GhanaBlogging.com » March 1, 2010

Critical Point: Forgive and forget? Never!

2010-03-01T18:11:21-05:00

Forgive and forget is one of those expressions that seem to automatically leap forth from our mouths when presented with certain situations. It appears to offer words of wisdom, of a gentle way of resolving a problem but I have felt increasingly at unease at its use particularly as it appears to be a knee-jerk [...]

Oluniyi David Ajao: Africa Magic Yoruba launches; a 24-hour Yoruba channel on DSTV

2010-03-01T17:57:46-05:00

Africa Magic Yoruba and Africa Magic Hausa launched today Monday 1st March 2010. However, this blog post would focus on the journey of how the Yoruba channel came to be.

Africa Magic

There is no doubt that the country Nigeria is a very important market for Multichoice. Being Africa’s largest population and home to Nollywood, it not only offers most of the movies on Africa Magic, but also offers a ready consumer market for the direct-to-home digital satellite TV service called DStv.

Africa Magic had grown from a channel that only broadcasts for a few hours daily in 2005 to the 24-hour channels available today, in four favours:

Africa Magic – mainly broadcasts Nollywood movies and some general entertainment programmes, mostly Nigerian.
Africa Magis Plus – attempts to cater for East Africa, by offering movies & general entertainment from East African countries as well as from Ghana.
Africa Magic Hausa – movies and general entertainment in Hausa language.
Africa Magic Yoruba – movies and general entertainment in Yoruba language.

The two factors that must have brought about Africa Magic Yoruba would be demand and competition.

The Demand

Screening Yoruba movies has been a popular move for Multichoice, especially in Nigeria. Yoruba movies are screened on Africa Magic on weekends with at least two Yoruba movies screened on Saturdays and Sundays.

Multichoice soon started screening Yoruba movies on another of its channels Magic World, daily. Perhaps due to more demand, the pay TV provider has now created an entire channel focused on Yoruba programming.

The Competition

Competition exists for Multichoice, in Nigeria. HiTV and DaarSat are the leading competition. Both are indigenous Nigerian services focused on the Nigerian populace. In a bid to better meet the needs of their audience, both HiTV and DaarSat offer Yoruba channels.

HiTV offers Amuludun TV. From hitv.com.ng:

Nigeria’s first satellite 24hours Yoruba Language general entertainment channel. Giving you a blend of the very best of Yoruba movies, music, talkshows and lots more!

DaarSat on the other hand, offers Faaji Television, a Yoruba lifestyle channel.

With the competition offering dedicated Yoruba programming channels respectively, it is only natural that Multichoice being the market leader is under pressure to do same.

In addition to the multiple of Yoruba programming, what makes the idea of a 24/7 Yoruba channel even more feasible is that Yoruba language is the native tongue of the approximately 60 million Yoruba people in West Africa. It is spoken, among other languages, in Nigeria, Benin, and Togo.

Africa Magic Hausa and Africa Magic Yoruba are available on channels 117 and 118 respectively.

Africa Magic Plus – Multichoice’s newest channel I have often wondered why Multichoice did not name...
CNBC Africa now on DSTV West Africa I was quite excited to see CNBC Africa beamed...
New TV Channel for Africa This is interesting. An AFP report: Africa is mulling...
GTV on DStv GTV (Ghana TV) would soon be among the list...
NN24 (NetworkNews24), A new 24-hour News Network NN24 is a new 24-hour news network that is...
Ecobank launches Naira-denominated credit card Ecobank Nigeria Limited has launched a Mastercard-backed credit card....
Maksi Clothing: A Fresh Fashion House launches in Accra It was a night of glitz and glamour. Last...
Multi TV Ghana, a new free digital satellite TV service [updated] Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, the host of Joy FM’s Super Morning...
Why I blog about Africa I recently got tagged by a fellow blogger at...
Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana top cybercrime in Africa The verdict is out: Nigeria is still among the...

Sarpong Obed-ready to chew: The NPP and 2016

2010-03-01T17:02:00-05:00

Seriously speaking, should the New Patriotic Party be thinking it will return to power come 2010? Pal, I am not about to talk of a party with its own internal infernos. We all have our problems. Over the weekend, the party elected new national executives to lead the party and later nominations will be opened for those interested in leading the party in 2012 to file their candidacy. I still cannot put the thought away. Why don't Ghanaians allow the ruling National Democratic Congress 8 years?

The NDC may not be Ghana's best shot--it is needless to mention the pitfalls we have seen in just a little over a year of their governance. I do not even have to mention the already broken promises.
I mean I do not agree with the NDC and their mode of governance. But I believe they should be given the chance, the goodwill, just like president Kufuor received in 2001.

The NPP should work hard within its rank and develop good plans for this country instead of fighting among themselves.

I think we should give the NDC the chance to prove their point. 4 years is just not enough. And I still have my doubts about the premature abortion of policies in Ghana. 4 years is such a short time to determine if the current educational policies is the best or not. Therein my argument lies. Mine has nothing to do with political power. In 2001, Ghanaians experience sharp general hardships. fast-forward to 2009, a similar situation has reared its ugly head. I'm sure it will happen again in 2012 if a change should happen.
I am just one man. No one knows what will happen in 2012, but for now we must pressure government to intitutionalised some of these policies and save Ghanaians the usual dosage of the suffering pills they never bought.

Holli's ramblings: Getting arrested, the Triple F cups and the Chameleons

2010-03-01T17:00:00-05:00

Memorable moments from Makola market...

These days I’m quite careful about what comes with me on our indulgent Saturday market visits. After all, it is a crowded market in the 'developing world' and theoretically I and my friends would be walking targets... I usually wear a pair of multipocket pants that can house little wads of small bills. I don’t wear any jewellery and I leave my watch behind. Because of what we’re likely to step in, I wear the most basic chale-wotes (flip flops) that can be easily washed off, and most of all, I leave my iPhone behind.

This is all precautionary, since despite the swarms of people I find myself amongst, I’ve never had a thing snatched or stolen. In 13 years of Saturday market adventures.

This week’s visit started out more exciting than most. I drove into my trusted parking lot at the edge of the chaos that is Makola, lost in the stories of my market buddies T and J as we chatted in the cocooned world of my air-conditioned 4x4. Targets on wheels in this case...

As I came around the corner, a uniformed female police officer was in my path and made some motion to me. I assumed she was ‘asking’ if I was turning into the parking lot and I nodded and headed on in. I parked and we gathered ourselves, ready to head out into the heat and congestion, when at my passenger door there was the same police officer and her male colleague, faces pursed and annoyed. I knew immediately NOT to open or even unlock our doors, and feared we had a long tedious argument on our hands.

I rolled the window down half way. They immediately started with the verbal assault.

Female officer (indignant): “Madam, why?! I was arresting you, and then you kept driving! You didn’t mind me!”

Me: “Oh! Madam I didn’t realize! I was just parking. What did I do wrong?”

Male officer pushing forward with furrowed brow: “You are arrested for passing through the traffic light.”

Me and friends: “WHAT?!”

MO: “It was red!”

Me and friends: “No it was not!”

I knew this like I knew my own name. The truth is that though I have my Canadian driver’s license and I keep it valid, I haven’t updated my Ghanaian one since 2000. *Bows head and blushes*… Maybe I am lazy, or more likely it’s that I like living on the edge. Some bungee jump, I drive with a non-valid license… Anyway, for this reason, I make sure I do NOTHING wrong on the roads, lest I find myself in a situation such as this one!

For this reason I knew the officers had simply spotted a few obruni ladies and figured ‘easy target’ for a Saturday shake down… But we weren’t having it.

Just then, MO shoves his sweaty aggressive hand past my friend, indicating at me,

MO: “Where’s your license and registration? Give it!”

We ignore this demand the first time around, hoping the argument T has sparked with the FO about how she is sick of Ghanaian police taking advantage of obrunis, would sway his attention. But he asked again.

Me – really hesitantly: “Please I don’t have it with me”

MO – “Ah! Why?” deeply furrowed brow now… (I’ve given him some ammo!!! Oh no!)

Then the din of T’s indignant protest, assuring them we did nothing wrong and that they were unfairly targeting us, became quite loud. And a miracle happened. Their brows slackened and they backed down. No bribe, no demand that we be taken to the station for processing…

MO: “Do well and be honest. You passed through the red light, but I’m just warning you.”

Me: “I did not run the red officer, and thank you.”

And they skulked away, without a pesewa of bribe money. We felt proud and relieved and giddy. It’s not that often you get arrested and then let off with a warning!

And then we were free to start our market adventure. Phew! Ghana police 0, market mongers 1!

As we headed out of the parking lot on foot, J glanced to her side, to the mobile phone seller’s wooden hut a couple meters from us. She cringed and grabbed my arm.

J: “Oh my god! That was…oh… bad.”

T and I: “What? What was it?”

J: “The man in there that was petting a cat… he just squeezed it’s head and shoved it in a bag. Next came the hammer.”

Me: “Oh. I’m sure that was the meat for today’s soup. Sorry-o. They do eat cats here.”
J: “I know, just didn’t want to witness the slaughter…”

Ok, onto the street. Deep breaths. After all, this is adventure day!

And all around us life swirled and screamed and splattered itself across the pavement. Carried along with the tangible heat and jostled limbs.

We browsed the 'selection' clothes that the girls line the streets, selling by hand, and hid them when the AMA goons came by to whip them or steal their goods in a bogus attempt to 'clean the streets' of hawkers... I found a near exact replica of my favourite expensive perfume for GHC18 (about $12), down to the Made in France label. I opened it and tried it out... Exactly the same as the real one! Market bargain!! (That one made my day, really). I won't however, mention the little tied black plastic bag, literally full of shit, that T stepped in, since there was a trusty 'pure watah' seller on hand and a full on the spot wash of the chale-wotes was done...

I was struck by all the things around us that needed documenting! That needed to be photographed. But alas, in my caution of ‘traveling light’, I left the trusty iPhone at home. So it wasn’t to be.

I’ll have to leave to your imagination the transvestite in full yellow leotard in Rawlings Square, dancing for the huge crowds, his painted face melting through the streaks of sweat…

The huge bowl of dried, once alive, chameleons for sale, alongside buttons and brightly coloured cloth and Maggi cubes… just in case you need to cast a spell after cooking and sewing.

The triple F cup naked mannequin, proudly jutting out of the little shop selling cheap Chinese ladies clothes. She stood in front of two other less endowed mannequins, with a rack you’d find difficult to fit any shirt over… How, why?

The how and the why of the market are never answered, which is what gives it the intrigue and the charm. It leaves us all covered in dust and sweat and with fresh coconut juice pouring down our faces, slurped and gulped straight out of the coconut, sliced open for the parched, by a machete wielding seller. It leaves us with the deep desire to come back again the next available Saturday.

Sarpong Obed-ready to chew: Stop Polluting African Women

2010-03-01T16:40:00-05:00

In Africa, when the woman is admired and her beauty is spoken of or written about, it is because she is beautiful really. If Europeans and their descendants think it is objectification when their men talk about it, so be it for them. Here in Africa we love our women and we have ways of showing this affection. One of these mediums is to talk about their body, their womanhood, their intelligence et cetera. It is Africa and we have our own ways of doing things. For far too long, so many things have been pushed down on us to swallow without mastication.

As for those African women who are pushing down our throat this damaging idea that is already choking us; as for those our sisters who are deceiving other African women into seeing things the Euro-American way, they must stop before it is too late. They must pause and think through our history—if they have an idea about what it is—whether telling African women they are beautiful, that they have nicely drawn buttocks and shape, turns them into objects. Why must it be so? As for those Europeans who propagate their ideas in Africa, I have no words for them. African women should see that African men them wholly, that they do not see women as object so whoever tries to make them think that only seeks the disintegration of African men and women.

Those Europeans and Americans who try to tell us what we should do in Africa or believe in do not have an idea of what this place is or which people live here. To them Africa is this land mass filled with nation-states, the very nation-state their forefathers created at the Berlin Conference in 1884-1885.

Now I feel like singing!!!

From the street corner to that shop on the high street in Ouagadougou, Dakar or Zimbabwe the “white Barbie doll” must be banished and the sale of it halted forever. The children in our villages and cities must be stopped from singing about snow and the Christmas tree. They hold nothing for us as Africans. And if those reverend fathers love this continent very much like I do, they will understand the psychological trauma they put these children through.

From the primary schools in Nairobi to the secondary schools in Ghana, our young girls must be allowed to grow their hair. Mothers and fathers who pressure their children into weaving their hair with some horse tail from China or some jell cream from London should cease from committing this crime. They only kill our young girls, their confidence in themselves as Africans and anything African. And if those parents love their daughters and their future like I do, they will see wisdom and stop perpetuating the colonial madness meant to imprison African women psychologically, making them feel inferior of themselves that they need the hair of a European to augment their essence as African women.

From Kejetia in Kumasi to Makola in Accra, let the women feel proud of their body, big or small. May they or their daughters never feel the pressure from the films they see on TV to reduce their size to the size of the sugarcane stick. Let the men continue to admire and to glorify the women for what and who they are, both physically and intellectually. If the women are clever like I think they are, they will know that their body is spoken of by African men not because they seek to objectify the women, but because they love and adore them the way they are.

Sarpong Obed-ready to chew: Africa Still on my Mind

2010-03-01T16:35:00-05:00

This month should be big. I plan to dedicate it all to Africa, the liberation that was halted and aborted after independence, and the fight that we must fight still. Please read on...

“The continent is too large to describe. It is a veritable ocean, a separate planet, a varied, immensely rich cosmos. Only with the greatest simplification, for the sake of convenience, can we say “Africa.” In reality, except as a geographical appellation, Africa does not exist.” Ryszard Kapuscinski in "The Shadow of the Sun"

So let’s get this done and over done with. We are not alone and neither have we been left alone by our uninvited Invaders and Destroyers. Whatever we have been up to, we have always had detractors, and guests who poke their noses into our porridge. With their physical gone, a dirty psychological game has been designed to entrap us, to link us continually with them. We as Africans are not so innocent of this; we are not just bystanders watching our house go up in flames. Our leaders (the caretakers of this grand system put in place by the colonisers) have connived with them.

The creativity of a people, an essential art we used to have, has been lost albeit not totally. However, the situation that the present African finds herself or himself in is a very conflicting one. Faced with the pressures of a system that is largely European, inhumane and non-African (most cannot even tell what is and what is not African), the young African can only be consumed by the system.

For those of you who are probably thinking now that this is a pan-African narrative you have heard over and over, check again. There is no doubt that the West seeks Africa’s failure. I do not have to mention it. Their grandparents did it with force, today their sons and daughters pull the mental strings put up their forefathers. And you ask “what about all those loans and grants?” Check again, they never benefitted the people of this continent; but, it rather served the destructive purposes of the same West. We have a bunch of Western-educated elite who have white European and American advisors on their throat spending the same loans and grants from these very European and American governments.

They never really help! And please do not worry yourself with too much thinking about why we do not stop this. I remember former president Kufuor saying Africa does not need the loans and grants; that if Europe and America want to extend a hand in good faith, they should share idea, share technology for development. The thing is that there is no reason why they should when Europe’s sustenance (the advantages of a good life and the feeding of their industries) depends on Africa’s failure (her inability to advance, remain impoverished and turn to Europe and America for help, chaos).

The solution lies here and we must do something with our intellectuals, our academics. A grand body of African researchers could be assembled for the common interest of this continent, our motherland. We must begin to do away with calling ourselves Angolans, Zimbabweans, Togolese, Egyptians, Nigerians or Ghanaians. We must begin to teach African history prior to the advent of Europeans and the beginning of our destruction. We must teach our children to think beyond their artificial borders.

In case you did not know, our governments have been compromised. We vote them, but they do not carry our wishes and purposes. The governance systems we run are not African, they are not democratic and that is why if anything substantial could be done in Africa for Africa, we must bypass the bed sharers of the Destroyers.

Osabutey ANNY: Breaking Neuz!

2010-03-01T13:39:00-05:00

I’m going to talk about two issues: First will be the fallouts from the congress of the opposition New Patriotic Party and the sour ‘salads’ if I have to use that phrase. The second will be a statement issued by the Ga chief or King Joe Blankson. I’ll however like to deal with the first issue first. I was one of the few who had predicted the flogging of Charles Wereko-Brobbey, one of the contestants for the chairmanship position.

I was hopeful he was not going to get even one hundred votes, despite repeated noises that he had been to everywhere in the country and that delegates had assured him of the necessary votes. He ought to have consulted Arthur Kennedy about what delegates can do even when they had taken your money from you.

So for him to come and tell Ghanaians he had gone through all the regions and it was his right to become chairman smacks of sour ‘salades. On Monday morning when Joy Fm called him to share some few thoughts about why he lost, he said those who had promised to vote for him were induced with cash.

Doesn’t that make for a good laugh? Inducement and how is doing that? I love the word especially when it comes from a character like the man they called Tarzan, who supervised one of the most useless bodies, the Ghana@50, in the history of this country. It was under his watch that this country wasted loads of money to party, when people didn’t have quality drinking water (and they still don’t have) and the quality of education excessively low.

How does a party like the NPP entrust its chairmanship in the hands of a man who said he took up appointment but didn’t have a clue as to what was expected of him. Brobbey or Tarzan is a funny character, to say the least.

This guy is full of him self. He believes he speaks better English or whatever done everyone else and so should be made party chairman. What rubbish! It will be important for him to shut his mouth and moustache and think about how he can strategize to win the presidential slot of the party (that I know he’ll lose as well) instead of hipping accusations at the delegates.

My second issue is with this Ga Chief or King called Joe Blankson. The man is angry President Mills, since assuming power, had failed to invite him to participate in state functions so he could have the opportunity to eat and drink. Is that not a sick joke? Somebody of his calibre should be pushing for developments for his people rather than this idea of wanting to dine with the president and foreign guests.

He has been around for a little over three years and I’m yet to hear him make a single policy statement geared towards improving the lives of his people. There are good number of Ga youths in this country who have no jobs or even decent education and one would be expecting that such issues engage the mind of the Chief. But naaah!

He rather prefers self and personal comfort; a dinner with the president so he can enjoy in alcohol, get drunk and come home to sleep while his people suffer. Even so stupid of his comments was the accusation that he is suffering from the victimisation’ because the government perceives him to hve been forced on his 'own people' by the former NPP government.

This is really interesting especially coming from Joe Blankson himself. He should tell Ghanaians what happened during his so-called installation as the Chief. I hope he has not forgotten that heavy police presence ensured he became a chief.

It’s sickening to hear him rant and rave like a child running after a toffee in shopping mall. It will be important for him to tell Ghanaians or the people of Ga his policy plan to help bring some comfort to them.

This thing of running to the press because he has been ignored from a tall list of those who go to dine and wine with the president is not only petty but amount to foolishness.

We need progressive chiefs not the likes of the Joe Blanksons whose stomachs mean a lot to them!

donaldiaba: Mr. Contractor.

2010-03-01T10:39:00-05:00

Do i have to say this again for my people to know we have serious problems in our country to attend to? Why can't we just follow simple principles and abide by the riles of the games we engage ourselves in?
How could the contractor delay his job for two good years whiles the road is still scrapped, dusty and bumpy? He is blaming the change of government for the delay. Who gave him the authority to?
Did he even make any attempts to contact the new officers at all?!? or he feels his political party is out of government so he has no chances, therefore he must now relax and wait to be called to finish a job he wanted so bad last two years? Gosh, all our cars are broken down because we thread the same bumpy roads to and fro.
I bet the bumps just destroyed the shock absorbers and suspensions but the dust ravaged the entire once robust engine.
Are you asking who i am talking about? I am talking to you Mr. Contractor and you who always leaves things halfway doing them.
I cannot count the number of uncompleted buildings in the city of Accra and other parts of the country Ghana that i have visited. The uncompleted structures simply outnumber the completed ones. Why do you start when you know very well you cannot complete it! Are you that selfish?!? If you're not selfish, then bring on board some investors who will help you complete them and enjoy a piece of the cake!!!.
If you cannot do this, then break down the structure and let the space out to a developer.City Authorities should probably put up some stringent rules to restrict people from starting developments they cannot complete and if you default, the city confiscates the property. This way, i bet these broke and greedy developers shall begin to reason and bring investors into their projects.
If i were the city mayor, i these are a couple of things i would want to do. .... ( to be continued)

ANTI-RHYTHM: Everyone’s Saving Grace

2010-03-01T09:10:00-05:00

Nobody’s utterly useless. We all possess at least one saving grace – one tall talent – that makes the whole world stop, and take nonplussed notice. And we all have the urgent urge to flaunt it foolishly. So, what’s yours?

Rain in Africa: Swedish Coach to Super Eagles

2010-03-01T04:03:00-05:00

What is with me? I am really no sports fan and now a second post on sports already this week?

Anyways, Swedish coach Lars Lagerbäck has signed with the Nigerian national team the Super Eagles (or Super Chickens as they were called after being defeated by Ghanaian national team Black Stars in the African cup recently). Hopefully, Lagerbäck will make the team come together to perform better in the World Cup in South Africa in June.

This will be interesting to follow.

Pic borrowed here.