What Kpong Water Works Says about Ghana's Public Service--it's a +1!

Two weekends ago, we spent the better part of the weekend trekking Accra far and wide to get sachet water to complement the water that we had(but had run out) due to water works on the Kpong Treatment Plant.

Now up until that time, I had not taken the issue of Kpong Treatment plant so seriously, but I guess when the crunch came, reality was very different.

In essence, transmission of water to the Eastern and Central part of the metropolis was cut, and parts of Accra that were affected included:

"Tema, Michel Camp, Kpong, Prampram, Tema Industrial Area, Ashaiman, Kpone, Adenta, Madina, La, Teshie, Lashibi, Spintex, Baatsonaa, Cantonements, Labone, Osu, Osu Kuku Hill, Nima, Maamobi, Pig Farm, Achimota and surrounding areas of Kpong itself."

Forget the fact that the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing Bagbin was said to be there exhorting workers to impress upon the workers to expedite the process. 


What I found interesting was the the process.

The week of 11 July, it was announced on the radio, followed by programmes on some radio stations, about the implications of water being shut off near the Kpong Treatment plant. round Wednesday/Thursday sure enough,  the water stopped flowing. Those of us with some "extra" water were able to use water for a day or two, but by Friday, most people were requesting water to be brought to their homes through water tankers.

Those of us with an aversion to such tankers off-late decided to opt for sachet water, which meant a day or two looking for water to BOTH drink and use domestically. By Saturday evening, the water had started flowing in the taps! Though it did take a few days or so for most parts of Accra that get water through taps to get it, my point is:  it was fixed ON TIME, albeit a day later than hoped.

Now two newspaper reports drew my attention to what has informed this post. The first was by Tuesday columnist in the Daily Graphic--Kofi Arkordor--who claimed the Kpong water problem was a reflection of how backwards the country had gone since independence in 1957. The second was a simple news report about how the works were monitored by the Ghana Water Company Limited(GWCL) and the regulator--the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission(PURC). You can read that here: http://news.myjoyonline.com/news/201107/69532.asp.

For me, this was the clincher:

"The director in charge of Water at the PURC, Nii Okae Kotei, said as regulator of the utility institutions, members of the commission decided to visit the treatment plant to have first hand information on the rehabilitation of the transmission line."

This is how it should be done: both the regulator (PURC) and our state provider GWCL working hand-in-hand. Given that the government effectively sacked the private sector management of Aqua Vitens Rand(Dutch/South African company) late June, this has been a vindication of public sector working when people are committed to the goals!

I would like to think that if Ghanaians continue to be as vociferous as they seem to be right now in this democratic dispensation,  we'd definitely have a Ghana that is less inefficient!;-)

What can I say, but "hooray!" to the public sector! Hooray to GWCL/PURC.

Still around, despite ECG woes

Spent the better part of the weekend and monday chasing ECG and PURC, along with relentless neighbours who even managed to stalk the Electricity Company of Ghana van yesterday evening.

Learnt a lot, and realised am not as lazy as I think I am.

I so love this country when you're able to get results for being a pain.

Even when u don't, I still wouldn't exchange it with any country!

------------------Sent from ekbensah jr's nokia e63
*twitter.com/ekbensah
*www.ekbensah.net
*Contact me: +233.268.891.841

Abuja Bombings Must be a Clear Call for ECOWAS to Adopt the ECOWAS FBI!

Back in March 2009, I wrote a piece on my ghana blog entitled The Unbearable Lightness of Being...ECOWAS-ian & Fighting Crime in ECOWAS/AU Member States ("http://ekbensahinghana.blogspot.com/2009/03/unbearable-lightness-of-being-ecowas.html) in which I opined:

"I was very happy to read at the beginning of this week that the UN and the AU have launched a joint initiative to support an AU plan to fight drug trafficking and related crimes over the next five years.. I am also deeply encouraged that the AU has a "Plan of Action on Drug Control and Crime Prevention (2007-2012)".

In the long run, these protocols are great, and it's nice to know that ECOWAS is strong on peacekeeping and peace enforcement, but I would rather hope to see not just ECOWAS disposing of a Criminal Intelligence Bureau , but ALL regional economic communities—starting with the more formidable AU! "

Truth be told, the AU has an agency dealing with terrorism that is based in Algiers. Established in October 2004, it's called the African Centre for Studies and Research on Terrorism (http://www.caert.org.dz/an/apropos.php). According to its website, its main functions are:

• Complementing international efforts by strengthening cooperation between African countries to prevent and combat terrorism;
• Assisting in the full implementation of international conventions relating to terrorism;
• Playing the role of a monitoring and alerting tool by incorporating in its approach the concept of preventive management of situations.

Now, all this would be well and good if public education on it were strong enough. Fact is, it is not. As such, we as citizens are all left feeling powerless to put sufficient pressure on our governments to provide us with information on their role at this AU-agency.

But it's more serious than that.

Yesterday's bombing in Abuja, in my view, has brought into sharp relief not so much the state of Nigeria's security as the state of REGIONAL SECURITY in West Africa and, by extension, security in other regional economic communities.

Today, I read from the UK's  Daily Telegraph newspaper that "Al-Qaeda-linked suicide bomber targets Nigeria police station" (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/nigeria/8580438/Al-Qaeda-linked-suicide-bomber-targets-Nigeria-police-station.html). We have all already heard much talk about the Al-Quaida in the Maghreb over here in West Africa and felt that it was so isolated for us to care.

In May 2010, I was in Bamako for a meeting, and noticed at the airport that there were US soldiers lurking around. I later learnt that it was in connection with assisting Mali security services to fight Al Quaida in (Arab) Maghreb.

So, not so far away, huh?

So it prompts the question of why ECOWAS is being so lackadaisical about establishing its Criminal Investigative Intelligence Bureau. In the same March 2009 blog post, I wrote:


"The Europeans established EUROPOL the very moment the Treaty of Maastricht was established. Why did AU member states not equally view law enforcement as an important element in the facilitation of regional integration? "

My question still holds, but I want to go further: why did the AU not include the establishment of a Pan-African police organisation (with regional devolution at the very worst) to deal with impending issues associated with drug-trafficking and abuse of free movement protocols? Okay, so the AU, alongside the RECs, were caught off-guard, but it is never too late.

If you're interested, you might want to read the "Political Declaration on the Prevention Of Drug Abuse, Illicit Drug Trafficking and Organized Crimes in West Africa" here: http://www.unodc.org/westandcentralafrica/en/ecowaspoliticaldeclaration.html.
It is clear that West Africa has gotten fairly serious on countering crime, and I have to say that judging by some of the publications by the eponymous Dakar-based Intergovernmental Action Group against Money-Laundering(GIABA) that was established in 2000 as an ECOWAS agency, ECOWAS has moved significantly. But it must clearly do more -- as illustrated by my comment on Facebook on the BBC worldservice for Africa page:

Personally, I believe it is high-time ECOWAS got serious about adopting the Protocol of 2005 establishing the Criminal Investigative Intelligence Bureau. The AU should also use this opportunity to use the Algiers-based African Centre for St...udies and Research in Terrorism to start compiling a list of terrorist groups and the deploym...ent of strategies to deal with them. ECOWAS has done well to establish West African Police CHiefs Committee Organisation, and Intergovernmental Action Group against Money Laundering(GIABA), but these are not enough.

With ECOWAS citizens enjoying free movement, ECOWAS can no longer say this is a Nigeria-specific problem. Passports can be faked. As such, any of these fundamentalists are likely to exploit the free movement AND the absence of a criminal intelligence bureau in the region to cause more havoc in Nigeria and beyond. ECOWAS must kindly wake up -- fast!! (from: http://www.facebook.com/bbcworldserviceafrica#!/bbcworldserviceafrica)

Presentation on New Media Tools in Africa's Development (AUCC/Penplusbytes)

Click to Play

1. why are New Media Tools so popular, and how can they used to best effect to contribute to African development?

Things to Do in Accra When...Abuja's dead!

Arguably, it's a terrible title for a Ghana-based blog, but the situation behind the title is equally terrible.

As you may know by now, President Goodluck Jonathon was inaugurated yesterday to the usual pomp and pageantry that accompanies such events. BBC Worldservice was there and covered it extensively on the hour--every hour!

The New York-based Sahara Reporters -- reporting mostly about Nigeria -- explained that in an unprecedented move to shore up security "mobile phone companies were compelled to switch off their transmitters in Abuja and its environs, apparently to forestall any attacks that might be attempted by means of mobile phones to detonate explosive devices at the venue".

Now there's no gainsaying that there's a love-hate relationship between Ghana and Nigeria on account of a number of reasons. The most superficial ones have to do with the fact that we share common language of English; we both enjoy Nollywood movies (though I believe Ghana does so at a naturally-disproportionate rate!!); we both marry across our cultures, resulting in many couples who bear children that are half-Nigerian, half Ghanaian. So it was always going to be normal that small Ghana would be interested in its bigger Nigeria neighbour--pretty much like Canada and the US relate.

Regrettably, the very important point of all phone providers being compelled to shut down their services in Abuja has not featured thus far in any Ghanaian radio or newspaper, prompting personal speculation that Ghanaian media men are just not that into Nigeria as one might have thought.

Given the volume of Ghanaian media men that flow into and out of their big brother, as well as the preponderance on Nigerian banks in this country, I would have thought an interest in how the inauguration went--with all its attendant issues--might be of interest. Were the situation reversed, I doubt Nigeria would have paid that much attention however, but it still does not make it right.

I called one friend in Lagos who's line was working alright; another in Abuja had it "switched off" throughout the day--as well as my close relative in Abuja's MTN phone line that he took from Ghana.

A quick scanning of websites coupled with the report on Sahara Reporters suggested that hours after the inauguration, neither MTN and AIRTEL (both available in Ghana) nor ETILSAT and GLO and others in Nigeria had resumed service. I cannot begin to think of the impact it would have had on emergency services.

Though internal security is not to be sneezed at--anywhere--I debated with myself throughout the day whether Ghana would have done something like this without causing a furore among citizens? While some providers sent messages to their customers (I understand local VISAPHONE in Nigeria did so), I cannot but wonder whether all did so.

Given the reality of the situation in Abuja, I wonder how prepared Ghana would be to a situation like this, and it has got me thinking of a short list for those with relatives in the federal capital territory (FCT) of Abuja:

1. make friends with Nigerians in Ghana. If possible get both their Nigerian and Ghana mobile numbers

2. read Nigerian press online regularly. If your relative has just landed in Nigeria at an auspicious event, there might be security constraints and/or issues he or she would be oblivious to

3. call your Nigerian friends regularly so that in the even of any emergency, they might be able to attend to your relative -- irrespective of the part of the country they might be in.

4. If you have Facebook, monitor Nigerians on Facebook, and connect with them!

The Unbearable Lightness of *Not* Seeing AU Flags at Hotels in Accra, Ghana

The celebration of AU day has both encouraged and mobilised me to action, so I finally decided to do something constructive...like taking a walk across the street from work to the hotel there. Now I have covered Eastgate Hotel in my Accra blog before--you can read it here -- so it is not like I am castigating the hotel without reason. Overall, it's an interesting hotel, though I have never lodged there.

On the specific case of the flags, I asked at the receptionist, who in turn called the manager. Within minutes, he was there to talk to me. Doubtless perplexed by my question as to what informs the kind of flags that the hotel hoists, he still tried to proffer an answer.

His explanation--in sum--was that they hoist flags of "constituencies"[my words] that are likely to visit the hotel. So the EU, US, Ghanaian, Canadian flags they fly suggest that clientele from those countries are free (and likely) to visit the hotel.

I cannot help but wonder whether it would not make good business sense--even--to hoist both an AU and ECOWAS flag--given that the latter hosts many conferences at hotels round the capital?

Beyond the fact that it is serious food for thought, I think there's merit in sending a questionnaire, perhaps arranging for an interview(maybe even an email one) as to why the state of non-flying AU and ECOWAS flags is the case.

If you're interested in this endeavour, join me as I continue to assemble a bunch of African heroes online and offline who are selfless and dedicated to seeing a united Africa -- the soonest time possible. We are the Q9 Brigade...uniting Africa ONE communication at a time.



Email me on q9brigade@critiquing-regionalism.org, and or join the google groups here: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/q9-brigade-africa-unite

Happy Africa Liberation Day to all AU Citizens...on 25 May!

Every 25 May, Ghana, along with many African Union(AU) member states, celebrates what has now come to be known as Africa Liberation Day(ALD). It is erroneously celebrated as African Union day, which is actually celebrated on 9 September, when the Sirte Declaration was conceived to transform the-then Organisation of African Unity into the African Union.

In Ghana, Chelsea's Michael Essien (a Ghanaian) in his capacity as AU Peace Ambassador will lead a team of other international Chelsea superstars to play in a "Peace for Africa" match. This poster is merely to reflect this reality.

Wherever you may be on 25 May, have a fabulous Happy Africa Liberation Day!

How My Non-Political Tailor Made me Smile about Ghana

In our highly-politicised culture, I often forget to remind myself about the beauty of my country--we tend to let foreigners remind us instead--till I take a walk. Walking has always been cathartic--and this afternoon was no exception.

Deciding to walk to the tailor who fixes some of my clothes, I was surprised at what I would meet: him working his usual assiduous self in front of GTV (Ghana's national broadcaster), which was showing the incumbent President Professor John Evan Atta-Mills having bought his nomination forms to contest the general elections in 2012.

My tailor was aghast at what was going on -- that the wife of the founder of Ghana's ruling National Democratic Congress should decide to contest the incumbent President in next year's polls, and at a time when the incumbent President was clearly "doing well."

My tailor is 30years old, and describes himself as "a small boy", but who still knows that "the President is doing well." He confessed to me that though he comes from a region that is a quintessential and visceral supporter of the NDC party, his mother campaigned for the opposition (right-leaning) National Patriotic Party. He also confessed to liking Ghana's incumbent Vice-President John Mahama -- despite the fact that he is not the traditional NDC-supporter that everyone would expect him to be.

He added--much to my bemusement--that he may not vote for the current president, but he sees that he has been doing well, so what the wife of the founder is doing is "very wrong" and "disgraceful".

Apart from shattering any preconceptions that people from the Volta Region of Ghana wholely and fully support the NDC (something I never believed to be fully the case anyway), I was happy to hear this outrage from Wanda the tailor, who only went to reinforce the impression that Ghana may be over-politicised in much of what we do, but we certainly have discerning minds a lot of the time, too...

God bless Ghana. God bless Nkrumah! God bless Africa...

Another Birthday. I have Come of Age. I Think...

I spent Easter Sunday with the folks, and it saw me watching "Paranormal Activity" at night. Was freaked out...then decided to watch "WOLFMAN" with Anthony Hopkins and Benicio del Toro as father/son werewolves.

Around 1am!

I cracked up more. DEL TORO as a werewolf?? WTF! Can't ever shake off Del Toro in "Usual Suspects"....still.

Two horror films in one night. And no nightmares!

Cool things!! I have come of age!

I think.

As I turn 34 today, I cannot but help reflect on the fact that I  have no less than SIX years before I turn 40.

Does daunting come to mind -- anyone??

Two Things that Get my Goat about Ghana (Ghana Hall of Shame, Mike!)

Before I offer the expected rant, let me provide context.

It's a busy Thursday before Easter and so people have been preparing left, right, and center. In that respect, I was half-expecting to meet things that would get my goat. Still, I think Ghanaians should know better.

So I called an organisation to find out something. When the person answered, it was a hesitating "hello?".

I immediately reacted, asking whether it was the organisation I was calling--to which he replied in the affirmative. "The least you can do", I went on at him, "is to tell anyone who calls the name of the organisation, you see?". He promptly apologised. I asked him about the service and he asked me for my number.

I gave him an AIRTEL number, starting with "0-2-6".

Next I hear, he's bloody repeating the number prefaced with an MTN number! To wit: "0-2-4-2-6"!

I almost hit the roof.

"Sir, no! I said '0-2-6' ..."?!?!

To cut a long story short:
1. Customer service is annoying at the best of times, but let's just remind the recalcitrant staff of organisations who answer their phones with a "hello" that they should immediately STATE the organisation first. Just good for business--whatever it might be

2. Not everyone is on MTN! Some of us have abandoned their MTN like perpetually-hot cakes. We now have AIRTEL on 026; VODAFONE on 020; EXPRESSON on 028; TIGO on 027; and soon GLOBACOM on, I believe 023...

If you survived this rant, kudos! Make sure you have a great Easter and be back renewed on Tuesday 26 April--a very special day for yours truly!;-)

BTW: check out ghanablogger Mike on http://ghanahallofshame.blogspot.com/ who has made efforts to highlight and condemn such bad practices

"Do You Like Peace? I do!"

As I was plodding back to the office at lunchtime, I came across this sticker on the back of a motorbike.

"What a lame sticker!" I instinctively thought, then paused mentally.

What actually is peace? In Ghana, we like to bandy it around a lot, but what's really our conception of it?

Martin Luther King said long ago that "peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice".

Where's our water justice? electricity justice? road traffic justice? political party justice? social justice? police justice?

Sometimes, I wonder about the last part.

Things to do in Accra when you're dead (to the world)

Imagine this: you're at home watching TV around 22h00. You're kind of winding down for the evening. Dishes done. Stuff packed. You're anticipating a delicious sleep in an hour or so. Suddenly, darkness falls.

Sadly, it lasts too long. Two hours later, you're still in darkness--and it looks like you're the only house in the street to experience it, too! You know there's enough electricity, so that's ruled out. You call 0302.611.611 and speak to ECG's hotline. They are not very reassuring, especially because you're only one or two houses without power.
The following morning, you wake up with a semi-headache, on account of a lack of qualitative sleep. There's no-one to sympathise with you, especially as no neighbour knows what hell you were going through.

Honestly. Really. Save the battery-powered radio, you were dead to the world.

Because this is Ghana, where patience seems to be in abundance, you stoically shake your head--and press on to work with that crumpled shirt you vowed to iron before the lights went off.

Things to do in Accra when you're dead to the world?

Sleep, ofcourse!

The Blogging Passion's Still Burning...But Like That, He was Gone!

I thought I'd eschew any vestige of melodrama by being as incisive about my point as possible.

But knowing me, it was always going to be difficult!

It is not so much that I have goofed or erred -- just that I've become more of a human being, both pretending to be, and actually being busier than I ever expected.

Undoubtedly, this has affected my blogging. I cannot tell you the number of entries I have started only for them to be lost somewhere in my written diary/journal.

Somewhere.

Like the fire burning in this picture, the passion of blogging remains -- as does my passion of all things Ghanaian and all pictures Ghanaian.

I also love my area of expertise: comparative global regional integration, which is simply how the emerging regions in the world -- the European Union, African Union, ECOWAS, ASEAN -- compare with each other in their respective sectors. Closer to home, there's been a lot of talk about ECOWAS, because of the still-unresolved Ivorian Crisis, which has seen Laurent Gbagbo still in power.

My take is that the African Union meddled too much, leaving egg on the face of the West African bloc of ECOWAS.

I am glad, though, to have seen the ARAB LEAGUE get proactive about Libya; and the AU's powerful Peace and Security Council finally issue a communique about Libya (considering Libya's sponsoring of the Pan-African body to the tune of 15% of the AU's budget!)

I guess life's like that: we're all shades of gray, and a LOT of work-in-progress.

Suffice-to-say, I have more bombastic claims when I get back to regular blogging in April.

I shall be away from blogging proper for a good one month. I'm already getting withdrawal symptoms...

Just like the smoke in the picture, I've been lingering for a while, while the passion burns.

The only difference between me and the picture is that my passion won't ever ebb away -- just gone on hiatus.

Till then!

See you first week of April...

Mid-Week Madness:Of Irresponsible Journalists like Joseph Appiah-Dolphyne, and ECOWAS

It is a recondite fact that a lot of our Ghanaian media practitioners need capacity-building to be more discerning, but this has got to take the biscuit.

As I was winding down things to leave the office, I come across an article on Google News, which claims "ECOWAS ‘recognizes’ Gbagbo as president".

Now, if you have been following the story for the past three months, you would find this totally at synch against the ECOWAS option of wanting to use "legitimate force" to oust Gbagbo.

The journalist uses a PDF article on the ECOWAS website (http://www.ecowas.int) to claim that ECOWAS supports Gbagbo. This is totally mischievous. The PDF article is dated 6 June, 2010 -- many months before the whole crisis exploded.

The link he refers to can be downloaded here: http://www.ecowas.int/publications/en/ecowas_unit/Ecowas-National-Unit-Directory.pdf

An old article about a then-legitimate leader many months ago is in no way an endorsement by ECOWAS of Gbagbo as the President of Cote d'Ivoire.

Joseph Appiah-Dolphyne must come again!!

Can't a Brother Get a Little Peace? There's War on the Streets and there's war in the Middle East...

Too much has been happening in my life that it's bound to make me a bit soporific, and let me just add that I was in no such state in this picture! Merely planning the year, or at least pretending to do so!

I like the "domino-effect" metaphor being bandied around to describe the events from the Jasmine revolution of Tunisia, through to Egypt. Yesterday, I heard that Sudan was engaged in anti-government protests as well!

Swell.

I don't want to go overboard with the "people power" concept, but clearly, it is there is some shape or form.

In my own life, there are revolutions going on: from how I manage my finances to deepening and consolidating the passions I hold so dear in my life(work, my significant other, my blogging).

Let's just say I'm glad to be back in the mantle to kick-start a new month; it will be great to be back blogging more regularly.

Six years of this blog is no mean feat. There must be something right I'm doing to have endured this long.

In Egypt, six days of demonstrations ain't bad either.

I just hope they heed Churchill's words:

when you're going through hell, keep going!

Takoradi--More than a Tale of Two Cities

For the past few days, the folks and I have been in the capital city of Africa's newest oil-producing capital of Takoradi.

There are two incontrovertible truths about this beautiful, littoral city by the Atlantic ocean: it made news in the oil world on 15 December, 2010 when Ghana officially became an oil-exporting country; secondly, the capital of the verdant and lush Western region is a twin city alongside Sekondi, making it known as Sekondi-Takoradi.

Although on our way to Takoradi, we passed through Sekondi, it was not for long to be able to sufficiently speculate about the city, but what I can say is that much of the topography is undulating and hilly. Little wonder oil has been found here, we thought.

Suffice-to-say that we have not been here long enough to truly compare with the equally-green Central region, but with all certainty, the Western region is a beautiful one, where it feels more expansive than the former.
But perhaps, not for long.

A 'SKYY FOCUS' newspaper (published in Takoradi, tel:0312025299) reports a headline story 'The Oil and Gas Industry is affecting our livelihood'.

From long traffic queues to jacked-up rents, ordinary Western region residents are likely to suffer the birth of the oil industry.

I do so hope back in the capital of Accra, these impacts will be the talking point in 2011.
Happy New Year from a very rainy Takoradi!

___sent: e.k.bensah (OGO device)+233.268.891.841/ekbensah@ekbensah.net
These words brought to you by Ogo.

As the Week Draws to a Close in Accra: Xmas Preparations

So much has happened over the past month that it's difficult to know where to start.

I have been to a wedding and quite a number of funerals; gotten ill (for which I am recovering); been swamped by work (as you do at this time) and generally taken time out to do more tweeting than blogging and facebooking (on account of office restrictions).


Suffice to say, the fat lady has not sung, which means that the blogging show is not quite over. There's quite a bit I want to add to the debate on Ivory Coast, such as that the ECOWAS Standby Force (under the ambit of the African Standby Force) ought to intervene over the diplomatic pussy-footing and tergiversation.

Africa has come of age, and it's time the Ghanaian media pointed these out instead of the cacophony over Ghana producing oil (as important as that may be) since 15 December.

I will officially take a blogging hiatus from the 23rd of December up to New Year 2011.

Till then, the fat lady still got some practising to do!;-)

Of Truculent Tro-Tro drivers and Mass Metro Managers

For the past couple of days, I have been mulling over the state of this beautiful nation.

I don't quite get the fact that there's so much indiscipline. And when you get to that stage of wondering, you might inevitably wonder what it does to one's internal cosmology.

If it is true that the violence in society and the world--writ large--is a reflection of how inwardly-torn one is, then it's possible to segue into another discourse that says that the extent of indiscipline in this country can ineluctably affect one's attempts to improve oneself.

In the words of an X-files title, I like to *fight the future* whenever I can. I dream of this country having everything possible here--from natural resources to human resources--collectively making the nation better. I also like to think that a nation cannot gt better without complaints. I re-call back in Brussels, hearing a BBC Radio Four item on why the Brits like to complain about almost everything, and thought that's something that Africans probably ought to do more of to get change.

That was before I knew what "advocacy"meant!

So here I am--six years into  the life and loves of my country, continuing to complain...and occasionally getting results.

Off-late, the biggest complains has revolved around transport, as exemplified by Mass Metro (http://metromass.com/tour_ghana.htm) which, frankly, is assuming a kind of structure not seen in the last administration. Unlike the last administration, for the past two years since they assumed power, buses have been arriving around a certain time. Ofcourse "around" is insufficient; better to have "at", but we live in hope in this country, so "half for do!" as Ghanaians like  to say. To wit: "better than nothing!"

So. Buses arrive around, say, 6.20pm every weekday in front of Accra Mall. Fine. Beyond the indiscipline of some commuters not waiting for those coming from the buses to come down before they try to board, you find that the bus driver--inexplicably--does not stop at every stop, but waits to hear shouts by commuters screaming "bus stop!!". I use the buzzer, and depress it annoyingly long enough, but I don't know how many people do.

That it is rarely used suggests that there needs to be some level of education even of the conduct of commuters.

I will be deliberately snobbish here, because it is important: many of those who board the buses are, frankly, (semi-)illiterate who are trying to save money, while contemporaneously avoiding the "waiting for Godot" cues formed at the tro-tro lines.

The cost of boarding is very cheap (the average fair to the Spintex Road on the bus is GHC0.30/30ghana pesewas, or 21 US cents, as compared to GHC0.60/60pesewas, or 42 US cents with tro-tro) so you can imagine why many--both middle class and otherwise--would want to board this form of transport.

But it's the attitude. I find both the tro-tro drivers and the mass metro drivers so truculent it's not funny. Which begs the question of  *where* to complain in the event of non-satisfactory performance. When I was in the central region a few weeks back, I saw one Mass Metro bus that was undergoing training for its workers. This suggests there is a level of monitoring and evaluation at some structure of the MMT somewhere.

But where exactly? Where do we go to complain about truculent drivers who remain obdurate about doing the right thing?

I need to start a campaign--and definitely not one fighting indiscipline, but one where we as taxpayers can hold our institutions accountable. First port of call are getting phone numbers. Up to now, I don't know which number to call to find out about the Mass Metro buses.

Truth be told, they're doing great things, and better things are to come.

But it should not be inconsistent with getting a hold of a phone number I don't think!



labels:mid-wk madness; mid-week madness; tro-tros

The Hunt for Blue...October, or a tale of Desperately Seeking @ghanapolice on Twitter!

It all began on 26 October, when a Ghanaian tweep mentioned something about Ghana Police being on twitter.

 

Quizzed, I followed through a few links and realised they were on the @ghanapolice address. They had asked a question about community policing, and tips to assist. They appeared to be following only a few people. So I decided to follow.

 

Last week, I gave the Ghana Police Service (0302.773.900) a call, and explained my reason for calling. The lady at the other side was very empathetic, and decided to give me the number of no less than DSP Kwesi Ofori, Director of the Public Affairs Department (0302.761.274). When I called, he thought it was Joy FM waiting to speak with him for an interview. He suggested I call him back in 30 minutes.

 

I decided to send a text instead, but I got no reply.

 

Last Thursday morning, I heard on CITI97.3fm(@citi973) that he was going to be live on-air to respond to a few questions about Ghana policing.  My question about TWITTER came late in the day, so I never got round to having it answered.

 

Unperturbed, I decided to call the Police Service's PAD again, and this time was given their direct number. Once through, the young lady was clueless about twitter, and when she asked, I heard someone say in the background "toyota??!!" !!

 

I was eventually put through to one DSP Attah who explained that he was once in a meeting in which it was mentioned that they would contract someone to set up [and manage] their twitter account. He himself was just returning from travels, so I should call back in an hour's time.

 

Minutes led to hours, which led to cases in the media that has involved the Ghana Police and inhibited I suspect any desire by DSP Kwesi Ofori-- who's been on television and the radio almost every day—to call me.

 

Oh well. I'm a patient man, and this very day, I have called Public Affairs Department, spoken with DSP Attah who says that in a brief chat with his colleague, it was revealed that a consultant had indeed been tasked to manage the @ghanapolice account. I see the Public Affairs Account really is on Facebook, and is looking great, thank you.

 

Now, the biggest test is for us Ghanaians to do several of these – and not necessarily in the order outlined below:

 

1. Call the Ghana Police Public Affairs Department on (landline) 0302.761.274.
2. Ask to speak with DSP Attah
3. Query him about the @ghanapolice twitter account
4. Query him again…
5. …and again.
6. So much so that the PAD of GhPolice will be compelled to inform the MEDIA and the PUBLIC about the twitter account, and how it can help complement the police service's work.

labels:ghanapolice; mid-week madness; ghanapolice on twitter; twitter

Beware of Telcommunication Companies in Ghana (Vodafone / MTN) Bearing Gifts!

The other day, I was over at the Vodafone shop in Accra Mall, trying to figure out why I no longer enjoy the 50% bonus credit Vodafone had been banging on about for the past couple of weeks.

It turns out the Vodafone was being rather deceitful about the whole promotion. It had conveniently forgotten to tell consumers they no longer enjoy the bonus credit once they activate the "8080" promotion to enjoy rate at 8gp/minute. In order to cancel the subscription, one needs to dial 1212 -- and that only after one month!

Then there is MTN.

I heard on the radio this morning that it had slashed its call rate to 7.5gp/minute.

Although I was not going to consider going back to MTN (I will only receive calls there), I wanted to be humoured. Instead I was annoyed!

The 7.5gp/minute is conditional. Yes, on condition that you subscribe to any three of their packages.

One package enables you talk for 10gp/minute in the first minute, coming down to 7.5gp/minute after 5 minutes! Another is on condition of being a "Family and Friends" member. The third is closely related to the latter two.

In short, not worthy of my time--in any way!!

I am still on Zain--and will continue to be there for a while.

Zain offers 8gp/minute to ANY network, with 8 free SMS-es a day (that's 240 free SMSes a month); and using family and friends, one gets further reduction. I can speak to my family and loved ones for some two minutes, and instead of paying 0.16GHC, I pay around 0.04GHC!!

While MTN and Vodafone have transformed themselves into the modern-day purveyors of Greeks bearing gifts, I hope Zain stays true.


labels: MTN; Zain; Ghana telcos; Accra Mall