THE TALKATIVE: KOTOKA'S JUNGLE

THE TALKATIVE: KOTOKA'S JUNGLE: Tourist sleeping in the wild Have you ever thought of spending the night, a weekend or perhaps a day out of the comfort of your cozy be...

KOTOKA'S JUNGLE

Tourist sleeping in the wild

Have you ever thought of spending the night, a weekend or perhaps a day out of the comfort of your cozy bed? I am not referring to a night hangout with colleagues, partners or friends in the streets of Osu or Labone or any of the famous fancy pubs in the capital. I am referring to spending the night in the open in tents, on mats and sleeping bags in the plains of the Eastern region or high up on a mountain in the Volta Region. Such a relish it will be.

What comes to mind for most Ghanaians at the mention of tourism is a day’s trip to the beach, a visit to the famous castles in Cape Coast and Elmina but mostly the Kakum National Park where often there is little or no repeat visit after a long drive from Accra.

There are quite a number of tour agencies in Ghana but one of them stands out as it seeks to change the narrative on active domestic participation. there are many breath taking   

 exploring brings on new experiences coupled with the satisfaction of having part-taken in an activity which ordinarily you wouldn't have lives on forever in your memory. so when next you think of  having fun, try an adventure with the captain of the wild for that riveting life time experience. Ghana is beautiful. explore it.

Captain of the wild- Delali Kotoka

Delali Kotoka is the brain behind Touch Effects Ghana. The bespoke tourism company unlike any other. He specializes in taking you to the extreme.braving the odds and facing your fears. Mountaineering, river hikes, hiking, city tours, basic skills survival in the wild and what have you. His navigation through the jungle is fascinating. driven by the passion to conquer,he stops at nothing to make your experience worthwhile.

visit  www.toucheffectsglobal.org for more.

THIS IS HOME

Abraham Atta in a pose with Sylvester Stallone

Like many other towns or settlements, it has a fascinating history unbeknownst to many. (Check Wikipedia). Its early settlers built the town on a foundation of love. Basically for family members who wanted to engage in one economic activity or the other. A home for the weary traveler to catch their breath or spend the night if necessary. This is ASHAI’s TOWN. Known to many as ASHAIMAN. Often mis-spelt as “ASHIAMAN”

The town has seen some unprecedented events capping the love with which the frames of the town was built on. In other words, it has had its fair share of problems. The town has been in the past severely marred by the activities of some recalcitrant youth. But like they say, “every saint has a past and every sinner has a future”. The future of the town wasn’t resting on the dictates of a few boisterous young men and woman who early on had plunged the town into an abyss.

The coming in of free compulsory education saw a surge in school enrollment in the early nineties. A new secondary school meant pupils from public schools whose folks couldn’t afford to take them to other regions for secondary education had an option than to stay at home.

A sprawling artisanal enclave popularly referred to as "fitter line" gave way to many who desired other than formal education to learn a trade. Trading activities have replaced what hitherto was a huge impenetrable slum of drug addicts and thriving network of prostitution.

Pick pockets, mafias, junkies, festooned the streets, imposing an unofficial curfew in some areas. But like the sinner with a future, the streets are safe and surprisingly calm even in the wee hours of the day.

The town has and is witnessing a drastic change in infrastructure.  Modernized private school, clinics and private hospitals to augment what used to be the only health center. Old buildings are being replaced with high rise multi-functioning buildings inhabited by local and international institutions. GCB which used to be the only bank in the town now faces keen competition with several others. What fascinates many is the availability of food at any time of the day. From “Hausa koko” (porridge) to the most sophisticated of meals are found in what used to be a dreaded town. Night life is amazing. People sit out in pubs and open spaces to blow off some steam after a long day’s work largely because of the will power of the people and the presence of a strong policing force.

At the center of it is a hive of cocooning talents yet to be birthed into professional medical practitioners, musicians, actors, entrepreneurs, footballers, and comedians who lighten the mood of weary tenants though a few have been heard of locally and internationally. StoneBwoy who has been made the official ambassador for sanitation, Abraham Atta, Thomas Teye Partey and the list is endless  Like the great baobab tree with several branches, Ashaiman has several settlements: Lebanon, Jericho, Middle East, Zenu, Official Town, Night Market, Asensu Bar, Roman Down, “Tabooo”(wooden) line, Tulaku, Christian Village, New Town and many others. This should give you an idea of how big a place Ashaiman is.  A cosmopolitan area of some sort. Home to all tribes and creed of more than 350,000 making it the fourth largest cosmopolitan city in Ghana after Accra city, Kumasi and Sekondi- Takoradi

Fans at Ashaiman to The World Concert

Suffice to say, Ashaiman has evolved over the years from a hell hole to a charming place. Like the phoenix, it rose out of the ashes. It has nurtured thousands of people playing several important roles in the country though they want to be modest about it.

Living in Ashaiman sharpens your survival skills and disposition. You learn to tolerate and be tolerated. Respect is reciprocated but never undermine anyone.

Ashaiman could appeal to many as a destination to be avoided. An indigent piece of land without any hope. However, in spite of how others see or call it, THIS IS HOME.

EXPRESS REQUEST.

Hello God,

The last time I inquired, you were gorgeously and graciously seated on your mighty throne enjoying all the “fans”.  That isn’t bad a thing to do at all. After all, who can assume to take your place? Absolutely no one.  

Well, as usual I have come to disturb you again today. As you’re aware, a lot is going on here that beats my understanding. We, the best of your creation have turned our backs on you and you seem not to worry. We have plundered the fruits and desecrated the land that bore them. We have conveniently convinced ourselves that we are gods of the acreage and have sold them to strangers forgetting about our children and their children.

God, we have cut down trees, sold them less, bought them back in furniture from our slave masters expensively to decorate houses we have built with little or no occupants, when those who are in awful need of a single room occupancy are parading our streets famished with no hope for the future. We have killed all the wild animals which once majestically adorned our forest to the detriment of our little school going kids who only get to know of such in a white man’s books

Depleted Forest Cover 

The other day, someone took a lot of money to build homes affordable by the average Ghanaian

but couldn’t deliver yet came back to ask for more money.  Some other persons who stole a few gallons of fuel are being lead to the slaughters whiles the real perpetrators of crime are enjoying the full blast of the latest inverter air-con and the rest of us are sweating in the smothering heat from the sun because we have cut all the trees to boil kenkey.  is there a future for the generation unborn?

See eerrrrr, we promised to take very good care of our inheritance but are stealthily giving it out to some strange short people whose eye balls my lenses can’t see under the sun. God, they are abusing our mothers and sisters, killing our fathers and brothers for the glittering substance in the ground. Recently, we have given a huge portion of our “asaase” where my granny goes to fetch firewood and grandpa hunt for rabbits and mushrooms to some guys to mine bauxite.

Oh Papa, when will you lift your little mighty finger upon us?  When will you begin to push those who have deceived us into the gutters by their beautiful houses or make them lose their way to such meeting or in short make their huge cars small like “konko” cars when they are conceiving how to steal the little left of us. A typical case of the rich feasting on the poor which reminds me of a song sung in primary school “life in this world is a great struggle…”

We have lost the love you so much cherish leading to vilification and killing each other without provocation recourse to the laws. Forgetting that one day we shall stand judgement before your throne.

Dear God, in the name of your lovely son Jesus Christ, turn the table round. Make all genuinely hard working individuals rich and the unrepentant corrupt individuals impoverished. At least they will understand how it feels. You have taught me not to wish my brother evil but these brothers of mine “dieeeeeeeeeeerrrrr, daabi da”.     

There is to much wickedness here. Pastors who have sworn to do your bidding have metamorphosed to something else. Ripping of congregants of monies they don’t have. Bosses of companies and institutions taking advantage of the vulnerable.

I could go on and on till the sheets here finish but knowing how busy you are, allow me to put in a few request.  First forgive us for we have failed you in a number of ways I can’t mention because it’s embarrassing. Bless all the hustlers, the widows and orphans, the homeless and many other people who genuinely seek you and finally help and bless our leaders with COMMON SENSE.

Your son,

K. Oteng.

 

"EY3 NORMAL"- IT IS NORMAL

I love the fact that I’m a Ghanaian for a million reasons: The food, music, dance et al.  In recent times however, my love for this country is running low like a poor man’s bank account. Having read Lee Kwan Yew’s “From Third world to First” I shudder to think why Ghana is in its current state. The experiences and accounts of some close relatives and friends who have visited or live abroad tells me we have short-change ourselves as a country. I know very well that several discussions have been held but the question(s) still persist.

My confusion starts with the existence of rich and poor countries and why Ghanaians have adopted this simple but deadly phrase “ey3 normal  ”. In my mind, why is the world divided as such? “Rich and Poor”.  I seriously don’t belief any man or nation for that matter was created poor or rich as said by the first female Prime Minister of Mozambique Luisa Diogo  “It is no country’s destiny to be poor”. We were all given a blank cheque. Methinks we wrote a few million cedis and spent it lavishly on trivialities whiles others spent on what mattered most to them.

All the so- called rich nations did things and are still doing things which the so- called third world countries are not doing. THEY ARE THINKING. This is not to say the poor countries are not thinking. Fortunately they do but unlike their rich counterparts they only think about frivolities.

In most parts of Africa, “ey3 NORMAL” for a sworn leader in whom the people have entrusted their rights to misappropriate funds, indirectly pelt insults at them, walk away head high and have the audacity to organize campaigns to run for leadership positions. If this isn’t madness, what other word can best describe this?

Another aspect of what we see in our daily lives as a people is the impunity with which the leadership throw their weight around.  Making it look like they are not accountable to anyone. It hurts to say that the fingers of accusation cannot be pointed at them because “ey3 NORMAL”. We have allowed ourselves to be bullied into thinking that the one who steals a bag of rice deserves more prison time than the one who misappropriate colossal amounts of state resources.  we throw rubbish away anyhow, build in water ways, misuse and destroy state properties, disregard rules, the incessant injustice meted out to the poor, making it look like justice is a commodity and turn to look at ourselves sheepishly when the results of our actions are laid bare before us. Well, “ey3 NORMAL”.

Our problems as a country will linger on for decades to come if the silent majority does not act but largely because we have normalized stupidity. What is even my problem? “ey3 NORMAL”. Soon the rains will come. Lives will be lost, properties will float and the long talks will be heard and read. In the end, it shall be a case of much ado about nothing.

But guess what, on the other side of the world, NORMAL is doing the right thing. Normal is a leader bowing out for not executing his mandate as expected. Normal is not throwing rubbish in drains and certainly normal is the little things done right by citizens. These are

NORMAL.