Nyaniba Park Renovation Project - Nyaniba Estates. Accra

It all started off with a group of Nyaniba folks living in the US, UK, Europe and in Accra deciding to put some funds together to renovate the park at Nyaniba. Actually as far as I can remember, nothing has ever been done in terms of renovating this park. I remember as a kid many years ago walking past the park on my way to school, which was then Saint Michael's International School. I do not recall actually playing on the park. I do remember stopping on many occasions just to watch other kids and adults playing on it. Football was always the main sport played on it.

Recently there has been a lot of action surrounding the park. As far as I understand, there have been several attempts by unknown parties to gain control of the park and use it for personal projects. By this I mean building of houses. Others have also tried to encroach on it for reasons best known to them. Anyway in all these illegal attempts, the residents of Nyaniba have stood up to any hostility and retained the park. Moving forward it was decided that the park should be renovated as a legacy for the kids in Nyaniba. Since returning to Ghana on a frequent basis, I have on several occasions seen the park being used as a football pitch or as an overflow area for anyone having a funeral.

The current plan layout for the project seeks to have a basketball court, a football field - one that can host five-a-side, a table tennis area, a kids playground area and a couple of sitting areas. I took my Parrot Drone out to the park a couple of days ago and did a short flight to make a video recording of the park. For those who are abroad and have not been back for quite a while, watching the video should give you an update of what the park currently looks like. If you have moved out of Nyaniba, please watch the video.

Finally if you are interested in helping out financially with the Nyaniba Project, I would encourage you to contact James "Fella" Azu. If you have any questions James will be more than willing to answer them for you. Send me a text message/whatsapp message on 0245241811 and I will get James to contact you. 

Now enjoy the video below

Back In Ghana - Lunch With James And Family - Nyaniba Estates

Yes that is right, I am back in Ghana. Last year around the end of August, I took a three break to travel to Ghana and get Project Laingoye kicked off. Despite being a gruelling three months with challenges, i managed to accomplish what I planned and get things started.

I am now back. Updates on the project can be found on the "Project Laingoye" section of this blog. Why dont you take a trip over there and update yourself with where I currently stand with the building project and what is next on the project timeline.

In between sorting things out with the project, I have been "enjoying" myself.

There is currently a Project, initiated by Nyaniba UK residents and those in Nyaniba to renovate the Nyaniba Park. I have injected myself into this project. I had the blessed opportunity of meeting James "Fella" Azu, who is the main man on the ground in Nyaniba coordinating things from his end. I had my personal donation for the project and also donations from the UK to give to him. James invited me over to his house one Saturday to enjoy some fufu and a variety of Ghanaian soups. The experience was finger licking good. With the assistance of his wife Sky, I enjoyed every moment of my two lunch with them. So this is how it all went down. I arrived at his crib around 11AM and was offered a bottles of chilled Star beer. Then I was asked if I would like to sample some Alomo Silver. Of course I said. I am never one to shy away from a little adventure. Next was the fufu. As they say, a picture tells a whole lot more than words. Check out some optics I took of dish before it got totally demolished by me

The meal was delicious and I enjoyed every "atom" of it. When I got home, I sat down hoping to just relax for a little while. I actually dozed off for a good two hours and more. Life is certainly blessed and good, in Ghana. Thanks James and Sky. Love you both.

Oasis Bar and Grill Now Open

Some time in June I wrote on this blog about a joint which was soon to open in Tamale - Link here. Well I am proud to announce to you that Oasis has been officially opened. The specially day of its opening was a very proud moment for the owner, Mr Andrew Alhassan. I am pleased to share with you below some pictures that were taken on the opening night. Don't forget, whenever you are up in Tamale, try your best to pop into Oasis for some very good food and relaxing atmosphere.

Let Us Smile Because.......

I recently came across this piece from a friend on WhatsApp.

"A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so to redeem them from starving. They all have food in their own houses. When we gather together in the moonlight village ground, it is not because of the moon. Every man can see it in his own compound. We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so. Let us find  time to come together physically and enjoy the power of togetherness. 

Let's smile not because we don't have problems but because we are stronger than the problems."

CHINUA ACHEBE

This piece of writing comes book "Things Fall Apart" written by the famous Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic, Chinua Achebe. If you have not read this book before, I highly suggest that you do. I remember reading this book years ago in Secondary School form 3. It formed part of our books we used for English Literature in Ghana. I do not know what books are offered for English Literature in Secondary schools in Ghana these days, but back in those days I was attending secondary school, the reading books that were on the school curriculum were great to read. 

DJ Jazzy Jeff & MICK: Summertime Volume 7

 
It's finally here. Download at: Summertime.fm
Whiles you are there, check out previous Summertime compilation....dope!
credits: vowe.net

DJ Jazzy Jeff & MICK: Summertime Volume 7

Oasis

I am dubbing this joint as the best Sports Bar and Grill in Tamale - when it officially opens. Now where do I start? How do I tell the "story" of this "project" hatched by Mr A Alhassan? Anyway before I going any further, this is just to let you the reader know that I have not been commissioned to do this write up on behalf of Mr A Alhassan. I am doing this because as a close family friend, I have followed Andrew's project from inception to its completion [almost completion]. I am sure that as time draws nearer to opening this joint, Mr Alhassan will get the necessary media outlets to to a proper write up and announcement as to how is dream became a reality.

Fisrt of all, a bit of history. How do I know Andrew? I met Andrew many years ago in Tamale. I used to be a part time teacher at his mum's kindergarten school [which was run from their home in Tamale], before moving on to teacher General Science and Biology at Tamasco [Tamale Secondary School]. Eventually, Andrew moved to the UK to further his education, got married and had kids. I must have moved to the UK myself a couple of years after he did. We sort of kept in touch over the years, either by phone or meeting at various events in the UK.

Now lets fast forward to say four to five years back from present day; after a long stint of working as a Telecoms Network Engineer for Vodafone, Andrew decided to move back to Tamale, Ghana, As part of his plans to move back, he decided that he wanted to setup a Sports and Grill Bar in Tamale. On one of my visits to Tamale to visit the family, we went out to one of the night clubs in Tamale. There was nothing particularly interesting about this night club, it was just an ordinary night club serving drinks and food with music to listen and dance to. I think it has some space inside for those who wanted to dance. After settling down and having some drinks, Andrew unveiled to me his plans for this Sports and grill Bar he had in mind... First of all he asked me to take a good look at the surroundings we were in and the number of people that were enjoying themselves. He then laid some facts regarding the place we were at to me [apparently he knows the guy - Mike's Spot]. As I mentioned earlier, there was nothing special about the place. The setup was just simple, nothing fancy and yet Mike's spot was raking it in every night. Andrew then said, with the vision he had for his Sports and Grill Bar, he would be making a lot of money, especially with the decor and services he would provide. Andrews Sports Bar would definitely be the talk of Tamale. 

Anyway, Andrew bought his plot of land in an area called Rice City in Tamale and the project commenced. Occasionally Andrew would upload a couple of pictures to his Facebook profile for friends and family to see how far he had got to etc etc. Last year in November I took a plane trip to Tamale to visit Andrew and the rest of the family. Andrew picked me up from the Airport and on our way to his crib at Airport residential area, we took a sort detour to his project. I was immediately thrown of guard.  I immediately released that looking at something as a picture does not give you the right perspective of what that thing should give you. I was so glad he was showing this to me. As we walked round the place, he explained to ow the place was going to function and why the building was setup as per the architects drawings. I suddenly felt excited. I also felt so proud of him. This was a big achievement. The night life in Tamale has changed drastically from the time I used to live there. It is much easier to move about in Tamale. More and more people from other parts of Ghana have more than one means of travelling to Tamale. There are now plane flights from Takoradi, Accra and Kumasi to Tamale. A typical flight from Accra to Tamale takes no more than 45 minutes.

The Sports Bar is almost done. I think he plans of opening in late June or early July this year. I am not too sure of the exact date. All I know is that it is going to be an instant success. To compliment this article, I have some pictures which I have tried to arrange in some sort of "timeline" showcasing the beginning and where it current is at. Before I forget, Oasis is located at Rice City. I know this sounds a bit vague, but I will try and get better directions to Oasis later on and update this blog with it.

Yes, I saved the best till last. This is how Oasis looks now. I am sure there are still some micro touches to be applied here and there but as I mentioned before, pictures do not tell the full story, however let you imagination do the rest :-). Love it!!!

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Podcast With A Difference - AccraWeDey [Radio]

Whilst doing my regular rounds on the internet, I happen to stumble upon this podcast. I do not know why, but for some strange reason I have never thought of doing a search for podcasts hosted by Ghanaians in Ghana. Don't ask me why. I guess it is one of those things. There must be more other podcasts out there hosted by Ghanaians, I will do a search later, but for now, my attention is drawn to this one - AccraWeDey. 

So, first things first. If you want to listen to AccraWeDey podcast on iPhone [sorry Android users, I am an iPhone geek/fun] the best app for your listening pleasure is Overcast. Just do a search for "AccraWeDey", excluding quotes. I also listen to podcasts frequently on my Macbook and my preferred app for podcasts is Downcast. I have also noted that AccraWeDey podcasts is also available on Soundcloud, however I am not that much of a fan of Soundcloud, so I tend to stay away from it if I can. Oh, and they have a presence on Tumblr and Facebook.

What/Who is Accra We Dey? This is what I got from the `About` section on their Facebook page.

“We exist to highlight Accra & celebrate the lifestyles of people living in Accra: from music, fashion, art, film and food. #AccraWeDey”

I downloaded "S02 EP12 - Eeiii Madam (ft Hassan Salih & Sylvernus Darku)" before heading to the gym this afternoon and listened to 90% of the show there and the rest when I got back home. So far, I love the show. There atmosphere is "chilled and relaxed". The thing that kicks me is the use of broken english... dope! Tell you what, being so far away from Accra/Ghana, yeah 6K miles of it; listening to this podcast this afternoon sort of creates that atmosphere of closeness between me and my Mother land.

2016 Living Word

"At the heart of this devotional is a desire to make God's eternal word real to our day to day experiences. The study format is easy to follow and the daily insights rich with meaning.
You can use this guide for your personal or family devotion, facilitate a Bible study or prepare a study lesson for a group you lead. Whether you are a student, parent, worker, busy executive or a senior citizen, you can develop a closer walk with God and study His word daily. Make time to draw on His wisdom from above and see the difference it will bring into your life."
 

Whilst back in Ghana last year between the months of August and December, [yes I know,I spent several months there all in the name of relocation] I fellowshipped every Sunday morning attending Church Service at ICGC located at Abossey Okine. I was initially invited by a good friend Belinda Quarshie several years ago and since then, whenever I am in Ghana, I make it my mission to attend church service there. I am very skeptical about churches in Ghana. I feel many of them have deviated from the soul purpose of why a church is needed in a community, and have made it their aim to feed people with nonsense and device as many ways and means of extracting money from them based on absurd reasons. 
Anyway, ICGC sat well with me. I liked the church very much. I would not say I liked everything about the church, but on a scale of 1 - 10, I would give it a 9 based on the atmosphere, preaching, etc etc. 

So, "Living Word" is a yearly book written by the Senior Pastor and founder of ICGC - Pastor Mensa Otabil. My copy - Living Word 2016, was purchased as a present for me by Belinda in November last year when I was in Ghana. It is meant to be read on a daily bases, but hey, I found the content very inspiring and full of great value. I ended up reading more than one page at a time. I ended up finishing the book last week. There are several pages which I enjoyed. Others I had questions on. 

I am eagerly looking to next years Living Word 2017. I plan to be in Ghana in November for six week. Hopefully before I leave, Pastor Otabil would have the Living Word for 2017 published and out for sale.

Winners – Ghana Blogging & Social Media Awards 2016

Well, I did not make it to the final contestants [finalist] or even a winner - of course not, But, hey, I have not given up. Hopefully next year I will "up my game" and make it as winner of one of the many categories Blogging Ghana awards prizes to every year. So, this year, the various awards were dished out to the below winners. Well done guys. Those of us that did not make it, there is always next year.

Best Blogger: Ameyaw Debrah
Best Blog: KeniKodjo.com
Best Post of 2015: Kwame Gyan (Innitfoɔ No Rɛba Ooo)
Best Emerging Niche Blog: Screwlife.com
Best New Blog: 2eweboys.com
Best Organisational Blog: Tonaton
Best Twitter Account (Individual): Nana Aba Anamoah
Best Twitter Account (Organization): Citi 97.3 FM
Best Instagram Account: Ameyaw Debrah
Best Facebook Profile (Individual): Maukeni Padiki Kodjo
Best Facebook Page (Entity): Vodafone Ghana
Best YouTube Channel (Individual): Akumaa Mama Zimbi
Best YouTube Channel (Artiste): Sarkodie
Public Official With Best Social Media Presence: Nana Oye Lithur, Minister of Gender, Children & Social Protection
Organization With Best Social Media Presence: Vodafone Ghana
Media House With Best Social Media Presence: Citi 97.3 FM
Artiste With Best Social Media Presence: 
Special Award for Services to Ghana’s Blogging & Social Media Community:  PlanIT Ghana

source: Blogging Ghana

Office/Study Make-over

This was not in the actual sense of the word a typical make-over. I did not remove everything from the room and have it redecorated with different colour paint or wallpaper. I did not go out to [IKEA] to buy new furniture [desk, chair or shelves] in an attempt to introduce new furniture into the environment. My version of a make-over was to rearrange the various computer equipments I have in my study and position them in better locations. I also spent about two hours recabling everything under my desk. The cabling had just grown out of hand. Because it was all under the desk, and out of sight, I was reluctant to do anything about it. However at this point I added the recabling as part of my "to do list" in my make-over. The who exercise went on pretty well. I was able to reclaim more shelf space by getting rid of obsolete text books and magazine which I no longer required. There were also a few other bits in the study which were creating a distract for me. They just were not needed and packed them away. Upon reflection, I have moved my Debian Server t underneath my desk where it is nicely tucked away.

The Geek Bake

The time was heading towards 2am in the morning. I was feeling bored. I had done my usual internet surfing, emails, reading and studying; for the day and practically had nothing else to to. I was not feeling sleepy because I had spent most of the afternoon sleeping. Having drunk loads of coffee after waking up did not make it easier for me to just go to bed and fall asleep. The problem was I had suddenly become very active at around 2am in the morning. Great.

Why do I not do a spot of baking I thought. I cannot remember the last time I baked because, I have never baked. I have seen several TV shows of people baking, but I suppose that does not make me an expert in baking. Also I have seen others baking in real life, the most watched person being my late mother. As a Home economics teacher, she loved baking, yes and cooking. She would bake all sorts. I never bothered with the types of cakes she baked, I just ate them. The mistake I made was sampling all those lovely cakes and not asking her to teach me how to bake.

I had seen previously some where on Facebook a 5 minute [I think] video someone had posted of a cake being made from milo, flour, eggs etc etc. That looked simple enough, and I sort of remembered how it all went, well not exactly but close enough. 2am and nothing to do, hmmmm, why do I not bake myself a cake. I quickly did a search on DuckDuckGo using the search term "milo + cake", picked out one of the results that got thrown at me, did a quick read and made my way downstairs to the kitchen. I did not bother copying the recipe down. I felt I had committed everything sufficiently to memory. Sadly after 10 minutes in the kitchen I had completely forgotten all the information regarding the recipe. Heck, I said to myself, I will make it up as I go along. That should work!

My first task was to source a mixing bowl. I could not quick find a decent mixing bowl, so I had to made do with something which was close to a mixing bowl. 

Below I present you with a series of pics which, are self explanatory of what I used in terms of ingredients and method.

So, you are probably asking, how was the end product? Truthfully.... a disaster. I have learnt from my first experience in my attempt to bake and looking forward to trying it out again.

Bebop Drone - First Lift Off and Test Flight

I think I mentioned somewhere in this blog that I have acquired a Bebop Drone. It must have been somewhere just after Christmas last year. Anyway, apart from taking it out of its box to check the box contents and to calibrate it, I have not really engaged it in a proper Test Flight. I did however use it once in my garden, but that did not turn out too well. The drone ended up in my neighbours garden and my garden did not offer much space anyway. So this afternoon, I decided to walk up to our local park and have a play with my drone. I had already done a few YouTube "courses" on how to operate the drone, so I was feeling quite confident that the drone would not end up somewhere unretrievable and/or smashed up. 

Having a Skycontroller would have been icing on the cake for me, but unfortunately these do not come cheap and at the time that I purchased my Bebop drone, my funds were fairly limited. You can use your smart phone [Android or IOS] to control it, and with my iPad, it works brilliantly. I have put the purchase of the Skycontroller on my To Do list. I should be able to get a decent one from Ebay when the time comes and I am in a financial position to get one.

The Bebop drone is absolutely lovely. It is a great toy to have. Saying that though, there are so many commercial purposes this drone, and any other brand of drone can be used for. The Bebope drone comes with a charger and two spare batteries. For the technical detail related to the drone version I have [Bebop 2 has since been released after I purchased mine], check this >>Link<<. 

Random Optics From Makola and Tardi Market Sq, Ghana.

In past years, a trip to Takoradi to visit family would have been a 4-5 hour journey in a State Transport Bus or one from Kanashie Market in Accra. This time my trip was different. yes I went by Air. That is right, I have not been to Ghana for a while, hence all this is new to me.

I must say, Takoradi did not impress me the least bit. I seriously thought that with all this oil boom, the city would have had some form of face lift. Considering that I have not been there for a while and that oil has been discovered right at its doorstep, one would have thought some cash would have been pumped into giving this City some form of face lift.

Then there is Makola Market. From my previous trips to Ghana, there has not been a requirement for me to actually go into the market; however in the recent past few years, my cousin Josephine has taken up shop in one of the stall there. After a trip to the High Courts, my cousin Awuley suggested that we pay Josephine a surprise visit. The place is practically choking with people selling or buying. No space is spared. You are constantly trying to squeeze past someone in your attempt to get from point A to point B.

ECG, Ghana - "domsor" My Personal Experience

There is a general saying that if something does not personal happen to you, you do not appreciate the effect of what that thing has had on others. The Electricity Corporation Of Ghana has had to adopt some very strict processes due to various reasons and as a result has been rationing Electricity to homes, factories and companies for some years now. An attempt to find the real cause for this has been futile; there is no one specific reason. When this all kicked off, I was made to believe that it was due to the lack of rainfall and hence the low water levels at the Akosombo Dam. It appears - from Google - that the reasons are uncountable.So this is how Domsor (by the way, the term "Domsor" as I understand it, means the unreliable and frequent power cuts and power restore typically in the city of Accra, Ghana) made my day.

If you recall (if not, check out this link ) I mentioned that I was planning a project to change the face of Nyaniba. Briefly, this involved demolishing the current building on Plot 22 and erecting the two storey building. After careful consideration, I final selected a contractor whom I was going to go with. With several emails and sketches going back and forth, we came to an agreement on a final sketch and I instructed him to proceed with the Architectural, Structural and Design drawings. Being eager to get the drawings done as soon as possible so that I can get a Bill Of Quantities and then subsequently determine if I had enough money to fund the project, I made a trip to the local Post Office in Wellingborough, UK and had what they call a Global Priority delivery of a cheques sent to the Architect, Justice. I paid 59 quid for the service and was told that it would get to the addressee in 9 days from leaving the UK Hub. From the tracking system in place on Parcel Force website, I was able to confirm that the cheque left the UK on the 30th of August. A mental calculation told me that Justice would certainly receive the cheque by, tops, the 10th of September.

Fast forwarding things up, I got messages from Justice informing me that he still had not received the cheque. I called EMS in Accra today and was given a number for their Customer Care/Service. I tried calling the number but was not successful, so I called the first number I was given for EMS again. This time the chap who answered the phone took my tracking number and then asked me for my  number so that he could call me back with some information. Unfortunately he stopped me just after I had started with +44... and said he could not call back to an international number. Sweet. Desperate to get to the bottom of where the cheque was, I quickly said I would call back in 15 minutes. I called back in 15, as promised only to be told that he could not check the whereabouts of my registered letter on their computer system because they were currently experiencing a "Domso" moment. I don't know, but for some reason, I suddenly started laughing. The chap on the other end wanted to know why I was laughing. I did not bother to give him an answer, but on a serious note, I fail to see how EMS can let "Domso" affect their business. For a business that other international Postal Services depend on, what happened to purchasing a medium sized generator to run, at least, the computers onsite.

I have some shares in FAN Milk Ghana, and monitor the value of the shares, from a regular newsletter I get from CAL Brokers. One that I received recently was a PDF document - Fan Milk Ghana/HYR 2014 Earnings Review. Of interest was the below snippet (underlined emphasis, mine):

Sluggish revenue growth due to weak consumer confidence: FML has reported weak revenue growth of 6.2% YoY compared to the historical average growth rate of 22.0% during FY 2009-13 periods. The weak revenue performance was driven by the slow-down in Ghanaian economy since FY 2013 due to high fiscal deficit, unreliable power supply and weak foreign exchange position.

The Ghanaian Government cannot expect companies already running a business in Ghana to make substantial profits, or assist in the growth of the economy by employing people if they cannot be assured constant power supply. It is not rocket science. Eventually these companies are going to move their operations/businesses elsewhere.

My Saturday Morning Interlude - A Trip To Surfline Office, OSU. Accra

I am currently in Accra, Ghana preparing for a project to be kicked off. Prior my trip, I happened to come across an advert regarding fast internet access via 4G supplied by a new company in Ghana called SurfLine. I immediately became interested for a reason. My previous visits to Ghana have found me using mobile internet provided by Vodafone, MTN and TiGo. Non of them, I am afraid to say, were able to fulfil my needs. My current job with Rockwell Automation enables me to work anywhere in the world providing the location I am in has a good internet connection and that management also approves. My bandwidth requirements are not extreme. I use IP Communicator [aka CISCO phone] and access to emails, all through VPN connection to my company network. Vodafone, MTN and TiGo failed miserably in attempting to give me a constant reliable connect to the internet. So you can imagine my delight when I came across SurfLine's advert. I arrived in Accra on Friday evening and the next day, Saturday, took a walk from Nyaniba to SurfLine's offices just off Oxford Street. Customer Service was very good. I was disappointed that they needed an ID card from me before they could register their SIM card in my name. I immediately informed the lady attending to me that this should have been a bold stipulation on their website. Anyway, with that out of the way, I was directed to another part of the office where my SurfLine Router was configured.

I am yet to take SurfLine through its pace. I will fire up my  work laptop tomorrow and see how it handles Voice Over IP. Using SurfLine on my Macbook Pro to surf the net has been a pleasant experience. I have had no break/drop in connections as I did when using Vodafone, MTN and TiGo wireless internet packages.

Tamale - A Revisit

Last week Friday 31/11/2014 found me at the Internal Flights section of KIA aka Kotoka International Airport. I was on my way to visit The Alhassan's. I timed myself to be at the airport thirty minutes before check in, as I always do when I am traveling by air; be it internal or international. Unfortunately [or fortunately] this is a habit of mine which I have learnt to adhere to with passion. My flight to Tamale was with AWA aka Africa World Airlines. I think there ia another airline that flies up to Tamale, Antrack or something of a similar name. I will check this out later and let you know. I always feel nostalgic when travelling to Tamale. I have so many memories close to my heart of the place. My first contact of this Northern town was when my mother was transferred up there to head the Home Economics Department at Tamale Technical School, as it was then called in those day. I believe, correct me if I am wrong, it is now called Tamale Polytechnic.

My flight was uneventful. Onboard, we had the usual pre-recorded inflight safety announcements and we were airborne in no time. Fascinating was the fact that as the plane progressed to the shoreline and then make its turn up north, I could see my crib tucked away in Nyaniba Estates from my seat window. Forty five minutes later, I arrived in Tamale to find Andrew waiting for me.

We first took a ride to his Project called Oasis which is situated in the Rice area of Tamale. Don’t ask me the exact spot. Tamale has changed so drastically for me that get  any sensible bearings of the Town. He has so much passion for this Project, I sincerely wish him all the best. In a jest, he plans of having a Grill, Lounge Bar and a Soccer Room. There will also be a Roof Top drinking spot where informally dressed people can have a drink. The Lounge Bar will be exclusive and will only admit formally dressed client - understandably so. The Grill Bar will be outside and have tasty sizzling grilled food. The Soccer Room will be for watching football matches on wide screen TVs. The concept is simple and has the potential to be a winner. There will be no packing within the ground, which makes sense. Parking will be outside. As you can see, he is maximising the plot to provide service to his clients and not their cars [smile] From Oasis location, we headed home - Airport Ridge where the Alhassan’s live.

Tamale can easily be referred to as The Wild North. When I used to live there, cars and bicycles were the most commons means of transportation. Yes, there were others who had motor bikes, but in those days, that form of mobility was restricted to the “elite”. fast forward to present day Tamale, you have practically motor bikes every where. I think I can safely say that the number of people who use bicycles has reduced. The number of cars has increased. What actually makes Tamale the Wild North is the lack of understanding for simple road regulations. You have to see this to fully comprehend what I mean by lack of understanding for simple road regulations. I honestly do not think those in control of the vehicles have successfully passed a driving test. It is absolutely madness. The level of chaos is out of this universe. Actually I have seen similar chaos before. That was in Bangalore, however that was ordered chaos. It is obvious that those who have entered this environment were shell shocked and have gradually accepted this to be the norm.

The other change I would like to write about is the current state of Tamale Secondary School, or rather Tamale Senior Secondary School, as they call it now. How a top secondary school of 20 years back could fall into its current state beats my imagination. Has been been any form of major upgrades to the buildings since I 20 years ago? No! Andrew took me round the school and my heart felt deflated. How could this have happened? Everything seems seriously run down. It will be certainly nice to see all these buildings properly renovated, but that will obviously take a miracle.

Tamale is growing very fast both in population and business but at an uncontrollable rate. I do not suppose one can control population growth in a town like Tamale, but something can be done about illegal structures that have been erected along the main roads. The foot paths by the roads have been hijacked by street traders, even to the extent whereby they over flow onto the streets themselves.

How do I see Tamale in the next 5 years to come? With plans to build an International Airport in the not too distant future,the future looks bright. A lot of land is being sold ans snapped up quickly. Buildings are slowly cropping up especially on the main road leading to the airport. For Tamale to grow intelligently, the people need to be educated. They need to be informed about constructive development, how to engage this and the benefits if it is engaged properly. The Town Planning Department needs to be more focused in the running and development of the Town. I feel that a lot of traders are doing their own thing. Everyone seems to be able to set up shop anywhere without proper authority. Tamale should not be seen as a Town of political interest. By this I mean development, most in terms of road construction should not materialise only when elections are due and the present political party in power starts splashing huge amounts of money towards this.

I think the most difficult thing to do in terms of development in Tamale will be how to get the people, especially the street traders to understand that trading in the pavements is not the right thing to do. Then I suppose these same traders will turn round and ask the question “where can we trade from?”; which is a fairly valid question.

Ghana Is Still A Fun Place To Visit

I have recently spent four weeks in Ghana, one week sorting out personal stuff and the remaining three weeks working from home in Accra. My trip has been an exciting one and on this blog I wrote about my trip to Tamale in the Northern Region and my thoughts about the place in the years to come. For the first week that I was in Accra, I used this time to perform some errands I had on my list of "to dos". This involved several trips into town which meant I had to take taxis on most occasions. Being a extrovert, I made it a point to engage with the Taxi drivers as much as I could. This would start off with me flagging a taxi down, asking how much the fare was to my destination and haggling for a fare reduction. If I got a good price for the fare, I would hop in the taxi and crack a joke about how rich they were because there was always someone who needed a taxi, which meant they were always working. The conversation, most of the time would move to politics and how they the taxi drivers were finding things hard. Their main issue was with the price of fuel. On my trip to the airport, the taxi driver was complaining bitterly about how the government had increased the price of fuel even though the price per barrel of crude oil had come down. This seemed not to compute and I agreed with him. Other things that I found myself chatting to the taxi drivers about was the current state of electricity supply in Accra. Given the name "domsor" which translated means "off-on", this is the situation where areas in Accra are rationed on electricity supply. Certain areas in Accra have their electricity cut off for a number of days and pit back on for another period of days. The reason why I used the word "certain" was because it appears that only specific areas in Accra are unfortunate to be affected by  "domsor" . The affluent areas in accra do not seemed to be affected by "domsor". I live in Nyaniba Estates and for the whole four weeks that I was there, the electricity went of twice for a period of not more that 36 hours. I compared this to Abofu, a suburb of Accra [my cousin lives there] and from the reports I had from my cousin, their electricity went out four times and the maximum number of days they were without electricity was 3 days. Amazing! Upon all this, the average Ghanaian has not lost hope and wakes up each day with determination to make it happen for himself and his family.

There is currently a massive overhead/flyover road construction going on at Kwame Nkrumah circle in Accra. Why such huge amounts of money have been invested in such a venture when the same money could have been used to, for example, improve the road from Suhum to Kumasi beats me. OK, i suppose at some point in time, Kwame Nkrumah Circle will have to be developed, but considering the chaos this focal point of the city already exhibits, surely some sort of planning in terms of road diversions etc could have been put in place to ease the increased chaos that was bound to be created from all this construction work. I must admit, for me that is, the chaos is entertaining. Actually come to think of it, I do not remember from the two occasions I had to pass through Circle seeing the police directing traffic. You would have thought that with the increase in chaos, there would have been some form of presence by Traffic Wardens/Police there. To be honest, if your journey at some point of the day when traffic has built up considerably in the city and your route requires that you go through Circle, do not be surprised if a taxi driver declines your request to take you to your destination. The ones who are more fluent with the back roads will be willing to take you to where you are going but at an additional cost. Yes, they will justify this price increase with the comment "traffic".

A lot of things in Ghana amuse me, but the on thing that amuses me the most in Ghana is the total disregard for simple traffic regulations. To narrow it down, I am referring to those on motor bike. How these motor cyclist can get away with these is just too much for my comprehension. It is as if they have been exempted from any form of road regulations that there is. I will list my observations below: Failing to stop at the traffic lights when it goes RED. Using foot paths set aside for pedestrians. Riding in the opposite direction of the traffic. Cutting across the section that divides a dual or single carriage way. My reaction to these blatant acts of ignorance to basic road regulations is that of wonder. It appears that most people have accepted this as a norm and fail to act on it by at least approaching the right authorities to act on it.

Well, despite all these issues, and more, Ghana is a fun place to visit and live. If you plan of living there, you just have to "learn" how to live there; and if is a visit, the same rule applies, just "learn" how to visit.

Comfort From The Rain

dbrand - Stand Out From The Crowd

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When A Sale Becomes Confusing - Return Tickets Accra, Ghana

In around December 19th last year I received an email from British Airways announcing a sale. I took the opportunity to buy 3 return tickets to Ghana in April this year. After all we all like sales, and when it comes to sales in tickets, who would not take up the chance to save some money. Buying something on sale is meant to save you a considerable amount of money. 

Now here is when it becomes interesting. I was speaking to my niece last week and she said how she wished she had £450 to afford a return ticket to Ghana. He comment got me asking her a series of questions. What airline was she referring to I asked. She said British Airways. That cannot be right I suddenly said. I told her that I had received an email from British Airways announcing their sale in December last year and I had to pay around £650 for a return ticket. How can this be possible I kept asking myself. Just to confirm what my niece had told me, I went ont British Airways website and checked out the fair. Using the same travel dates I had used to purchase my tickets in December last year, I requested a price for the same trip and loo and behold, the price was pegged at £470. Well I knew British Airways have a presence on Twitter so I posed the question to them.

This is how the conversation went down on Twitter

Moving on, I asked BA twitter team to check their DM inbox for detailed information.  The response I got shocked me. 

Well I suppose it is a lesson learnt. One should not just jump head first into a sale. Waiting a few days or even weeks and you might get a better sale price on what you are buying. Still though, I feel British Airways need to refine their advertising on the sale they have on tickets.