An Accra Publication to Die For: "Consumer Focus"

We've all been there before: walking in town--perhaps a more up-market place like the Accra Mall or some place near Osu Re: and catching sight of a new publication.

Straight away, your heart beats that much faster, thinking "great, new stuff to read!" You take it home, and realise it's replete with mistakes the editor should not have missed, and that it wasn't that great after all.

Suffice-to-say, this rather-new publication falls outside that category.

This is the second time I am picking it up from Accra Mall. This time I took time to read some of the articles. WHat most impressed me was the letters section on pp.36-38. Just an insight for you:

Sorry Barclays, we deserve more!

Re:Stop Cheating us MTN

Bounced Visa on TTB/Stanbic

Shoprite, Quick Service Please!!!

I guess you're getting the picture: perhaps a glimpse of the general complaints the average Ghanaian goes through with banks and major retail outlets!

Still, with each of these, you get the magazine responding with an update that clearly shows they did some investigations for you, and that they actually spoke to the "defaulters" in question. In the case of SHOPRITE, for example, (something I have written about before on this blog), Consumer Focus magazine responds:

In the name of good CS, it would make a great deal of good if a desk/toll free line is dedicated to all those who patronize this shop...

I like the way the responses are long enough for you to realise the magazine did its homework to try to address your query.

Endorsed by the Food and Drugs Board, the page is divided thus:

EDITORIAL / FOCUS DIARY / COURTESY PAGE / FDB PAGE / COVER STORY / IRONY PAGE / FRANKLY MY DEAR PAGE

The Hotline is 020.808.55.18; email: consumer_focus AT yahoo.com.

My mission is to contact them and encourage them to set up a blog to maximize their outreach; possibly a FACEBOOK group; maybe a website?

This Accra-based publication NEEDS encouragement; they're doing swell. Let's begin to encourage them today!

As the Week Draws to a Close in Accra: Thoughts on... Stanbic Bank’s Taking Over Ghana’s Indigenous Agricultural Development Bank (ADB)

Let me be clear: I have a problem with the increasing number of South African interests in Ghana. From the so-called Accra Mall--set to be ready by May 2007, to the very expensive Woolworths, and Stanbic Bank, these are all ventures spearheaded by South African interests. Big South African interests.

When I first started work in Accra in 2004, not once was I tempted to save, or bank with Stanbic as soon as I found out that it was a South African bank. I have nothing against the country, but everything against big power interests that seek to distort small economies, like that of my beloved country of Ghana.

So, you can imagine my rage to have heard on CITI Business news at 1pm yesterday afternoon that Stanbic bank was going to take over the very profitable and indigenous Agricultural Development Bank that was established in 1965. According to December 2000 statistics from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, the total assets were $190m. Six years later you can imagine what it might be, especially with its portfolio for agriculture being a formidable65%, even though an article maintains it has fallen to 50%.

Now, yesterday, after I almost suffered a heart attack upon hearing the news, I decide to check my facts on-line. I got a cache of a story from Business Week Ghana online entitled Stanbic Bank Bids for ADB, which indicated:

Stanbic Bank is in negotiation with the Government of Ghana and the Bank of Ghana to acquire the Agricultural Development Bank. Government and the central bank are ADB’s shareholders. The discussions are still centred around technical details concerning how ADB would be run, and no bid price has been offered as yet. As of the end of 2005, ADB had total assets of ¢3,431.73 billion and shareholders’ funds of ¢619.66 billion

Now, consider this: once Stanbic bank takes over ADB, it has no intention of focusing on agriculture, like it has been doing traditionally for the past 42 years. Note that Ghana is the world’s second top producer in cocoa, and so imagine the impact that this takeover will have on the country’s farmers!

Stanbic Bank, its Ghanaian subsidiary, does not want to be committed to a specific proportion of its lending for agriculture

The article ends that Stanbic bank is in rapid expansion mode, and I ask myself: to what end? Then I read statements like this:

South African investor confidence has been bolstered by Ghana's educated and skilled workforce, vast mineral and agricultural resources, the official use of English and a shared colonial legacy.
South Africa companies can also use their operations in Ghana as a springboard to other West African markets

Enough said.

Except, that I have been following ECOBANK’s Pan-African aspirations, as exemplified by the quote below:

Following the adoption in June 2006 of its new strategic vision, the Ecobank Group is, now determined to transform itself from a regional banking group to a pan African group. "In spite of its international dimension, including the opening up of its capital to international shareholders, Ecobank remains focused on Africa," said MandÈ SidibÈ, President of the group. "Ecobank will continue to be true to its mission of supporting Africa’s economic and financial development"
From: http://www.independentngonline.com/news/47/ARTICLE/20680/2007-02-09.html

Now you no longer have to scratch your head in wonderment at the possible fears being espoused by South Africa on the West african “leadership”, that seems to be led by the very efficient ECOBANK.

All these points underscore real fears about the loss of jobs when the takeover happens. I called CITI FM this afternoon, and spoke to the business desk. One guy there informed me that he knows very well a high official from Stanbic Ghana, who is equally furious at the developments. He confirmed to me that the news is reliable and credible that the takeover will happen most likely by the middle of the year.

It behooves anyone with any iota of information to spread the news on this most scandalous South African takeover of a profitable Ghanaian bank!

The Hunt for Red, Erm, November...or Trials and Tribulations of Banking with SG-SSB

In a style reminiscent of my ATM frenzy in May, where I spent hours looking for a working ATM, I spent the better part of the afternoon trying—yet again—to get money out – this time not just from the ATM, but also from the banking hall itself!

I save with SG-SSB, and wanted to get some money from there—only to be caught in some serious and heavy traffic around the so-called "Circle" road that leads up to BusyInternet for around forty minutes(!). Not to speak of the myriad of shortcuts that only led to…more traffic:-( When you start dosing in traffic and that heat emanating around the capital between 1 and 2 pm, then you know you’ve been in traffic for more time than necessary. It’s a good thing I had my sunglasses to hide behind my dosing;-)

Seriously, though, I cannot for the life of me understand why I had to chase all the SG-SSB banks in the ‘hood. I went to my own branch—only to be told that I couldn’t even withdraw money from my account because there was a memo on it about ATM transactions from…another branch!

When I went to that other branch (Accra Main), which happens to be that of the picture I took, I spent a good thirty minutes shuttling between looking for the lady who wrote the memo, and the be-spectacled and pin-stripe-suit-clad manager (a very easygoing middle-aged man who was very affable) of the branch who broke between twi and very good English [he spoke twi with most of his bank staff!] who elucidated the whole mystery for me

The explanation pissed me off no-end: what had spawned the memo, which had by way of condition "no withdrawal" of sorts, was something that could have taken a phone call to fix: at the time that the bank had withdrawn charges (15,000 GH Cedis [by July 2007, it will be 1.5 [new] GH Cedis] for the use of the ATM card, I had insufficient money in the bank. Very soon afterwards, I got some money in. The problem, then, was a non-starter. All the bank had to do was to simply debit my account with the appropriate charges!

As a result of this, it cost me a good three hours roaming round that part of the capital, and incurring a hefty sum of 190,000 Ghanaian cedis, which is around €17 for a good three hours. That the taxi-driver had seen me going from bank to bank…to bank did not help me in shielding me from what I still consider to be an exorbitant sum. At least, I should have been charged 150,000 cedis maximum. He was complaining, looking all-pensive about that initial sum, saying he will be "hot", etc, so I was compelled to give him an extra 40,000—very much to my chagrin.

Long and short: remind me to remind you to (a)have sufficient money in the savings account next time, and (b) maybe, re-consider saving with this bank.

If that sounds cruel, well, just to add that I liked the manner in which the manager had a walk-in policy; that was very encouraging. You don’t get that at my main bank of ECOBANK.

tags:
accra;ecobank;sg-ssb;red november;taxi;ghana;

As the Week Drew to a Close in Accra: Thoughts on Spintex Traffic; Utility Prices; Lessons of Belgian Energy Liberalisation for Ghana

DCFC0646
Originally uploaded by ekbensah.

It was polo immunization week, and as a result, as I heard on Tv3 evening news on 31 October, there was not going to be any load shedding (read: "of the scale there has been").

In any event, I cannot help but wonder whether the load-shedding exercise is not one too many, having outlived its usefulness. First, the holiday of 23rd October was granted a load-management-free day by the government. Now, this: a good four or five days, where electricity won’t go off for 12 hours.

The mind boggles.

Suffice-to-say, uncharacteristically, there have been some positive developments lately than anticipated:

traffic is flowing better on the famed spintex road, where scales of the bottleneneck level of last week is being scuppered by the deployment of more police in “strategic” points that have the tendency to cause traffic, and therefore need regular and consistent monitoring and direction by traffic police.

petrol prices have gone down, albeit marginally

However – and in Ghana, there is always a challenge to grapple with – utility tariffs have gone up.

I cannot for the life of me understand the underpinning logic of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) Chairman, Mr.Pianim, claiming that “tariff adjustments will help ease the intense pressure on the national kitty.”

Check this: Pianim is Chairman of a regulatory utilities commission and he speaks like a free-market man, who believes that competition in the industry is the best way for Ghana’s water and electricity. Just because the government allowed themselves to be hood-winked by the over-balance of perceived "efficiency" of the private sector in water[Rand, water], he believes the same can be applied for electricity?

What type of vision is this by a CHAIRMAN of a utilities regulator?

Besides, the logic is flawed: multinational companies are more interested in the efficiency of service delivery than the raising of tariffs, for the sake of it. You can raise the rates all you want, yet when the capital—not to mention the country—experiences sporadic electricity supply as evidenced by my rant last week, when I opined last week that Accra is "in the dark ages", which company is going to be interested in investing in that sort of shoddy and egregious service?

My sentiments are further buttressed by the case of my surrogate home, Belgium, where the energy sector is about to be liberalized as of 1 January 2007. I sent a note to my colleagues about this development the other day:

Energie

Comparez les prix avant d’agir

Uccle

La ministre bruxelloise de
l’Energie, Evelyne Huytebroeck,
a invité les consommateurs
bruxellois à ne pas se précipiter
dans le choix de leur fournisseur
de gaz et d’électricité,
deux secteurs dont la libéralisation
interviendra, pour l’ensemble
des particuliers, le 1r janvier
prochain.

As liberalisation takes off 1 January 2007, the Minister of Energy has at least set the stage such that Belgians have a fair idea of what they are getting their heads into. Liberalization will enable them to choose a gas or electricity provider, and there is a website (http://www.brugel.be) which enables Belgians to choose provider.

There is even a free brochure being worked on and a free number for those who have queries…

Undoubtedly, not to forget countervailing measures and pressures against liberalization, our Ghanaian counterparts could learn some serious lessons from micromanaging an already-bad situation!

From: http://www.tbx.be/fr/07.02/Archives/app.rvb?date=2006-11-02

A family friend back in Belgium, whom I also copied this, wrote back saying that associated with this liberalization, will be the Suez-owned Electrabel, which is Belgium’s premier electricity provider, no longer providing the meters for the electricity reading, but it being delegated to "an independent meter reading company."

Furthermore, it transpired that one of the companies that are waiting to jump onto the liberalization bandwagon has said this:

“Alexander Dewulf, the CEO of the Belgium branch of Dutch multinational Nuon, says "we will not be present in Brussels because of risks relating to unpaid bills." (from: http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=48&story_id=33819)

All part of the juicy package of privatization.

Don’t you just love it when companies accentuate profit over the people?

I have a sneaky suspicion that what’s happening in Western Europe is bound to happen in even more pernicious ways in countries of Africa if they’re not mindful of the dogmatic and Pavlovian response to the posse that come with deregulation, privatization and liberalization, without adequate and sufficient regulation.

Suffice-to-say, though, that Belgium Energy Minister, Evelyne Huytebroeck (Greens), has mitigated things to the effect that she is emphatic about “not yield[ing] to pressure from the energy supply industry” (from: http://www.vrtnieuws.net/nieuwsnet_master/versie2/english/details/061019_energy/index.shtml
)
Her stance is this:

"We'll go ahead with the liberalisation of the energy market anyway. If the utility companies don't want to supply domestic customers they won't be able to carry on supplying firms. The licence to supply energy applies to both domestic and commercial customers"

tags
accra;ghana news;ghana belgium;
ghana energy;

Darkness Falls in Accra (1)

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!


So it was that I would call around 7pm, only to be told that by 9pm, it would return. Dinner came and dinner went among intermittent sounds of generators in the silence, and we still experienced no power. By 10pm, my family and I were too tired to do anything, and so sleep overcame us not too long after that.

Suffice to say, my habitual evening walk with my pet dog, Fenix, revealed an estate engulfed in darkness, with a few generators left and right thundering into the night…and through out it.

Without a doubt, mosquitoes that work in the night had a field day, but I couldn’t help wondering who was truly bleeding us dry: the mosquitoes – or Electricity Company of Ghana?!

tags:
accra; ghana;mosquitoes;darkness ghana;ghana electricity;ghana ECG;

Watch Out, People! ECOWAS is Coming Closer to You!

Efforts to make regional integration real and palpable to ECOWAS citizens have always been a bit of a challenge. So it is with great joy, for example, to read an article from the Daily Observer of the Gambia here that the President of the ECOWAS Court of Justice , Justice Hansine Donli, is indicating that "citizens of ECOWAS countries can file cases directly either by fax or send their application to the court in Abuja, Nigeria".


The practicalities behind this new revelation might be a bit more problematic than the semantics; nonetheless, it is heart-warming that an attempt to make regional integration palpable -- in the way the regional bank ECOBANK has by way of its recent product, the so-called DSA, or Direct Sales Agency Service, where potential customers on ECOBANK products are targetted in their homes, offices, etc -- is being made more comprehensively.

According to Justice Donlie, teh Court "shall grant audience to member states and the member states may file actions on behalf of the nationals of the member states against other member states or institutions in respect of the interpretation and application of the treaties of the community".

Mind you, it was as far back as 2005 that, according to an article on the WILDAF site here, individuals were granted access to the Court. The amendment on the protocol was made in August 2004.

As the Week Draws to a Close in Accra: Thoughts on…Home Delivery, ATM-frenzy, ECOBANK Share Offer

Home delivery
I woke up on Saturday 27 May a very preoccupied man. I would be attending the funeral of a truly good, beautiful, caring and loving married friend, Mrs Nana Amma Osei-Ahenkorah.

I still cannot believe that I have not cried. Maybe the experience of t he demise of Samuel, my one and only elder brother, on 8 May, 1991, has fortified my attitude on the significance of death. Don’t get me wrong: death is still a very painful "enterprise", as it were, for the family and friends of those left behind, but taking succour from the fact that we shall meet again, maybe mitigates the pain.



I still see no reason why one should hold back from crying. On Saturday, I was so distraught—to the extent that after attending the cemetery service (wanted to know where she is buried), I seemed okay, but upon going back home, couldn’t help talking about her to my parents. My Dad -- jokingly I hope – was wondering whether Nana Amma was not my girlfriend. As I confessed elsewhere, I initially had a crush on her, but knowing there was no way anything could happen between us, we proceeded as friends. She became like a big sister to me—we confided in each other on a lot of things. I will admit, upon retrospect, that not only do I have her picture on my desk at work, but I do think I loved her a great deal.



It regrettably had to take her demise for me to realize this. I am just waiting for the tears to come. Maybe like that of my brother’s, it is delayed, and will only ‘surface’ in a couple of week’s time… What is clear, though, is that Nana Amma has veritably gone "home", where she belonged.



We shall meet again:-)

On another case of home delivery, it was with great joy that I stumbled over a copy of the "Daily Graphic" on Wednesday night around ten thirty, lying quietly on my terrace. It had been delivered by the Home delivery service who had thrown it there, clearly afraid of the incessant barking by our dog, Fenix. I got a copy of the 1 June edition, which looked like the picture to below left:



ATM Frenzy
Yesterday was a deeply hectic day. I needed money from the bank, and the most convenient place to get it was by way of an ATM, especially one of those visa-branded ones like this one below:



So, I went to an ECOBANK one at my place at A&C Shopping Mall (pictured right). That was out of order. Quickly, I called a taxi, and went to the University campus area one (Legon). Also out of order. So, on I went to Silver Towers, where Stanbic Bank and ECOBANK, along with Ghana International Airlines share lodging. Also out of service. On back to the so-called EZI-Services (hosted by ECOBANK) at the Airport Shell. No luck.

37 Liberation Road (SG-SSB bank) proved equally futile—as did the ATM at On the Run, not too far from 37 military hospital.

So, it was decided to go to Ring Road Central (RRC). Thankfully, I stopped at the ECOBANK branch there instead of going to SG-SSB that was up ahead.

Hurrah!! Result. Card in, money out.

The prospect of facing a queue was not on my list of things to do.

I then went back to the office, wondering whether it might not just be a good idea to have a single ECOBANK Savings account at the plush branch located at Silver Towers. Time will tell…

Speaking of ECOBANK, the share offer is in its final day today. Since 15 May, the bank has been offering 8,750,000 shares or so for sale, with one share selling at ç11,000, or almost €1.00.

Suffice to say that my parents and I are now proud shareholders in our small way of ECOBANK.

The future might just be that much brighter.

Health Watch
According to this morning's Statesman newspaper, which carried the headline "HOSPITALS HOLD GOVT TO RANSOM", the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) is facing the prospect of many strikes in the country’s hospitals. Government has consistently failed to present new payment structures and, as such, it is causing a number of strikes, with doctors saying that they won’t go to work unless arrears of months have been paid.

The most distressing thing about this situation is that whilst they are entitled to strike, what, then, happens to the rest of us who want medical assistance. Most people cannot afford to go private, so what do they do? Go untreated? The paper maintains that since Monday, Ghana’s biggest teaching hospital, Korle-Bu, has had junior doctors go on strike! They claim that until money from January to May 2006 is paid, they will not resume work.

Apparently, if this news is anything to go by, the NDC, former government in power, did something right with the so-called Additional Duty Hours’ Allowance (ADHA), introduced in 1999, and sadly terminated by the incumbent government last year. Doctors who were then earning GHC 6,000,000/month (almost $US700) under that scheme are now earning just under half that.

Without a doubt, a lot more needs to be done by the NPP government on healthcare policies -- especially those of healthcare workers -- otherwise people might go down the private route – unprepared, and with dire consequences on the families of those that remain if things don’t go well in private either…


SOME THINGS I REALISED I LIKE ABOUT ACCRA:

1. the verdant scenes (greenery) almost replete in the capital (on the left--a view of the road that leads to the airport (right) and up ahead, Airport Shell station);



2. although could have been better-designed, the Tetteh-Quarshie interchange (a view of it going towards Madina, Aburi, East Legon);

3. the ATMS!!

SITE OF THE DAY

CITI97.3FM’s site has been re-vamped. Go check it out: http://www.citifmonline.com

More on Public Health care, or Korle-Bu; & How ECOBANK Won the Day

I woke up to the news on CITI-FM about the 14-yr-old boy who was suing Korle-Bu for having been operated on the wrong leg. Briefly taken aback, I was very happy that I had been given the opportunity to comment on something that had preoccupied me the whole weekend, and that was evidently the passing of Nana Amma, mentioned earlier, who had passed away from complications surrounding an operation for brain tumour.

When I got to work, I made sure that I called with the contribution that ran something like this:

I think it’s important that whilst we are talking about Korle-Bu, we also bring in the question of private versus public health care. A lot of people might be tempted to beg or borrow money to go private, because they hear it is faster and more efficient. As I indicated, my good friend passed away at a private institution, and that, for me, speaks volumes. The more we talk about the negative aspects of Korle-Bu, the more we might go to feed the perception that private is better. We should also be talking about public investment in our public health care institutions. A debate needs to be had so that people’s relatives don’t go dying [in droves] on us…”

I suspect I rambled a bit, but I called my Mum to check whether the argument was sufficiently coherent; she agreed in the affirmative. However, one thing I forgot was to include the fact that when something goes wrong in a private hospital, no-one gets to hear about it, but once it’s Korle-Bu, it’s as if it’s the worst institution in the country!

The debate evidently continues, but I am glad that CITI FM decided to spend a large amount of time covering it…as well as the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) Awards, which was, foolishly in my view, sponsored by AREEBA Ghana—yet again!

On the news front, ECOBANK has won, according to the Daily Graphic the most-covetted “Bank of the Year”. Here’s the Graphic article:

---

Ecobank Tops Them All

(5/8/2006)


Ecobank Ghana Limited has been adjudged the Bank of the Year 2005, the fourth time, at the Ghana Banking Awards ceremony in Accra at the weekend.

The award ceremony, which was on the theme: “Efficiency and Competitiveness in Banking Industry”, saw 19 banks receiving various awards in 12 categories namely, Best Corporate Bank, Best Retail Bank, Best Product Innovation, Best Bank in IT infrastructure, Best Growing Bank and Best Bank in Trade Financing.

The rest of the categories are Best Competitive Pricing, Best Bank in Advisory Services, Best Bank in Customer Care, Most Socially Responsible Bank, Best in Short Term Loan Financing and Best Bank Long-term Loan Financing.

Commenting on the awards, the Managing Director of Ecobank Ghana, Mr Samuel A. Adjei, said it was due to the hard work and the focus given to the various products which were tailored to the needs of their customers.

Mr Adjei commended the bank’s customers and members of the staff for their commitment to the bank and said the award would urge his team to aspire for more laurels.

Ecobank won in several other categories including Most Socially Responsible Bank, Best Growing Bank, Long-term Loan and Short-term Financing, Best in IT, Trade Finance as well as the Best in Corporate Banking.

Merchant Bank, Ghana, Ghana Commercial Bank, Unibank, Standard Trust, Standard Chartered Bank, Agricultural Development Bank, SG-SSB Bank, among others, had plaques, handshakes and certificates.

Mr Afotey Odarteifio, the Chief Executive Officer of the Corporate Initiative Ghana (CIG), the organisers of the programme, said the award was to give the banks an even playing field that would have a positive effect on the consuming public.

He said the aim of CIG was to work towards the creation of an excellent corporate environment in the country.

Story by Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu

---

Till the 25th of May!!

As the Week Draws to a Close in Accra: Eclipse 2006; ECOBANK; Ethnicity

I started last Friday by attending a seminar at the British Council entitled "Ethnicity and Politics in West Africa", which was organised by the Institute of Statistical, Social & Economic Research at the University of Ghana. They had invited the following people to come speak about the topic:

1) PROF. FRANCES STEWART, Director, CRISE, University of Oxford
2) PROF. FRANCIS AKINDÈS, Universitè de Bouakè, Côte d’Ivoire:
3) DR. ABDUL RAUFU MUSTAPHA, Lecturer, University of Oxford
4) MR. RICHARD ASANTE, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana




This was the entrance of the British Council, a bit more heavily-guarded than usual. The guard looks like he is going to kick ass;-)



From left to right: the CHAIRMAN: Hon. Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey
Minister of Tourism & Modernisation of the Capital City; PROF. FRANCES STEWART, Director, Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security & Ethnicity (CRISE), University of Oxford ; MR. RICHARD ASANTE, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana; DR. ABDUL RAUFU MUSTAPHA, Lecturer, University of Oxford.

To be fair, I think Obetsebi-Lamptey, as a communications man, chaired the programme rather well, and the debate and discussions were interesting, albeit a bit too general. For example, Ghana, it was claimed, has "political inequalities" that are worsening, but without any concrete elaboration on what they are.

I felt compelled, furthermore, to ask why Bolivia was a success story, and what lessons were there for West Africa. Some of the explanations given were this:

Bolivia had been inclusive in the sense that it had involved indigenous Bolivians in the politics of the country

;

the State had behaved in a more responsible way [how?? not elaborated]

...unlike Guatemala and Peru, where there had be no recognition of local people, as well as a military that was tremendously implicated in social injustice.

My main question ran like this:
Rwanda is an example of a country where the PERCEPTION of ethnicity has gone horribly wrong. I mean even if we look back to the 1960s, at the instance of the first genocide when the Belgians and the Germans were the colonial masters...it is clear that ethnicity was a key issue. We know what happened in 1994, but if we can go back to the present. Only last week, it was splashed in the Daily Graphic that an ID Bill had been passed. I would like to know whether that will have adverse effects for Ghana or not..."

To which Dr.Mustapha answered that an ID card is "neither good nor bad, it is what you use it for", which I think excellentlye encapsulated the sometimes-unnecessary fear that surrounds society in its thinking that it is being restricted by the State. He also added that Nigeria had been trying it for the past two years now. I think it is a debate that merits serious looking into.

---

Now, I guess you do not need me to tell you what has been dominating the news left, right, and centre this week. It's ofcourse been the eclipse. I caught three videos, but was only able to post two. The first is a more comprehensive one, which you can download here

To the right are some of my colleagues on the compund at work, with their camera-phones, digital cameras and whatnot trying to prepare to capture this phenomenon of epic proportions.

Those who looked at the sun ensure that they were wearing their protective spectacles, even if they wore them reluctantly, cursing the capitalist enterprise surrounding the procurement of it...;-)



That same evening, I was at the British Council to attend (29 March, 2006 ofcourse!) a lecture from the ISSER-MERCHANT BANK series of annual lectures. This year's is on Globalisation, and this particular one was on Corporate Governance.



Meanwhile, ECOBANK has been in the news, because, according to the Daily Graphic, ECOBANK is keen to...

...raise funds through an Initial Public Offer (IPO) on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) [as well as...]

"currently working closely with its Transaction Advisors and the relevant regulatory bodies on the proposed floatation and listing on the GSE"

"intend[ing] to utilise the funds to support its expansion plans, which includes the opening of additional branches and agencies throughout the country and a further upgrading of its technology platform"

If my experience of their customer service is anything to go by, ECOBANK's aspiration to become, in the words of former ECOBANK heavyweight Albert Essien, a reliable pan-african institution can only evince the words...



Enough said.

Might as Well Wax Lyrical about ECOBANK

 

31 Mar, Fri, 12:27:30

http://www.google.com/search?hl=fr&q=ECOBANK+the+west+african+bank&lr=

 

I am heartened to know that many searches lately for “ECOBANK” arrive directly to my blog.

 

I have blogged about ECOBANK before here:

 

n       http://ekbensahinghana.blogspot.com/2005/12/future-of-west-african-regional.html

n       http://ekbensahinghana.blogspot.com/2005/07/why-i-love-accra-genesis.html

 

…and suffice to day that I will continue to blog about what I see is a very exciting indigenous private sector initiative that has serious roots to ECOWAS.

 

Checking on one of the links that I came across, I uncovered something that I think you might be interested in knowing:

 

<blockquote>

“"African banks are leapfrogging technology developments. Whereas many Western Banks have been utilising technology for many years and are battling with backend system integration problems brought about by improved front end delivery mechanisms such as the internet, Ecobank's solution consists of a fully integrated core banking system, with internet delivery via satellite communications - placing it ahead of many international banks."

Founded in 1985, Ecobank offers full service banking from 42 branches across West Africa. JSE-Listed Global Technology is the leading provider of solutions to the financial communities across Africa and Australia.

"Ecobank's customers will have a front-end into the bank's core GLOBUS banking system through the GLOBUS Integrator, which will be installed at their head office in Togo, from which transactions from the other countries will be routed," says Leonard.”

</blockquote>

 

From: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/software/2001/0105020925.asp?A=AFN&S=All%20Africa%20News&T=Section&O=C

 

Fancy that! ECOBANK is ahead of many international banks—and who said Africa cannot do things for itself, huh?

 

Long live regional integration! Long live ECOWAS!

The Future of West African Regional Banking is Here!

The article in Nigeria’s Daily Trust newspaper of November 24 suggests that the West African landscape is undergoing a revolution. Forget ECOBANK, which is not going anywhere anytime soon, but watch out for First ECOBANK. According to the article, this will revolutionise the West African banking area, with the merger of three banks. What is most exciting is this—that the bank aims to “be one of the largest end most diversified banking groups in Africa with assets of over $5.5 billion and over 470 branches and offices across 15 countries in West and Central Africa, a subsidiary in the United Kingdom and a representative office in South Africa.”

 

Rock on West Africa!!

 

 

First Bank, Ecobank to Become First Ecobank

Daily Trust (Abuja)
NEWS
November 24, 2005
Posted to the web November 28, 2005

By Adelenwa Bamgboye

First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated and Ecobank Nigeria Plc Tuesday signed a combination agreement setting out the framework and timeline for the completion of what would be the largest indigenous cross-border banking combination in Sub-Sahara Africa.

The marriage of the three institutions which would give birth to First EcoBank plc with the elephant logo of the FirstBank would operate in 15 countries in the West African sub-region.

The agreement calls for Ecobank Nigeria and Ecobank Trans-national Incorporated, the parent company of the Ecobank Group to be listed prior to the completion of the combination which will take place in the third quarter of 2006.

Upon completion, Business Trust gathered that the future potential of the combined group will be one of the largest end most diversified banking groups in Africa with assets of over $5.5 billion and over 470 branches and offices across 15 countries in West and Central Africa, a subsidiary in the United Kingdom and a representative office in South Africa.

Alhaji Mutallab, chairman of First Bank said the Bank looks forward to the combination as a vehicle for better meeting the needs of the African private sector and for developing products for the consumer, SME and microfinance sectors.

Omo-Obe Odimeyo, chairman of Ecobank Nigeria in his remark said "we are elated with this combination from which our shareholders and employees should derive optimal value."

Ecobank Nigeria will be fully capitalised before the end of the year in order to meet the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) minimum capital requirement and will be subsequently listed in the first quarter of 2006 on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

In line with its regional identity, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated will be listed in the second quarter of 2006 on the three regional stock exchanges in West Africa namely the Ghana Stock Exchange in Accra, the Bourse Regionale de Valeurs Mobilisers (BRVM) in Abidjan and the Nigeria Stock Exchange.

	Copyright © 2005 Daily Trust. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).

From: http://allafrica.com/stories/200511280735.html

 

 

Cocktail & Networking

who wants to go to a cocktail 

Cocktail and Networking.

I think that is the only equation that comes to mind when I think of why my bank would send me a card inviting me to go to a cocktail. I understand that cards were sent to only those who were expected to attend. I am honoured--greatly. But still, can anyone (who can proffer something, pls...) explain to me what on earth I would be doing at a cocktail organised by...a bank?!??