our rather tumultuos past put paid to a more concerted and wiser way of organising how to get to particular places without homorously saying : pass the blind beggar on your left, and turn left at the green mansion. Make sure you pass the barking dogs, and turn right at the shoe-seller who squats behind the filling station;-)

oh, Ghana!

More new buildings in East Legon

Last year, this building was not erected in East Legon. A year later, follwing the trend of many other buildings being established by individuals for Ghana's Golden Jubilee celebrations, and the increasing number of tourists trouping into the country for those celebrations, as well as Ghana's hosting of CAN 2008, or the Africa Cup of Nations in Jan 2008, many buildings are set up to respond to the needs of consumers.

This one includes a bookshop (Christian), and an eaterie. That's to the right, where you can see the two red parasols;-)

Apologies....

 

…yet again. Will post some piccies tomorrow! Thanks!

A Snapshot of the Inside of BusyInternet, Ghana

This is a picture of a colleague, but the bigger picture is that of the inside of Busy Internet. This space is further down Africa's biggest Internet cafe.

The red you see on one of the computers there to the left is the stock-in-trade colour, as it were, of BusyInternet, as all of its advertising leaves NO red out;-)

You can visit their website here:http://www.busyinternet.com, and be prepared to see plenty of the red colour;-)

Ghana Police: Someone's Always Protecting and Serving

Not to get paranoid here, but it stands to reason that on occasion, the police force stop on shoulders and pavements in the capital to ensure that our fellow citizens are driving the right way, and following the regulations of the road.

This particular police van is so inimitable it's not funny: a big van, provided by the French government (therefore the van being of French origin--most likely a Renault or a citroen)and painted -- what can I say?--police blue;-))

Whilst I am at it, let me just provide you with an insight into Ghana's police force. As far back as 2004, they were running a website which, very unimaginatively, is called http://www.ghanapolice.org;-)

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!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Images of Ghana President John A Kufuor in the UK on State Visit

Well, these are not exactly pictures as I wasn't in London myself, but pictures captured by my digital camera of TV images from Ghana's state television GTV. Sue me!;-) This is Westminster, UK, as you might have surmised, and you can see one of the quintessential landmark that typifies the UK: the Big Ben. I fyou look closely enough at the image capture, you can see the ticker scrolling from righ to left with the words :you are watching a live coverage of..."
this image, regrettably, is not as clear as I would've wanted it to be, but let me just say that it provides a vignette--of sorts--of Ghanaians in the UK watching the Queen of England move graciously, albeit geriatrically, with the Ghanaian president.
Finally, this image shows both UK and Ghana flags (can you see the red-gold-green of the Ghana flag?)lined up one after the other on both sides of that famous road near the Palace, and ,with a motoracade I could only describe as UK-protocol-engineered-yet-formidable. The road is so famous I forget the name...;-)

Apologies--yet again--for the lack of posting, but the sporadic nature of the Net has been so bad it's not funny. Please bear with me, and have a great weekend in the meantime!!

Waiting for Godot?: A Typical Ghanaian scene...

Despite the Jubilee and the celebrations, life still goes on. This is why you will find scenes like these, where Ghanaians from all walks of life wait patiently to board the so-called tro-tro bus, which is a very cheap--albeit dangerous--way of commuting;-)

For an overview of different modes of transport available for commuters, please check this link here: http://ekbensahinghana.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_archive.html