After spending seven mind-boggling days in Ghana this is the first of a short series of blogs about my impressions.The country is lively, welcoming and developing quickly but in a rather haphazard way.
The enterprise culture is embedded in the country and not just in the parts of the economy one would expect to be controlled by the private sector.
The transportation system is the first obvious example. The train system no longer operates. Although there is evidence of a single track threading its way through a market area of Accra, and also at its linked destination in Kusami, 272 kilometres north west of the capital, it is clearly and sadly redundant.
The roads in part are in a good condition with several dual carriageway roads and motorways within Accra carrying huge numbers of vehicles, but as you get to the outskirts of the city and on all major routes between towns, sections of road built to good European standards are suddenly interspersed with dirt tracks. The Ghanaians seem to have built their roads in sections but have yet to join them all up.
Another feature is the way that bus services have grown with little co-ordination by the city authority. Mini-buses are the most popular and the cheapest way of getting around. The vehicles are not always registered with the authorities, are often in poor condition, and run by teams of two, mostly very young men. One is the driver and the other is the fare-collector who manages the sliding-door access to the kerbside. This means in practice that he is bellowing the eventual destination to passers by, trying to attract custom as the bus makes progress. The standard fare is 60 pesewas (about 25 pence) which would be enough to take you several miles.
The city authority is trying to introduce a better standard of bus on recognised routes with a standard fare of only 40 pesewas, but when I took a trip on one of these I noticed that the bus stood at its stop for about 20 minutes to fill up with passengers before setting off.
The idea of keeping to a timetable appeared to be laughable...
The third option is to use a taxi. These are plentiful but again the condition of vehicles has much to be desired, and it's advisable to negotiate the fare before setting off. It's also better to use a local guide who can negotiate in the local language of Twi. Casual racism in trying to rip off white tourists persists. On one occasion a negotiated price of 6 cedis (about £2.75) suddenly rose to 25 cedis when the taxi-driver spotted me with my guide. His kind offer was refused and he lost the fare.
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