Roll up! Roll up! (in the Ghanaian Food Market!)

Anyone for some Ghanaian tomatoes and fish? If you're a denizen or a frequent visitor to this country, you cannot miss this sight at the markets. Very often the food is placed in these buckets/containers, and sold as half or full quantities.

Have you made up your mind yet?

Ghanaian Roads are about Livelihoods...

...so they must needs remain free (of traffic)!!

I couldn't resist that as this is a picture I used for a post on my ghana blog over here: http://ekbensahinghana.blogspot.com/2010/02/unbearable-lightness-of-being-in.html, which I wrote about this way last week:

Roads are our lifeblood. It is what we need to move from A to B. It is what helps us get to our destination. So, when we do not move on it quickly, it invariably becomes more than a headache. We cannot avoid traffic--there will always be accidents, people driving crazily and/or carelessly/foolishly--but we can certainly avoid a situation where the most important parts of our morning are eaten up in traffic on the only thoroughfare that will take us into the capital!

The essence of the post was about the National Road Safety Commission hotline calling me to check--as they did again this morning--whether the Motor Transport Unit of the Ghana Police were there!

The police officer is the one standing in reflective yellow to the left of the picture. That place is strategic, because it is very often the genesis of the chaos that takes a life of its own and finds expression in dual-way traffic northbound, when it should be one-way northbound.

That this confusion is compounded by major construction works on the Spintex Road to smoothen the traffic does little to give small headaches this side of the capital every morning!

Great Ghanaian Billboard, Shame about the Message!

Just wish that there would be a public service reminder or something. This kind of billboard is huge for nothing; most Ghanaians are familiar with the Tom-Tom product. Why shove it in our faces?

Now imagine the impact if, say, National Road Safety Commission entreated drivers to drive carefully?!!

An Unnecessary Ghanaian Crowd -- Just to Register National ID?!

Though it is true that Ghanaians are naturally nosy and like to find out in both discreet and indiscreet ways what someone is doing, you might not believe me if I told you that this crowd has been formed because of the ongoing registration of the national ID card. This scene was taken in one of the Estate neighbourhoods that fall under the deceptively-sounding-prestigious "off Spintex road".

The crowd was rather amorphous on account of the denizens standing in the then-up-and-coming midday heat. Apart from the frustration and fatigue associated with this queue, people could not quite understand the incredibly slow pace of the registration. Sadly, despite media criticisms, the pace has not quickened.

Some might say "all in the name of democracy"!;-)

Better this pace than to be fighting a senseless war that characterised a good number of African countries two decades ago...

Ghanaian Girl Scout at Akosombo Fish Market

Well not quite a scout, but this smart girl is certainly on the lookout for a catch to buy some of her fish!

If I know our market people, this one will not give up till her goods are sold!

Ghana's Talking Point:" Road Tolls"

I have come to read and understand that the USA has an atavistic revulsion towards big government. Consequently, anything that comes with a greater role of the State and the government is attacked. Small wonder Obama is suffering the fallout, if you will, of focussing on bringing some sanity to health care reform in a manner that the EU would applaud.

Ghana and the US might be similar only in the sense that our elections are held the same year as the US, but I sincerely hope that Ghana will never go the way of sneezing at taxes and government. The what some might say "dramatic" increases in the road tolls on Ghana's major motorway--the Tema motorway--where the tolls have gone up more than 50% overnight has led to a situation where commuters have used the infamous Spintex road in the morning just to avoid paying the taxes.

Or so private radio station CITI97.3fm was averring yesterday morning in interviews. I seriously would not put it past my fellow denizens, though!

Ghanaian Fishmarket Woman Doing it For Herself!

I think it has now become a staple of the perception of Africa that women in the informal economy are stronger than their male counterparts, with their strength being derived from their tenacity and ability to hold on while all around might have quit.

If you look at the relatively carefree manner in which this woman is carrying her fish at the fish market in Akosombo market (see yesterday's post), you can see that not only is she used to it, but she has, insalubrious conditions and competitors notwithstanding, a steely determination to make sure her catch is sold by the end of the day.

Now, if that's not strength of character, what is?!

One of the Beauties of Ghana--Markets!

Although Ghana has embraced the free market model off-and-on like the occasional provision of our electricity(!), under the incumbent administration of the National Democratic Congress (that has tagged themselves social democrats), you are bound to see a fair bit of a mix of the free-market and the State protection.

Truth be told, I am talking about markets of a gastronomical kind! This picture is revealing in so many ways.

Primo, we see that even paragons of discipline like the Fire Service personnel love to patronise the market for fish; secondo, the little girl selling here at a market at Akosombo (just off in the Eastern region, and 1.5 hours from Accra), might just be too small to be transacting such business.

Where's the mother, I wonder? Although it was a Saturday, this is the reality of much of the more "rural" parts of Ghana, where children are seen at markets trying to complement the subsistence of what is most likely the mother and his/her siblings...

An Appeal to Ghanaian Itinerant Vendors!

If you want to sell something, how about a little smile?

I know the sun is oftentimes scorching and as soon as I get out of this air-conditioned car I will also meet it, but when you smile, I might just somehow not feel too bad not buying it?

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!;-)

Clean-Up Time Thanks to Ghana's Zoomlion!

For a country that is reputed by the UN to be the second filthiest in West Africa, a lot of cleaning must needs be done to clean up our image!

Work pressures have naturally inhibited photo blogging, but it will sure pick up in February.

Many thanks for your patronage and visits. Have a constructive and stress-free weekend!

Ghana's Shoprite Issues "Warning" to Bread-Grabbers!

Remember this post, where Shoprite bread patronisers seemed to be fighting over the bread? Well, I guess the management got enough and decided to provide consumers with a soft version of their riot act, exemplified by the picture I took here!

Am unsure what "pressures on bakery" actually mean, but I guess they simply got fed up of people buying--what??--ten loaves plus?!?!

Accra's, Erm, Garden of Eden?!

If this is the kind of Garden of Eden I will get when I die, then I do not want to go there--just yet!;-)

Have a good AND STRESS-FREE weekend!

This Was More than Torrential Accra Rain on Friday 15 January!

Last Friday night, minutes before the Cote d'Ivoire-Ghana game in the ongoing African Cup of Nations (CAN 2010) in Angola, the Ghanaian sky darkened, opened, and poured. It. Was. Terrific in every sense of the term: those of us who had the temerity to walk through the rain with a bag that included their laptop saw it very fit to find shelter ASAP to prevent rain from getting into the laptop system.

You could forget about the clothes; it was like we were in a giant shower perched in the sky. And, it just would. Not. Stop!

Thankfully, by 10pm, it was over. And so was the football game: Ghana lost 3-1 to Ivory Coast.

I guess the showers of blessings were for them?

When Open Drains in Accra Decide to Punish Us!

A couple of years ago, there was a story close to home about a young girl who, when the annual diluvian rain hit Accra, was washed away by the turbulence of the water gushing through the open drains. I might not remember that story every year, but I do remember the grief on the faces of the family, and I also remember the stubbornness of Ghanaians.

This is manifested in the consistent and regular dumping in some quarters of Accra of refuse in open drains.

I don't know about you, but I would have thought that the authorities of the Accra Metropolitan -- and respective -- Assemblies of the districts of the country would cotton on to the fact that if they closed the drains, this scourge would not just be a thing of the past a huge relief to those careless drivers, like that captured in the picture, who speed unnecessarily too close to the darned open drains!

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:-)

Ghanaians Smoking Out 2009, or Displaying Supreme Ignorance?

In the wake of the cacophony in 2009 over climate change, this picture, striking me as a paradox at first, immediately gives way to a feeling that not quite everyone got the whole picture on global warming, and frankly, not everyone was going to!

Although the incumbent government has done some work on promoting the planting of trees, its communication is challenged by the dynamics of a country that sometimes seems over-obsessed with politics.

I cannot help but wonder how scenes like these remain a very stark reminder of the ignorance of a large part of Ghanaians on how to tackle climate change.

A news report in the Ghanaian media claims this:

In her quest towards mitigating climate change, Ghana would in January 2010, begin an ambitious nationwide aforestation project that also seeks to bridge the unemployment gap confronting the country.

Climate change effects are already wrecking lives in Ghana, and the rest of the African continent. It is seriously having a rippling effect on the people, especially those in rural communities where various streams serving as a source of drinking water have dried up, because of lack of trees to serve as a cover for these waterbodies.

The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the body that regulates and enact policies for the country’s natural resources and forest reserves, will launch a National Forest Plantation Development Program (NFPDP) in January, to avert the declining trend of its forest reserve.

Let us keep our eyes peeled for this government initiative!

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all!!

Here's hoping all of you...

...have a fantastic Christmas period and safe, fantastic, and peaceful transition to the New Year.

End of year always mean one is busier than ever, and blogging drops drastically. I believe that you will forgive my sporadic posts at this time, and help me welcome you to 2010--not just with excellent cheer and prospects, but more vivacious pictures for your enjoyment!

Till 2010!

Wanna Watch an African Movie in East Legon?

Let's be clear: in Ghana, whenever TV stations advertise African movies, they are invariably talking about Nigerian movies, with a sprinkling of Ghanaian ones.

Now, most Ghanaians generally agree that though the Ghanaian movie industry is hastening slowly in quality as compared to those of our neighbours in Nigeria, which industry is referred to as Nollywood, Ghanaian movies do abound in a way that quite a number can be found in East Legon. Let's just say adverts of such movies a practically ubiquitous these days!

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!!