CHILDREN CHARGED ONE CEDI FOR EXPIRED PRODUCTS

By: Benita Odoi

It was a huge crowd, shouts and claps were heard, people were excited, others were fascinated; what appeared to be an interesting game in Madina was rather an act of extortion of money from school children for expired products.
Items such as canned milo, packed canned coke, chocolate and corned beef were on display on a cloth that had been laid on the ground. Doing the selling was a middle-aged man, Nii Amo, who was brazenly calling the attention of unsuspecting customers without regard for the health implication associated with consuming expired products .The majority of these unsuspecting customers were children below 12 years of age.
The children threw coiled ropes and won the product the ropes fell on. I watched with amazement the excitement with which the children were patronizing the game and winning the products.
Two of the children when asked whether they were aware  the products had expired, said they were not concerned about the condition of the products. The expiry date of the product was of little interest to them as long as they could get the products at cheap prices.
Some of the school children revealed that they were Nii Amo’s regular customers and were only attracted by his calls and the prices of the items.
Nii Amo  explained he was aware the products are expired. However, that is his only means of survival.
“I know these products have expired,” he said. “But my sister, how will I eat, this is my only means of livelihood. And no one has complained to me about any problems after consuming the milo. I don’t think there is any course for worry”.

Internet taking over hard copy books

By: Caroline Anipah

The internet has been praised for improving lives for its advent has made communication and work easy. Users of the internet cannot do without it as with a single click, ‘the world’ appears on their screens.

However, the internet like any other innovation is not without its downsides.

Booksellers at the Madina market are feeling ‘the heat’ as according to them, the advent of the internet, which makes it possible to access e-readers, is collapsing their business.

“Business is not good at all. I come and sit here all day without selling anything. The government must do something about it. They must do something about this internet,” said Yaw Ametefe, one of the booksellers.

“This internet is really worrying us. Some of my customers say they can get the books on the internet to read. So they don’t buy from me anymore. I have even reduced the prices of my books but still no one comes to buy. These days, things are not good at all,” said Daniel Osei.

Mr Acheampong, who deals in foreign romance novels, motivational books and bibles, also complained that hard copies of books are no longer being patronized.

He however noted that some members of the public who are not internet savvy still prefer the hard copies.

Some patrons and readers of novels, disclosed that accessing books online is not only easy but also very cheap.

“I have internet access on campus so I don’t see why I should come all the way here to buy a book. Sometimes too when you go to these books sellers they are not able to get you the books you want. But the moment you type in your title into the internet… kpaaaa…it appears. Besides, it is not expensive at all,” said Nasum Ahmed.

Books, particularly romance novels, which the booksellers mostly deal in, sell for GH 10 and GH 8, if new and between Gh 3 and GH 5 if they are already used.

Speed bumps needed at Madina Zongo Junction

By: Caroline Anipah

Screams erupted and business virtually came to a halt as several people rushed to the scene to catch a glimpse. Others who were too shocked to move remained still and watched from afar. Cries of “Jesus, Jesus” could be heard all around.

A girl of about nine years of age had been knocked down by a vehicle at the Madina Zongo Junction.

The victim, who was in school uniform, was trying to cross the road alone from the GCB side of the Zongo Junction towards the Filling Station when the incident occurred.

The driver, visibly shaken, rushed out of his Toyota Pickup and with the help of a ‘trotro mate’, one of the first to arrive on the scene, conveyed the girl to a nearby health centre.

Onlookers expressed concern about the increasing rate at which accidents occur in the area as according to them, Wednesday 24^th February, 2016 evening accident is one among many others.

“Some drivers always speed here in Madina even though the speed limit for driving in town is 60 Km/h. Something needs to be done about this thing,” said a trotro driver angrily.

Speed bump

“I just don’t understand drivers. The same thing happens here all the time. I think the authorities need to provide a speed bump here to stop all these accidents,” said a trader who was also at the scene.

Some witnesses of the accident also called on parents to be more responsible saying that it was not proper for children to be left to their fate especially where they have to cross roads in order to get to their destinations.

“I understand we need to make a living but not at the expense of our children,” said Araba, “I think parents must put their children first.”

Reckless driving and carelessness of pedestrians are, according to statistics, some of the major causes of accidents in the country.

 

MADINA HAS A ‘ZONGO MALL’

By:  Dorothy Oforiwaa Ocran

Zongo mall? I know what you may be thinking right now but hold on – far from being stereotypical or anything derogatory, Madina Zongo mall is significant to residents of Madina. Well it is called Zongo mall but contrary to the massive architecture of West hills, Accra, Achimota, Legon and Junction malls and what they sell, Zongo mall is nothing close. Yet, it is a household name in the Zongo Community of Madina.

A first glance at the signage with the bold inscription, ‘Zongo mall’ triggered several spontaneous reactions from me – I shook my head, giggled uncontrollably, soliloquized the several questions that ran through my mind, laughed again, and then I got really curious. The kind of shop that bore the signage ‘Zongo mall’ was unbelievably ironic.  For a moment I wondered what or who might have influenced the shop owner to give the ‘mall’ label to a mere shop as that.

Fuard Ali’s Zongo mall sits at the centre of Madina Zongo, amidst houses and shops. He sells sportswear, televisions and home theatres. Aside from these, he uses the facility as a commercial football viewing centre, where he charges viewers GHȻ2.00 per game. The shop is able to accommodate a maximum number of 30 people for every game.

Fuard said he branded his shop that way because it is situated within the Zongo community. “I wanted to give Madina a mall because they did not have one,” he explained. For him, the idea to provide Madina with a mall turned out to be a business strategy. He said the name has popularized the shop so much so that people who are usually fascinated by the brand name troop in often to catch a laugh, and they almost always end up buying something from the shop.

People rely hugely on Fuard’s mall when giving directions to others in the vicinity. Zongo mall is so eye-catching that no one seems to remember what name the neighbourhood was called before the commencement of the mall three years ago; not even Fuard.

 

THE ABSENCE OF RENT CONTROL IN MADINA- THE LANDLORD’S MORALE BOOSTER

By Elijah Adansi-Bonah

The law of demand has made landlords at Madina so powerful that one has to either obey their rules or sleep outside.

I understood this situation when I realized that the absence of the Rent Control Department (RCD) is one of the reasons landlords make tenants uncomfortable.

The law of demand simply means that when the price of a commodity is low, the demand is high and when the price of a commodity is high the demand is less.

This high demand for rooms may be attributed to Madina’s closeness to the University of Ghana (UG) and University of Professional Studies (UPSA).

Landlords at Madina charge rent between GH¢ 50.00 and 80.00 for single rooms and GH¢ 100.00 to 150.00 for a chamber and hall monthly.

Landlords charge two to three years’ rent advance instead of six months’ rent advance as mentioned in RCD’s laws.

A resident of Madina Zongo, Hadr Subtwu, said most landlords do not go by RCD laws in the municipality.

“My friend’s landlord ejected him because he did not accept an increase of rent charge within their agreement period which had not expired,” said Subtwu.

A 60-year old landlord, Madam Ayishetu Mumuni, said she charges GH¢ 50.00 monthly for a single room and GH¢ 100.00 for a chamber and hall.

A 28-year old Ivorian lady, Syntyche Ore, said she lives in a wooden kiosk with her four siblings; a brother and three sisters. She said harsh rent situation compelled them to rent a kiosk which is cheaper.

“In La Cote d’Ivoire, rent charges are paid monthly,” said Ore.

A resident preparing food in front of her rented kiosk

The La Nkwatanang Madina Municipal Assembly (LANMMA) Environmental Health Officer, Joseph Quarcoe, said, as a new assembly created in June 2012, they have no office for RCD. Thus, landlords and tenants go to the Accra office of RCD to have their issues addressed.

The station officer at the Madina Police Station, Chief Inspector Boadu, said the absence of RCD puts pressure on his office. He said arbitrary rent charging is a nationwide problem, not limited to Madina. Thus, RCD must implement its laws to the utmost.

“We have no authority to handle such matters except the criminal aspect of it,” said Chief Inspector Boadu.

COMBATING THE ‘SAKAWA’ MENACE, ANY HOPE IN SIGHT?

 

By: Yahaya Masahudu

Madina is one of the not-so-privileged communities in Accra. Unemployment rate is high among the youth who often engage in menial jobs to make ends meet.

Hidr Sabtwu is a cafe attendant at Madina Zongo. He graduated from the University of Ghana in 2012 but has since not landed a job. He depends on the proceeds from his cafe business for survival.

The assemblyman for Madina-East electoral area, Abdul Rahman Raheem, said Hidr was just one of the many young men in the area who were without any gainful employment.

“Some of them are even school dropouts who have not learnt any trade and this makes it extremely difficult for them to get jobs,” Raheem said.

Internet cafes keep springing up in the area. They are patronized by the youth in the area for different purposes, but mostly for internet fraud, popularly known as “sakawa”. Hidr tells me his experience, as a cafe attendant, with the “sakawa boys”.

“Day in day out, they develop new and complex ways of luring their victims. They usually change the IP address of the computers to a different location to avoid been traced.” Said Hidr

Hidr said, children as young as 7 years who should have been in school rather follow their “seniors”, mostly Junior and Senior High School students, to learn the “business”. Hidr blames lack of parental control for the increasing trend in cyber fraud in Madina.

The Madina District Police Commander, Supt. Firmin Azitariga, confirmed the widespread nature of internet fraud in the community, but said the police were handicapped as they lacked even basic IT skills to enable them fight the canker.

“These boys are very smart and sophisticated in their use of the internet and that makes it very difficult for the police to clamp down on them. Our lack of ICT skills makes it almost impossible to arrest them,” supt. Aziritariga said.

DETERMINATION IN A COBBLERS’ HEART

 

I watched him with his head bent over the sandal as his hands moved deftly to and fro with me imagining just how repairable the sandal is. I carefully watched his serious face break into a smile anytime passers-by call out a greeting to him. The heat on a typical Ghanaian afternoon was evident with the sun up high in the skies and the temperature just around 27 degrees Celsius. Mr. Acheampong, a cobbler at the Madina market, in his late 40’s did not seem to be bothered the least about the unbearable heat while I was cooked up.

I curiously followed the direction of his eyes when he lifted them with the tinniest bit of a smile pasted on his face, turn into a look of disapproval. His 9 year old daughter, Yaa, has returned from school at exactly 12:45pm looking just like most kids after school; untidy. “She, my last born is the dirtiest among my kids”, he complained. Yaa greeted everyone and sat beside me. “I want to be a Banker”, Yaa said to me when I asked of her future aspirations before running off to play.

I glimpsed at Mr Acheampong, just in time to catch him smile and make great effort to conceal it. He said he had dreams, bigger dreams than sitting under the scorching sun. With a meager income, he wants to give his children a gift; the gift of education. Seeing them in white color jobs living a fulfilled life is his dream. “I am surviving in these hard times and hope my children study even though they are not in the best schools”, He said.

“I’m not the only one who wishes this, ask the market people around me. We want the best for our children”, He said.

I left wondering how true this  is; a white collar job will be prestigious for a cobbler’s child.

By Janice Osei-Essah

 

Want to travel to Libya or US? Madina has you covered

“UN, UN, UN, Libya, Libya, last one, last one!” Taxi drivers at the Madina Zongo Junction taxi rank called out to passengers to come and board their vehicles. The taxi rank which was packed to its capacity with taxi cabs waiting for their turn had some drivers sitting under a shed chatting, while others sat in their taxis either listening to the radio or dozing.

Taxi cabs which had their turn had boards on top of them with inscriptions indicating the destination. Some of the inscriptions read; ‘Washington’, ‘Chicago’, ‘UN’ and ‘Lybia.’

Curious to find out the history behind these interesting names given to some vicinities within Madina, I walked straight to the shed where some drivers had gathered to probe and satisfy my curiosity. Amused by my interest, the drivers willingly agreed to give me a rundown.

The station master, Sulemana Adam offered to give me the juicy details. He disclosed that most of the names given to vicinities in Madina were given based on where the first settler had travelled to.

For Chicago, he indicated that an elderly woman once visited her son in Chicago in the United States and when she returned, she christened her home ‘Chicago’ and this later became a landmark for commercial transport drivers. Subsequently, the whole area was given the name ‘Chicago.’

The area called ‘Washington’ however was named after a wealthy building contractor called Washington who constructed several houses for the personnel of the Ghana Police Service working with the Madina area.

“As for ‘UN’, we gave the name to that place because someone built his house and inscribed ‘UN’ on his wall and as a result, the people in the area started calling that vicinity UN,” said Mr. Adam.

Asked whether the owner of that house had ever worked or still works at the United Nations, an amused Mr. Adam laughed and replied, “Oh no, he hasn’t worked there before. I am sure he just liked the name UN.”

The vicinity which had the most interesting story was ‘Lybia’ and a lot of the drivers were eager to pitch in with what they knew about the history of the place. By now, the shed was filled with more drivers who had gotten down from their vehicles to join the conversation.

One diver who only gave his name as Iddris narrated that ‘Libya’ was a vicinity occupied mostly by Ghanaian Muslims who had gone to Libya to hustle.

“It is not a rich community,” Iddris said. “They are Lybian hustlers and they decided to settle in the same area after they returned home.”

“It is one of the oldest communities in Madina Zongo. It was developed in 1982 and they are all hustlers,” the station master chipped in.

 

By: Efua Idan Osam