As the Week Draws to a Close in Accra: T&TofaFADINGHA Gets Noticed!; Gear Up For Gold Cab!

The week has ended with some degree of sanity on the Spintex Road. I have not received the proverbial call from the NRSC for the past few days, but I rest assured that the MTTU is doing their job, so I'm quite satisfied.

That said, satisfaction is far from my mind as the country went political again, what with the President reading the State of the Nation, and incurring the wrath of the hapless opposition who should, frankly, be booed out of the august house of Parliament for the time-wasting that they practice there!

But to the point:

There I was minding my business on a Friday lunchtime, checking the latest entries on ghanablogging.com, when I notice a blog entry by Global Voices Online co-"author" for GhanaGayle Pescud and now author of An Insider's Guide to Ghana. Her entry was on "Ghana Blogs I like".

Now I know this humble site--though five years and some 369 posts old --is not as popular as some of the newer ones who have been around for only a year, so I far from expected that it would top her list--but it did. She wrote:

Another top Ghanaian writer is E.K. Bensah and his blog The Trials and Tribulations of a Freshly Arrived Denizen of Ghana, with a fantastic view of Akosombo Bridge as the main header. If you want to know what it's like to get caught in Accra traffic, read  The Unbearable Lightness of Being in Spintex Road Traffic. (Great title, crappy situation.)

She also praises another ghanablogging colleague Mac Jordan, who does have a great site. I exhort you to go check it out.

Now, while we're in the self-congratulatory mood(;-), allow me to direct your attention to one of my first posts of 2005 and here on this blog, which you can click here: http://ekbensahinghana.blogspot.com/2005/03/im-in-accra.html!!

Gear up for Gold Cab!

For the past almost-four years, I have been patronising the services of "Gold Cab", located in the centre of town (Kokomlemle). Though I have never been to their head offices, they have always been a phone call away. They are useful because they can go where commercial vehicles are unable to go, because they have WHITE number plates, which are the preserve of private cars (unlike yellow ones that dominate the taxi landscape).

Only this week, their fares per hour went up from GHC10.00 to GHC12.00, which is, respectively, US$6.66 to US$8.00. Not bad per hour, considering normal taxis have now gravitated towards that amount.

What makes them even more special is the fact that the cars are all new, or fairly new (roughly 1-2 years old) and are all air-conditioned. They first started with this fiat in the captured picture in this post, went to TOYOTA YARIS (no funny thoughts, pls!!) some 12 months ago...and will now go to...the Black Cabs of the UK.

Two GOLD CAB drivers have confirmed independently that the British Black Cabs will not be as big as in the UK, and will be converted from right hand- to left-hand drive. Another driver told me yesterday that they are currently at the ports.

I seriously look forward to seeing a slice of British cabbies here in Ghana very soon! If you're ever tempted to patronise Gold Cab's services, let me know and I'll pass you the info. Frankly, their communication strategies are poor. Despite the fact that they have a fleet of some 25 cars (painted in inimitable GOLD), they do NOT have a website!

In the 21st century?!

This free ad, I hope, ought to get them some patronage;-)

Just in case you missed what the GOLD CAB TAXI SERVICE CAR looked like in 2006 before it was painted a gold colour, here it is:

Taxi Tales: The driver's made a killing

By the time this thing goes to the web, the hole in my pocket would have been that more deeper, for I foolishly asked the driver to wait for me as I run like hell past Parliament House (Ridge) and headed towards what looked like a white tent to obtain my accredited pass for the ACP Summit tomorrow.

I have been in a queue for the past thirty minutes. Everything is A-ok. Kinda. Just want my pass so I can get outta here. Time is 14h35, and can well imagine that the taxi driver must be feeling that considering the rather-sweltering heat, must have gone and done a runner.

Certainly something my dark side would want me to do. Question is: will I succumb to the easiest option out there right now? Or will I listen to that omscient conscience...

_________________this msg was sent by e.k.bensah - OGO device

These words brought to you by Ogo.

Taxi Tales: "They are Killing Us!"

It has become an article of my quotidian walking diet to stop by the Spintex Road GOIL filling station to either pick a taxi, or walk home. Depending on my mood, I pick a taxi. Last night was no exception.

There was a slight difference in the usual silence that rings through from the filling station to my house some six minutes away from GOIL. Usually, I am so knackered, I allow myself to converse with my thoughts. Yesterday, the difference was in the mini-conversation I had with the taxi-driver after he said that I would be charged GHC1.20--instead of GHC1.00. He told me that yesterday was "the last day" he would be charging me that rate, which I found interesting, considering I have never seen him around that area before.

Oh well.

He went on to say that "they" were "killing us". I knew exactly whom he was talking about. Generally, he was referring to the government; specifically to the National Petroleum Authority that has, yet again, allowed Ghanaians to suffer and experience the vagaries of the fluctuation of oil prices on the market.

Joy Online, in its report put it this way:

This is the second time petroleum products prices have been adjusted in less than a month and the third since October 2007.

The Public Relations Officer of the NPA Steven Larbie tells Joy Business report that the reviews will no more be done monthly but according to price movements of crude oil on the world market.

What it means is that a gallon of petrol now sells at 4 Ghana cedis 68 pesewas or 46,800 cedis; while a gallon of diesel is 4 Ghana cedis 63 pesewas or 46,350 cedis

Putting these prices into context, you can understand why the consumers will have to pay the taxi-drivers. I have had quite a few tales of these over the past few days--and I really cannot blame them.

What I do think is extortionist is when the taxi-drivers decide, consequently, to offer arbitrary prices, knowing fully well that they are providing us with the service, and so without them, we cannot get to our destination!

Whatever the case may be, it's true, this government is killing the average consumer's disposable income.

That, on top of these high prices, one spends around GHC50.00 to buy the equivalent of electricity that would have taken me (before November 1st) almost three weeks for, now, just under two weeks!

Taxi Tales: Of Demolition Men...

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

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

It truly was a sight to behold.

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

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

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

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

Could't agree more!!

Blogging from Kalss Inn Redux: Ghana Rocks!

I thought I'd do something entirely different and walk to the place I buy newspapers from on Thursday. Instead, I took a taxi--such is the fickleness of the human condition!

In front of me, I have P*P newspaper; the Investor;Business Week;Star newspaper/tabloid; and Weekly Fylla.

I like a wide range of papers on Thursdays to get up-to-speed on what's happening in the arts; entertainment; and whatnot. The average person who sees my newspapers buys on Thursdays probably thinks I'm a businessman par excellence. Such is the superficiality of Ghanaians. Many a time, I've heard comments suggesting I must be loaded--for me to be able to afford these types of papers. If only they knew...

Whatever the case may be, very rarely do I get the opportunity to be this whimsical in my writinfg for this blog. A breath of fresh air is always good--and that's why I'm here at Kals Inn, to the tunes of a just-ended "Everything I do, I do it for you", by Brian...oh, I forget his surname...

Either way, I very rarely get the opportunity to write about what makes Ghana interesting, and what makes it rock. Today's my opportunity.

I LOVE my country; it's got more beaches than I could ever find in Belgium; there's always something to complain about without feeling that no-one will understand your complaints. They are real and manifold, but somehow, somewhere, with more people complaining about things--by way of radio and other parts of the media--you get to exorcise the frustration you might feel.

Somehow, somewhere, things do improve--even if the administration continues to lie to us about how they get their results or solutions! The furore over the ADB is one thing: their plans were scuppered by the likes of civil society who complained endlessly about giving in to Stanbic. The bank has no done a volte-face and said it wants to be a "partner".

The government won't tell us the truth, but Ghanaians will keep fighting.

With three minutes left at the cafe, I'd just end that it's glorious to have lights these days more frequently. Power comes from Cote D'Ivoire, and helps mollify the energy situation toa degree it was not last year around this time. The complaints MUST continue to come; that's the only way we can get results...

long live Ghana!!

Taxi Tales#3: Long or Short?

This isn't a trick question, but conceiving of it seems a bit absurd--at first.

According to one taxi driver I took from down the road from where I work, he prefers to ply short routes than long ones.

Don't ask me how I got to know. There I was, looking forward to enjoying my fresh bread,then he starts that his "paddy" (he isn't Irish, incidentally!) asked him to go to Teshie Nungua, which is some thirty minutes drive, near Tema--the port--, away, and he declined. He maintained that if he had received 80,000 cedis (circa $7.50), he wouldn't have gone, because for him you make more money from short ones, where he charges 10,000 cedis, than the long ones.

So, it's all about the money, then, is it? I thought, wondering why he wasn't wearing his mandatory blue uniform and navy trousers.

Taxi Tales: Taxi, oh Taxi drivers, Where art thou uniforms?

I came into work this morning, half-expecting to see the taxi drivers, mandated to start wearing uniforms (sea-blue shirt and navy blue trousers), as of 1st February--i.e. today. Not too much to my surprise, all the taxi-drivers I saw on my way to work, and my Dad noticed a few, too, were, in effect, breaking the law.


Even if the Accra Metropolitan Assembly had botched things up with their lack of enforcibility, the decision not to wear uniforms smacks of disrespect for the law.

On my way home from work yesterday evening, where I took this picture (in part to show-case the erection of streetlights on the Spintex Road), I asked the taxi driver, driving a colleague and myself home, whether he was prepared. He sputtered out forlornly that "emi, me nshe uniform, o", or "I will not wear any uniform". That kind of gave me a taster of what to expect today, but one could hope anyway;-)

Just for good measure, here's some more about AMA:

"The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) is a corporate body and the highest political and administrative organ in Accra. The Assembly has legislative, deliberate and executive functions. Development in Accra is financed from several sources and at two (2) levels; central and local. AMA is a facilitator for development rather than profit making institution. This is consistent to central government policy. AMA spends 66.70% of its revenue on recurrent expenditure whilst 33.30% on capital expenditure. The expenditure ratio indicates low commitment of the city authority to development."
from:http://ie3global.oregonstate.edu/ie3/openings/ghana7.html

Let's see what the rest of the day will bring!

tags:
ghana taxi;taxi uniforms;accra;spintex road;

Taxi Tales#1: The driver's got Cheek!

I am a taxi person in the sense that I move around Accra a lot by way of taxi. Very rarely will I use the tro-tro, and now that the Mass Metro buses are becoming de rigeur, and even the new Gold Cab services, which is based in Kokomlemle, some minutes from Busy Internet at Circle, or the so-called Silicon Valley street of Accra, is stationing itself conveniently in ECOBANK agencies, to name but one, around the capital, I STILL will take the taxi anyday for the convenience, and when the pocket is a bit lighter;-)

The news that taxi drivers will be wearing uniforms is welcome news:

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With effect from 1st February, all taxi drivers in the Accra Metropolis will dress in uniforms of sea blue shirts and dark blue trousers.

According to a press release issued by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, all taxi drivers in the Metropolis are also expected to pay ¢250,000 each to have an identification number embossed on the front doors of their vehicles.

This amount, according to the release is been heavily subsidised by the AMA.

The release noted that at a meeting held on January 18 this year chaired by the Mayor of Accra, Mr. Stanley Nii Adjiri Blankson, executives and representatives of the GPRTU, PROTOA, Cooperative Transport Union and COMTSA came to the above agreement between members of the transport sector and the AMA.

The release explained that the identification number to be embossed on the taxi cabs would make for easy identification of taxis and help protect drivers from mugging and the frequent stealing of their vehicles.

---

Any attempt to bring sanity into the capital must go down very well for a lot of denizens. All that said, it is for one of these reasons that I am introducing taxi tales to bring directly to you some of the less-than-mundane experiences and conversations I have with taxi-drivers.

The first instance is yesterday when a taxi driver picked me up from the A&C Shopping mall. En route, his engine sputtered and came to a somewhat abrubpt stop. Opening the door, he went out to the engine for what seemed like a few minutes, came back and sparked the car. Off we went.

Now, I was heading for equity pharmacy, in East Legon, where we went for some seven minutes.

We got to the office, and I handed him ç15,000 (around Euros1.5), only for him to tell me that it wasn't enough, and that he wanted ç25,000!

The effing cheek, I thought.

So I asked him: "when your car sputtered on the road there, did I charge you?" He pretended he didn't hear [please note this characteristic of taxi drivers and commercial workers, when you tell them a truth, they will FEIGN BAD HEARING!!], asking "what did you say?"

I pretended I didn't hear him, and told him I was giving him ç20,000--and would not be giving him the ç5,000 extra.

He wasn't amused, but I certainly was;-)