I was weaned on Michael Jackson, and it seems surreal that today we don’t hear of him quite like before. Michael! What a guy! All the memories came flooding back as I hang with Sydney and Isabella at ‘House 2’ a joint on Takoradi’s Beach Road, where they showed on large screen, his 30th Anniversary Celebration concert featuring all those wonderful acts! What a pleasure it was to watch again after so many years. The 80’s were the best years ever!
You feel wheezy. You want it to come. You inhale rapidly, and want a good fix, a tight sneeze; to relieve you but that it evades you. It’s so uncomfortable, that feeling, and that was just my predicament standing with my sister at her house behind ‘Parks and Gardens’ at Cantonments this morning. From her upstairs verandah, where we often sit for tea, you can see their yard. Every morning at eight, the members of staff gather for devotion, a feature in most workplaces in Ghana today who’s act of worshiping together, I imagine should help unite us more as a people.
This morning, however, in my bid to deliver a sneeze to relax me, I overhear singing from two different directions from the yard. And they were two different songs too. I thought the discomfort was affecting my hearing. When I cocked my ear to listen more carefully, my sister, noticing my baffled expression, confirmed that indeed, for a while now, there were two factions, the original P&G staff, and it would seem, another set wearing Zoomlion uniforms, doing the same thing at the same time, on the same compound, to the same God!
It looked downright silly to observe them from the verandah! Utterly unbelievable, and obvious there was rancor between them, with each group in a circle on either side. When one starts a song of praise, the other would begin another and shouts louder! Gosh! Do they really believe God listens to us when we blatantly try to outdo each other this way? In any case, why are the Zoomlion folk within the yard in the first place, I thought. That sent me thinking. But they looked a joke and a half, spiting each other even during an act as sacred as worship. Who are we fooling?
Driving down the Tetteh Quarshie interchange, I notice how changed the place looks these days. I say, that area is easily the nicest bit of Ghana. What with the lights, and road network and nicely manicured lawns which the Zoomlion folk seem to be doing so well around town instead of folk from P&G. Thinking about it, my mind begins to wonder why that is, again! Thing is, it the same ‘authority’ that pays those who clean the streets, so how is it Zoomlion is so successful and P&G, not? Were P&G also so well resourced, could they not match up? Hm...
Well, it’s just the traffic there that spoils everything at Tetteh Quarshie. It can linger for too long! And it’s all because of the Accra Mall! That, something as important and welcome as the mall should also cause such grief!
Have you been there lately? The Mall, I mean. I ventured there after several weeks last Saturday and I was completely dazed to see the flood of people there. What a marketplace! I immediately felt sorry for Osu, which used to be the hub of town. It seems the mall has drawn quite a following, and most of them, young people, those who have just come of age and are allowed for the first time to go out on their own or with friends, rather than with guardians or their parents. The kids were everywhere!! Just hanging out! Boys in all manner of sagging trousers, girls in all kinds of strap dresses! I was major amused to observe this new trend. And the place was noisy! I wonder if business is going well for those with shops there. Well, the food court was indeed doing some brisk serving so I guess things even out, as they probably wouldn’t overload the place like this during the week.
So GBC chalked 73grand old years! A reception to celebrate the milestone and honour some personalities who have made immense contributions to the network over the years, at the poolside of the very ‘Afropolitan’ African Regent Hotel with song and dance by the legendary A.B. Crentsil whose stage antics still come rascally even at his ripe old age! He easily pulled many onto the dance floor including MCs ‘the Grandmaster’ Godwin and Akushika, and Corporate Affairs head Doris Kuwornu! There was also gospel artiste Philippa Baafi who rocked the house with some of her familiar tracks, after management had awarded the pioneering five whose contributions have helped earned the station some of the best accolades in broadcasting in Ghana.
‘Everyday English’ presenter of over 30 years, Prof Addai Boadi; the man who has made TV Akan drama a must-watch for many, the inimitable and ‘all-made-up’ Nana Bosompra; Afia Ansaa Ampene of ‘Obaa Nkomo’ which has been running on GTV for 10 years this year, Mr Dan Owusu-Afari, the ‘bow-tie’ man of ‘What Do You Know’ fame and the man whose name is synonymous with sport discourse in Ghana, Kwabena Yeboah were all applauded at the short ceremony. Their new D-G Ampem Darko, who seems to be turning administrative aspects of the company around, promised a much stronger GBC who’ll be delivering some exciting TV and radio within the next two years! That will be interesting to note.
I thoroughly enjoyed the ‘Nite of 1006 Laughs’ last Saturday, and I’m sitting here at Takoradi’s hip ‘Ocean Bar’ – with their Roulette and pool tables - giving the details to my bud Edem, and Franklyn, who couldn’t make it. It seems so unfair that most exciting entertainment takes place only in the capital. Soon, the West will rise again, and we in the capital will rush there for a good time!
No comments:
Post a Comment