Proud to be Ghanaian

In Loving Memory of Laud Affum Asamoah (1984 - 2011)

This is the worst news I have heard all year. I was mentioned in a tweet by Nana Wireko this afternoon asking if it was indeed true that Laud Affum Asamoah had passed away. I couldn’t believe it. Was it a sick joke? I immediately reached for my phone and called Laud. I felt a sigh of relief when the I heard it ringing on the other side just to be told moments after that the number cannot be reached at the moment. After 3 tries, I checked his Facebook and behold RIP posts on his wall. I checked his brother’s wall and he hasn’t posted anything in a while. Reading through the posts, I made a couple of calls to my brother and a couple of people we went to school with. They all didn’t seem to have an idea. I finally checked his girlfriend’s wall and she had an RIP message too.

Laud Affum Asamoah, you will sorely be missed. You are one of the best people I have gotten to know.

Laud became my best friend from Class 6 through Junior High. He was part of the bunch of kids who joined Holy Spirit School in 1996. Laud had come from Ridge Experimental and he was known to everyone as the kid from Chiraa. He was commuting to school from Chiraa daily. Back then, we pronounced his name |loud| instead of |lôd|. Together with Shadrack Osei Antwi, Dickson Akomea and Anthony Owusu Acheampong, we formed a strong bond. We would walk home together; we would share ‘ice kenkey’ together and we would talk politics and sports. In junior high, we would share opposing views on politics in Ghana. I can’t forget how we used to talk about 2pac and Notorious BIG and how he used to rock K-Swiss. It was his signature shoe then.

He was the first person I knew with rheumatism. Though it wasn’t funny, I used to laugh and tease him about it. Laud would also tease me for crying when I had bad grades in maths in class 6. Laud offered me a lot of advice in junior high. There was a time when I did some bad stuff worthy of isolation by my friends as Dickson suggested but Laud and Shadrack urged that we move past it and stay friends. He was indeed a true friend. His friendship shaped me. It thought me some real values.

We drifted apart after junior high. Laud went to Prempeh College and I went to St. James and he also had to move to Goaso where his father had been transferred to.

Though life kept keeping us apart, we reunited after senior high. He went to the Regional Maritime University and I went to the University of Ghana. I remember Laud paid me a visit in Legon one Saturday and we had a pleasant conversation.

After uni, we would meet every time we were in Sunyani. Laud was a true friend. He would get in taxi and visit every weekday. We would share music, movies, tv series, talk, joke, cook or go find food and all. Politics and national development was something we talked about a lot. I remember the pre and post 2008 elections. We were together when Dr. Afari Gyan announce the run-off results and the Tain vote; memorable times.

When Laud graduated from RMU, he was posted to the Upper West Region to teach in a Junior High. We sure laughed about it. For someone who had studied Ports and Harbour Administration, posting him to a school in the North made little sense to us. Laud wasn’t keen of changing his posting. He had taught in Goaso after Prempeh and he was prepared to be a positive impact on the kids. We would talk over the phone about the conditions there and how difficult it was. Haven taught at St. James and Alfred teaching at Methodist High, we would meet when he was in Sunyani and share our experience. He had some pretty hilarious stories to tell.

How can I forget how I came to call him Sir Laud. Laud came over one day. He had a new Sony Laptop. We booted it and the login screen popped up with the name ‘Sir Laud’. As usual I laughed about it. We all started calling him Sir Laud. Laud had more nicknames than me; another addition to Asamoah Kɔkɔte and the other names.

Life kept us apart and being the best of friends. I got a job in Accra and he landed a job in Tema. We barely spoke because of our busy schedules. The last time we spoke was when I need some prices of commodities. Before that we had a lengthy chat when Anas Aremeyaw Anas released his video on corruption at the Tema Harbour. We shared ideas about making Ghana better. Oh Laud!

Raised Methodist, I have had Lewis Hartsough’s ‘I hear Thy welcome voice’, Methodist hymn 351 playing since I heard the news. I know you are in the Lord’s bosom now. My condolences to his family and girlfriend.

Laud Kwabena Affum Asamoah, I will sorely miss you. Till we meet again.

Christmas in Sunyani

I just got back from spending christmas in Sunyani. It was great! I hadn’t been in Sunyani since April 2010. Nothing has really changed there… well, except the a Zenith Bank branch and Sahel-Sahara Bank Branch which are opening soon.

I got to spend time with family and friends. The best part is probably seeing Ethan, my nephew. That kid is just adorable. I played pool whilst I was home. Lost 4 games to my kid bro and won 2 against Alfred & Samuel. I could have won more games. I just hadn’t played pool in 9 months.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures from the trip but it was fun. What was weird was everything felt like I hadn’t stopped doing it.

I will do it again next year! Sunyani, I love you!

Vodafone Ghana; One Year On, The Same Old Crappy Service

Happy Anniversary Vodafone Ghana. It’s been a year since you launched and at least if Ghanaians can’t feel your ‘service quality’ like in other countries where you operate, we can see your many red cars and flashy billboards as evidence of your presence in Ghana. I heard on Joy 99.7FM that you made a loss last year because you invested heavily. If that’s true then my basic economics tells me you’re going to reap the benefits soon.

source: nanakofiacquah.blogspot.com

Oh yeah, you’ve started your own trademarked internet cafés. I love them and that’s the only thing I like about Vodafone Ghana now. I do all my legal and ‘illegal’ download there :) but I don’t think they’re 40mbs cafés unless you can prove beyond resonable doubt. I think it’s between the range of 8mbs to 16mbs. And whilst you are at it take a look at your café on the High Street, Accra. They wifi was down all of last week. I doubt it has been fixed.

It’s sad that after a year, you’re still living in the days of Ghana Telecom. Still the same old crappy service and your staff, I don’t know where you get some of them from. I work in the export development sector but I know the ins and outs than a lot of those you put at your info desks. Do you circulate press releases to them? Not of all of them are top of affairs.

Anyway, let me tell you about my experience at your headquarters today. Yeah, I mean the circle offices. That’s your headquarters, right?

So, I have been thinking about dumping Zipnet for Vodafone Broadband. Zipnet’s service is very crappy now. They came from behind and beat you to it. You know we don’t really have alternative in Ghana so I called 102 yesterday to enquire about the service and if I could get it fixed by May 1st. ‘Oh yes!’, the guy who identified himself as William said. ‘We’ve changed and you could have it fised in a week’ he added. I ust laughed. I bet he felt stupid. If you didn’t read my previous post on getting Vodafone Broadband in Sunyani, you should know it took me a month and two days to get it fixed. He asked for my location. New Achimota, I said and he asked me to drop the completed form at any Vodafone Shop or if I could drop it at the Circle office. The Circle office is on my way to work and it’s the headquarters so it will be processed quickly, I thought.

As usual, I downloaded the Vodafone Broadband Application form, and filled it out. I got to the Vodafone office this morning and asked the lady (She didn’t have her name tag on. I didn’t see anyone with the tage on) who attended to me if I could have the service installed by May 1st. ‘You can’t give us deadlines’ she said. ‘I am making an enquiry not giving you a deadline!, I hit back. She took my forms I had downloaded from the Vodafone Ghana website and taken my time to fill and asked where I got it from. I told her the Vodafone Ghana website. ‘This isn’t the form we use’ she said. What? She must be kidding me. She took me to another desk where this guy gave me the old Vodafone Broadband application form. I examined it and saw the details required were the same as the one I had downloaded and printed. I asked him what the difference was and he said ‘I’m here and this is what we use’. I declined to fill it and asked him to check from their website which he said he couldn’t do then. He said if I’m ok with it I should take it upstair for processing, which I did cursing in my head. Again, I ask you, where do you find the staff? Seriously, you should hire me to recruit for you.

Upstairs, I was asked where I got the form from again. Don’t put the form up if it’s of no use or tell your ignorant staff about it! The guy took the form to another guy who I overhead asking him where I got that form from. He came back and said ‘You have to take this to the Achimota exchange’. WTF is wrong with these people? I quietly left the office.

You can imagine my fury as I jumped into a trotro. I was late for work for no reason. I got to the office, took a pen and paper and started writing this post since I don’t have a desk at work yet and I didn’t take my mac along today. Seriously Vodafone, you have to put your house in order. You can start by firing your ignorant and arrogant staff who don’t even know the value of a smile. Have you ever visited an MTN office? The staff there smile a lot and even if you’re mad at them, it calms you down. Maybe, you can take your staff on an excursion.

I had to leave work early so I could take my application to the Achimota shop. Evelyn recieved me. She was alright. She asked a colleague if I had the right form. I bet she will copy iy out on the old form. She said it could take up to 3 day for a site survey. That’s a 5 minute job. I wonder when I will get my broadband fixed.

So, on the occassion of your first anniversary, stop spending so much on gigantic billboards, fancy adverts and the ballons you’ve decorated your offices with and spend it on staff training and improving your services and then we can celebrate with you. My people say ‘Adepa na etɔn ne ho’ meaning ‘Good things sell by themselves’. Don’t forget Glo is launching soon o! They have their own undersea cable. MainOne goes live in June and MTN has already laid fibre optics across Ghana. A word to the wise is enough!

Happy Anniversary Vodafone Ghana!! I hope you start making some profits soon so the sate can take it’s cut.

NB: If you’re reading this and you know a top gun at Vodafone, please print this post out for him/her or send him a link. As usual, I’d appreciate if you drop a comment on the post of share your experience. The last post I did on Vodafone Ghana had over 12 comments. Sad thing is that they all disappeared and no new comment lasts more than 48 on the blog. I’m puzzled and have written to Disqus who said they they’re invetigating it. Nonetheless, I will put all your comments together as a blog post since I have copies in my email.

PS: This post has been edited and all the cuss words taken out :)

PSS: If you know anyone I can talk to to get my broadband fixed asap, I will be grateful.

Vodafone Ghana: Repeating The Mistakes Of GT OneTouch

Some weeks back, I grew tired of waiting for Glo Mobile Ghana to launch and the Glo -1 cable to go live and on the advice of a friend, I decided to get Vodafone Broadband at home.

So on the 24th of Februay 2010, I went in to Vodafone Ghana’s Sunyani office to put in my application. It was a Wednesday and they indicated that they would have someone come do a site survey by the close of the week. The week ended and no one called or came to do the site survey. By the way I stay in a residential area not far from the CBD and there are a lot of telephone lines and a couple of broadband connections in my neighbourhood.

The following Friday, I got a call from Vodafone and they indicated that they got my number wrong and just realised I put an alternative number on the form. Come on, a whole week to figure that out? You’ll be contacted next week, the gentleman said.

Anyway, a friend prompted me that it took two months to get his installed and that I should contact the personnel in charge of the site survey. He gave his name as Sammy and sent his cellphone number to me. I called Sammy on Monday, March 8, 2010, which was a holiday and he was very helpful. In 15 minutes he was at my place and within a minute the site survey was done. An hour later, someone called me from the Vodafone office. I was asked to fill a new application form since they couldn’t find my old one, which I did and made payment for the installation and a month of subscription (I wanted to pay for 2 months, which I now believe would have been a mistake). I was told I would be contacted within the week and the installation done. I called Sammy as soon as I left the office to thank him.

As at Friday, March 12, no one from Vodafone had given me a call so I decided to call Sammy again. This time he didn’t answer my calls but he had someone call me from the Vodafone office, the person I am sure would be doing the installation. Again, he told me next week and explained installation is done within 10 working days after payment. I also hit back saying that I had put in the application about 3 weeks ago. In the end, I was obliged.

Today is Friday, March 19 and my broadband still hasn’t been fixed. I was preparing to go to the office to demand why my broadband hasn’t been fixed when I received a call from Vodafone Ghana. This time, the gentleman who called, who I believe is the same person I have been in contact with asked if I had paid for the service and whom I had paid to. The question sounded stupid to me. A receipt was issued and I saw the guy entering my details in the computer. Doesn’t it show on their records? I told him I had and I don’t remember the name of the person I paid to. He put me on hold and I heard him telling a female colleague; me ka sɛ w’atua meaning I told you he has paid. He got back to me and said they (Vodafone Ghana) would give me a call and have it fixed. I asked him what time the call would come in and he said next week. Ahh, what’s wrong with these people and next week? I told him I really need the service and my application is about a month old. He replied that they will get it sorted and with that I took to writing this blog post.

I don’t know whether I would be fair to say whether the staff at Vodafone Ghana are incompetent or the telecom giant’s way of doing business is just wrong. One thing I can say without hesitation is that Vodafone Ghana is repeating the same mistakes with their broadband like Ghana Telecom (which was re-branded to Vodafone Ghana) did with OneTouch, their mobile phone service. I don’t understand the long wait. I don’t know if people in Accra, Kumasi or Sekondi-Takoradi also wait this long to get connected. Vodafone has a monopoly in the broadband market in Sunyani and in cable broadband in Ghana and perhaps don’t realise they have to sit up. I have used 2 wireless broadband services previously in Accra. The first one, Skyburst was at my place do a site survey in 2 hours and I got my modem the next day. The second Zipnet also sent someone to do the site survey right after I made a call to them. Within 2 days, I had my modem in hand and Zipnet’s costumer service was one of the best I have experienced in Ghana. It’s a shame they don’t cover Sunyani yet.

In the past, that is late 90’s and early 00’s, people had to queue for OneTouch SIM cards and they were sold at exorbitant prices. Can you imagine buying a SIM card for GH¢80 (£36 / $56)? Yes, that’s how much the early adopters paid. Some paid more to cut down on the wait time. Those days are over but I can see those days in the Vodafone’s Broadband service.

* Why the long wait for something which could be done in 3days or a week? It’s not like they have a shortage of ADSL modems or cables. The wait is just too long and unacceptable.

* I find the connection fee of GH¢55 (£25 / $38) quite expensive although it has been lowered from GH¢99. Why can’t installation be free and the ADSL modem remain the property of Vodafone? I think a lot of people would subscribe then or even if the installation fee is lowered to GH¢15.

* A 256kb/s service with a data cap of 10GB costs GH¢45 a month. This is very expensive and I find the download cap annoying. It’s just 256kb/s and you already have a download cap? Anyway, I understand the reasons for the high cost of the service; the slow and expensive SAT-3 cable. With the Glo -1, ACS, MainOne cables going live or arriving soon, we should have a drastic reduction in data cost.

* The staff, the staff, the staff. There are millions of Ghanaians out there who need jobs and it shouldn’t be difficult for Vodafone to find competent employees.

* The quality of the service will be discussed in a later post.

Aah.. my blood pressure just went down so I think I will end here. I hope someone from Vodafone, the toothless National Communication Authority or an ISP is reading this.

PS: I know I complain a lot. My ex-girlfriend told me that!

The Brong-Ahafo Region

This year we celebrate the golden jubilee of the creation of the Brong-Ahafo Region. The Brong-Ahafo Region was created on the 4^th of April 1959 out of the Ashanti Region by the Brong-Ahafo Act, Act 18 of 1959.

AREA & POPULATON.

The new region chose Sunyani as it’s capital. Other key towns in the region are Techiman, Dormaa Ahenkro, Berekum, Goaso, Yeji, Sampa, Sene, Kwame Danso, Bui, Wenchi, Atebubu and Bechem.

Brong-Ahafo is the second largest region in the country (16.6%) with a territorial size of 39,557 sq km. The region shares boundaries with the Northern, Volta, Eastern, Ashanti and Western Regions and Cote d’Ivoire. The region has an estimated population at 2.2 million (2008) with a growth rate of 3%.

TOURISM.

The region has a number of tourist attractions. Notable is the Buabeng-Fiema Monkey sanctuary, a place where mona and colobus monkeys live in harmony with humans. The monkey sanctuary covers a total area of 4.4 km.

If you are interested in ancient history of the Akans or of Ghana, the Brong-Ahafo Region got something for you. Bono Manso, the ancient capital of the Bono Empire and a slave market during the Trans-Saharan & Tran-Atlantic slave trade is in the situated in the Nkoranza District.

Lovers of wildlife and hiking will also enjoy the Bui National Park & Digya Game Reserve.

You can also visit the Kintampo & Fulla falls, small but charming waterfalls. Want, a boat ride? Visit Yeji, a fishing community on the banks of the Volta Lake.

Oh and if you’re looking for the centre of Ghana,

POLITICS.

Nicknamed the ‘chameleon of Ghana politics’, the region hasn’t being a stronghold of any political party and since 1992, the region has voted, the presidential candidate who wins the region goes on to win the election. Tain constituency is noted for deciding the 2008 presidential election.

The Brong-Ahafo Region has produced prominent political figures; Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia, prime minister of the second republic, John Henry Mensah, former majority leader, Mrs. Cecelia Johnson, member of the Council of State, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, NDC general-secretary etc.

EDUCATION.

The region boasts of one university, the Catholic University of Ghana in Sunyani. There is also the College of Renewable Natural Resources of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, which the government intends to turn into a full-fledged university soon.

There are a number of senior high schools too; St. James Seminary/Senior High School, Sunyani Senior High, Dormaa Senior High, Notre Dame Girls Senior High among others.

INDUSTRY

There are a number of industries in the region. They range from timber processing to food processing. If you have tasted Wenchi Fresh canned tomatoes, it is from the Brong-Ahafo Region.

Upon completion of the Bui Hydro Dam, the region is expected to attract more industries and businesses.

SPORTS.

The region over the years has produced a lot of talents in sports for the country. The region is home to premier league sides, Aduana Stars, Berekum Arsenal and Bechem Chelsea. Tano Bofoakwa and B.A United are also strong teams from the region.

Central Business District, Sunyani

HAPPY GOLDEN JUBILEE BRONG-AHAFO!!!!

God Bless Our Homeland Ghana!!!