Living in Fear

 

- GIJ students’ untold harrowing story

By Solomon Mensah

 

A mounted emblem of GIJ

“It was one Sunday when we had just closed from lectures. Walking home with two friends, at the Trust Financial Holdings intersection, we saw two guys on an unregistered motorbike,” Fiona recounts.

Fiona Wepia Edwards, a level 400 weekend student of Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), says the guys on the bike had passed by them earlier only for it to take a U-turn.

“We thought they wanted to ask us something but to our dismay, they took out their weapons [knives and other sharp blades]. My friends were quick to sense danger so they were able to run away leaving me helpless in the hands of the two strong men.”

Keeping calm in the midst of threats, Fiona’s thieves bolted with her belongings. This was in October, 2014.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven... the number of robbery cases keeps increasing. Intermittently, a student on his/her way home from school or to school would rush to campus in tears with regards to their bags and belongings being snatched by thieves; thieves who ply their trade on motorbikes.

For some time now, this has been the untold harrowing story of some students of GIJ. A number of the students have had to bear the brunt of these motorbike thieves in daylight robberies.

Laptops, cameras, cash among other valuable items have been taken from these students by these unsuspecting robbers. On the Garmel Abdul Nasser road, a stretch of road that lies in front of GIJ, the thieves would either whisk away the bag of a student walking on the road or get down from their bike to take such bags at knife point.

In 2013, a student sustained a knife wound in his palms for struggling with his attackers to prevent them from taking his bag. This male student’s incident was not the first to befall a GIJ student. Some of the victims have made attempts reporting to the police but it becomes a herculean task for the police to trace these thieves. Why? The motorbike thieves use unregistered bikes!

After a year and three months, Fiona’s unforgettable incident still brings tears into her eyes. Tears literally filled her eyes as I held my voice recorder to her mouth. She gathered courage, again, to continue her story. “They asked me to give them my bag, phone and everything on me. I was so scared that I complied and they left with my own belongings.”

The ‘belongings’ of Fiona comprised of a phone, digital camera, lecture notes and an amount of GHC1, 500. She laments that the money the thieves took away got her crazier. It was her two-year rent. As a matter of fact, she was on her way to pay it to her would-be landlord!

Fiona reported the case to the police but the thieves, on an unregistered bike, could not be traced.

If Fiona’s story made you shiver then wait till you hear that which made Felicity and her friends quiver.

Felicity Ampomah and her friends Janet and Perpetual, all GIJ students, have had their share of the motorbike thieves’ bitter cake.

I am taking a stroll together with Felicity and Janet on the Garmel Abdul Nasser road, starting from GIJ’s entrance, to bend on the right of Trust Financial Holdings to the ‘GIJ’ hostel. They will be recounting their horrible experience to me.

“It was Sunday, October 18, 2015,” Janet remembers. “Felicity Ampomah, myself and Perpetual-a friend- had closed from a weekend lecture. Walking to the ‘GIJ’ hostel, which is just a few meters away from the School, little did we know that Felicity’s bag would be whisked away from her by thieves.”

Janet, who lives at Madina, was to part ways with the others just before reaching the hostel’s gate. She says she became suspicious of two men on motorbike who rode pass them.

“They [two men on motorbike] came back, riding pass us. One of the guys looked at me that I became suspicious of them. I quickly stopped a taxi to the Police Headquarters junction for a bus to Madina, parting ways with my friends,” Janet says.

She had told Felicity and Perpetual to run as quickly as they could to their hostel before the suspected thieves came back to them.

Felicity says she “suddenly turned and saw them” and “told my friends to run” but before the sleek legs of the ladies could quickly carry them to the hostel, one of the guys jumped from the motorbike brandishing a knife at her.

Felicity had hatched a plan before being caught. “It occurred to me that I should just drop my bags in a nearby fenced house, which has wild dogs, so I go for the bags later.”

Her idea was good enough but she momentarily thought otherwise. “Then I asked myself, "What if they come to us and they don’t get anything from us?" They could hurt us with their weapons. So, I dropped one of the two bags into the house leaving with me another bag which contained ladies’ slippers that I sell.”

Eventually, she did not only have her bag snatched but had a hefty slap, too. She somewhat blocked it with her hands. This incident also happened in broad daylight and the story is not any different by the regular students.

Louisa Boadu, also a student of Ghana Institute of Journalism, seeing me interview Felicity and others came telling me yet another robbery case a friend endured on the same stretch of road.

So, are the authorities of Ghana Institute of Journalism aware of these happenings? And if they are, what plans do they have to avert this serial robbery?

Romeo Adzah Dowokpor is the President of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) of the Ghana Institute of Journalism. He spoke on the issue.

“I have heard of such unfortunate cases. We advise students to walk in groups,” he said.

“There have been reported cases of students being robbed in taxis with the connivance of the driver and his syndicates who act as passengers along the Quarters to campus route. Students should avoid boarding taxis from Quarters that have passengers in them,” he said.

Romeo says his office is working on fixing streetlights on the route from the Police Headquarters to campus to ensure visibility and improve on the security situation at night.

The robberies do happen at night but predominantly at day time. So, I asked the SRC president if he would consider security patrol on the route in question aside the provision of streetlights. This, his office could deduct an amount per student from the GHC90 SRC dues to foot the bill, I suggested.

Romeo says that is a laudable idea worth considering.

When I interacted with some of the students to ‘show by hand’ if they have heard, encountered or are worried about those robbery cases, a good number of them showed concern.

The students want their school’s authorities to urgently address the situation. Until then, the students reopen school in February, 2016 only to continue living in fear.

The writer is a student of the Ghana Institute of Journalism and a freelance journalist.

Email: nehusthan4@yahoo.com

Twitter: @Aniwaba

 

Playwright to sue God in February

By Solomon Mensah

Kobina Ansah

A friend recently tagged me in a Facebook post. That post had some letters written by white children to God.

“I went to this wedding and they kissed right in church. Is that ok?” wrote Neil. “I bet, it is very hard for you to love all of everybody in the whole world. There are only four people in our family and I can never do it,” said Nan.

However, one of such letters to God by the children really got me thinking. “Dear God, instead of letting people die and having to make new ones, why don’t you just keep the ones you got now?”

That child is named Jane. A seemingly troubled Jane’s letter had thousands of emotional comments on the social media network. Could this be the reason for a Ghanaian playwright to be so determined to sue God in February, 2016?

Let’s knock on the door of the playwright, Kobina Ansah, to ask him his reasons for such a bold step and whether he believes he will win the anticipated court case.

Born to Mr. Francis Ben Ansah and Madam Faustina Donkor, Kobina Ansah completed Pope John Senior High School in 2006 and wanted to read medicine at the University of Ghana, a year after. He was, however, denied admission. Why was he denied admission?

“I was shortlisted for interview. However, I was bounced for reasons I can’t really tell,” he said.

He got heartbroken. “But I put myself together because there was no way I could change the hands of time,” Kobina noted. He would later find solace in reading Biochemistry which he completed in 2011.

In all these ups and downs in the young man’s life, he loved one thing that he attests the craze to study medicine never overshadowed. Kobina Ansah loved writing.

“The passion was there. The science couldn’t just cover it. Passion would always win,” he said. Kobina says some friends realizing his penchant for writing encouraged him to stage his first play after university.

“That Day,” a Christian-themed play became his first as a playwright. Although That Day’s audience gave a positive feedback, the playwright thinks it didn’t get the best of directing because it was directed by someone else.

Challenged by his first play, “This Family Is Not For Sale” became his second play which drew hundreds of theatre lovers, first, to the Efua T. Sutherland Drama Studio in University of Ghana and, at a reloaded show, at the Christ the King Church, all in Accra.

So, what was the bottom line of Kobina Ansah’s This Family Is Not For Sale? “We made one thing clear … no family is worthy of sale no matter how troublesome it is,” he said.

Kobina Ansah’s second was humor-laden yet carried a word of advice to families. Judging from the rehearsals of his upcoming play “I Want To Sue God!", it promises to give theatre lovers another dose of value for their money.

I Want To Sue God! to be staged by five cast chronicles issues in [modern] marriages which help discard such marriages to the bin.  “We have people wedding today yet not ready to marry,” said the rising playwright.

He believes that happiness after a wedding is a decision and not a wish. “Marriage has downs. You face them and don’t blame God for them,” he added.

When asked how God would be sued in the play, he said that remained a surprise package to his audience in February, 2016.

He who has ever attended a Kobina Ansah play would attest that the budding playwright needs but time to soar like the eagle.

Despite the numerous challenges that come with producing a drama, he is determined to register his name among men who are holding high Ghana’s theatre flag.

Aside not securing corporate sponsorship for his plays coupled with lack of theatre-friendly venues, Kobina says he made losses for all his shows. “Huge ones [losses], sad to say. I have not made a single profit yet,” he observed.

That sounds sad, right? Self-motivation is the best thing an individual could give him/herself. Kobina Ansah seems to have mastered that: “That’s how every dream starts. One needs to keep pushing.” 

Why don’t you be Kobina Ansah’s audience at Central Cafeteria, Legon on Saturday, 13th February 2016 to join him sue God? "First show is at 4pm. Second show is 7pm," he concluded.

The writer is a freelance journalist.

Email: nehusthan4@yahoo.com

Twitter: @Aniwaba

 

 

 

Amaniampong, a shoemaker dreaming dreams

 

By Solomon Mensah

Amaniampong repairing shoes

“I have… I have been...," Amaniampong stuttered as he busily attended to his customers.

Hello there. My name is Solomon Mensah and on #SoloTellsMyStory today, I tell you the steady progress being chalked by a cobbler (shoemaker).

I would, for the purpose of this piece, use the words ‘shoemaker’ and ‘cobbler’ interchangeably to mean a person who makes or repairs shoes.

Amaniampong, a cobbler, plies his trade directly opposite to the Ghana Institute of Journalism’s (GIJ) entrance. He tells me a security man at GIJ (named Nicholas) recommended he pitched his ‘tent’ at his current spot to repair the shoes of students.

“Bossu [he addresses me], Nicholas has really helped me. I used to walk from Madina then would make a stop here [GIJ]. But upon his advice here am I today,” he says.

Amaniampong wears a brownish white singlet over a pair of knickers. On his laps is a piece of cloth dirtied by the footwear he places on it.

His voice sounds as deep as the bass singer of Mark Anim-Yirenkyi’s Deliverance Singers’ music group.The voice, a great competitor it would be to Joy FM’s Fiifi Koomson’s ‘patented’ deep voice. However, seeing and interacting with student-journalists and communicators at large does not tickle him to dream working as a broadcaster someday. He is happily engrossed in his trade.

In 2011, when I got admission to study at GIJ, Amaniampong had only a shoemaker’s box. Four years on, the shoemaker, who I have a cordial relationship with, has proven the enterprising passion of most Ghanaian youth.

Walking from campus to eat at the GIJ bush canteen, Edward Balami, a friend, poked me to have a look at Amaniampong’s acquired machines. You won’t believe the shoemaker has bought for himself a generator and another machine he (Amaniampong) calls a grinder! Yes he has!

“The grinding machine cost me Ghc700 and the generator, Ghc900,” he tells me.

The generator & grinding machine
 

 

He says aside being tired of begging to tap electricity from nearby sources, the 'dumsor' the nation faces forced him to buy the generator.

Amaniampong, a native of the Asante region, is poised making it in Accra before going to settle in his hometown. He wants to put up a metallic kiosk, the size of a lotto kiosk, to give a facelift to his business. He is, however, faced with a challenge.

Amaniampong’s challenge is not monetary. He has been able to save some cedis.

“A day? Mmm ok, say Ghc80 or Ghc90." This is the amount he makes in every single day, he tells me.

“That was why I was able to buy those machines [referring to the generator and grinding machine].” Amaniampong wipes off beads of sweat, like that formed on a chilled beer, on his forehead.

At a point in time, I thought he had forgotten my question asking him the challenge he faces in putting up his kiosk.

“I just need a permit to enable me put the kiosk here,” he says shooting his right hand to show me where he wants the kiosk to be located. He would need that approval from the Ghana Journalists’ Association and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly.

Amaniampong knows how to make shoes and he would learn to improve his skills to give GIJ students the best of his services. In his yet-to-be-erected kiosk, he would have compartments for storing shoes to be repaired and those already repaired.

A successful young man per his own standard, I asked him if he is married or has a girlfriend? His answer was simply interesting and thought-provoking.

“Bossu, I am not married nor do I have a girlfriend. I want to make it in life before I think of relationship matters.” He continues, “if you have God and money, almost everything comes your way.”

Amaniampong’s stay at GIJ has gotten him a shoe-polishing job at the State House. He says some of the parliamentarians and government officials who often use the Garmel Abdul Nasser road, in front of GIJ, spotted him and offered him the contract.

He says polishing shoes at the State House is somewhat a juicy deal and that those officials seeing him in his dream kiosk would further appreciate his progress and ‘brand.’

Little did I know that the bench on which I sat to interview the shoemaker was his. On it was the inscription: “Amaniampong K.” He says the ‘K’ stands for Kwarteng.

Amaniampong Kwarteng has made a steady progress since my first time of seeing him in 2011. Aside his tools for his job then, he could now boast of a generator and a grinding machine. And Oh... a branded bench!

Should his dream of putting up a kiosk become a reality, I wouldn’t be surprised if he serves his customers with a sachet of ‘pure’ water each.

Who knows? He may even partner the Students’ Representative Council of the Ghana Institute of Journalism to make branded slippers and shoes for students.

Why don’t you feel free to dream, too? After all, Ghana’s Inspector General of Police can NEVER call for your arrest for dreaming big.

The writer is a freelance journalist.

 

Email: nehusthan4@yahoo.com

Twitter: @Aniwaba