NIGHT LIFE AT KWAME NKRUMAH CIRCLE

This circle is named after the first president of the republic of Ghana. It is a central point in Accra and life never stops here. It has a lovely fountain at the centre which is switched on special occasions. This circle used to be called the national liberation circle, after the national liberation council which overthrew the government of kwame Nkrumah in 1966. 

There is a major roundabout, with a fairly new sign that exhorts Accra residents to keep the city “clean”. It is with this that our current president HIS EXECELLENCY JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA with his delegated teams has taken it upon themselves to renovate it as part of the better Ghana agenda project. Now, with a number of illiterates among the informal sector, I continue to ask myself how they can understand the note … Let alone live up to the principle 

Many of the city’s best nightclubs can be found here. All night dancing takes place around kwame Nkrumah circle, the part of the city, which doesn’t sleep. You get almost anything here at anytime of the day or the night. All night dancing takes place around the Kwame Nkrumah circle. 

If you have ever heard what sounds like “sec-sec-sec!... sec-sec-sec!” around Accra, I can assure you it is nothing mysterious, but the call by tro-tro mates for passengers to board the mini- bus(known as tro-tros) down to Accra’s “ Kwame Nkrumah Circle”. The noisy area of sellers all over trying to woe people to patronize their goods and street hawkers moving from one place to the other. Around that same place people find shelter in front of closed shops.

The bad aspect of the Nkrumah circle is that lots of dubious people hang around the streets including prostitutes, drunkards, thieves, sellers, armed robbers and even mad men ha-ha -ha that’s right mad men! See the story of the madman of Gadara (Mark 5:1-18) and you’ll get the idea. Especially during the evening you will realize people will be in a queue (line) at the various bus stations. There are at times that you can get like 70+ people in a queue with others at advantageous point to favor in getting transport to their various abode.

 It is very amazing how you see people protecting their bags and other important items hahahha… you wondering why this is the place that is mostly noted for robbery. Personally I have been a victim of this robbery 2months ago where I lost my mobile phone and money hmmm I had mixed feeling. I didn’t know whether to be angry at myself or to blame someone. These robbers are indeed amazing and clever at what they do. Kudos to them and surely they will be a bad day for  them and wondering if there will be an end to robbery at all, people should be careful not only at Nkrumah circle but everywhere as robbery is a rampant disease all over the world.

ACCRA MALL VIDEO

http://www.youtube.com/v/ySe83V0JzF0?version=3&autohide=1&feature=share&showinfo=1&autohide=1&attribution_tag=JGIM_dbupGEfjgD3NokJGg&autoplay=1

NIGHT AT THE ACCRA MALL

     

At the other end of the spectrum is the Accra mall, an air conditioned shopping mall that would be familiar to any western shopper. For the shopholic in you why not try out the Accra mall which is located conveniently at the crossroads of Tetteh Quarshie interchange and the spintex road which provides access for residents of Accra and surrounding residential and commercial areas.

Accra mall houses Ghana fashion chains such as Woodin to Nike, puma, swatch, Sony Centre, Panasonic, TM Lewin, ShopRite, and game shopping outlets plus many more. During the night enjoy shopping at one of Accra’s plushest malls then at night why not venture down to Rhapsody’s for some fine cocktails and good cuisine in their blinged out bar and restaurant. Rhapsody’s will always have a seat to comfort you when you need it most. Their menu comes with a wide range of food varieties and drinks. In there you get an environment to discuss your business with partners, you can also choose the rhapsody’s to create a lasting impression on the person’s mind.

If you are the type who fancy movie why not catch a movie at the silver bird cinema. If its food Accra mall seems to have all the bases covered offering a mix of food outlets, from pizza parlors, chicken joints to fine dining. Visit the apple store, catch a first run Hollywood at the cinema, grab a burger or pizza at the forecourt or just linger and watch the people. The Accra mall is too expensive for most Ghanaians, but we still love to hang out and meet friends here.

If you are looking for modern Ghana music, this is a great place to shop for CDs. The Shoprite supermarket is where you can find any of the foodstuffs you miss from home. But at a price that you may not recognize.

 

From what we have seen Accra is forever changing and with each visit I am sure you too will find something new. Accra over the years has grown to become a vibrant city with many international shops and attractions to help whet the appetites of the seasoned traveler or novice. To be honest Accra mall appeals to the “in crowd” of Accra those that want to be seen. So if you want to hang out in Accra then Accra mall should be your target.

NIGHTLIFE AT THE OSU OXFORD STREET

               

The OSU oxford street is a premier business centre located in the Accra metropolis. The street is the most popular street in Ghana and it derived its name from the famous oxford street in London, U.K because of its busy nocturnal activities. It is also known as the “West End”. Joining OSU Oxford Street from the ring road is a famous roundabout dedicated to the memory of Dr. J. B. Danquah.

Oxford Street is a popular hangout especially on the weekends and holidays. It is a hot spot for lovers and a great place to entertain the whole family on special occasions. When it comes to household groceries shopping, you will find some of the finest supermarkets in OSU. Koala supermarket is my favorite, since they provide all my grocery needs. Adjacent to koala is a liquor store which carries varieties of foreign drinks at discount prices.

The best restaurants are also located on and around this street. Dynasty, a Chinese restaurant is one of the best and serves all kinds of cuisines, Frankie’s is another eating place you can trust. it has a popular ice cream joint and is a nice place to “chill”. It also has an exotic hotel above. “Papaye” is a restaurant known for its food and value. “PAYE” as some people call it, is very well patronized. Usually, a plate of food is good for two people. “Container” is directly opposite “Papaye” on the OSU oxford street. This is a sit-out bar and eatery joint. On the weekends especially, there is usually a live music and acrobatic shows.

“Steers” is another fast food joint that specializes in burgers. It’s just a duplicate of McDonald or Burger King. The OSU night market is where local food is sold all round the clock. The OSU blue gate is also another night place to have spicy tilapia and banku (a local dish prepared with corn dough). Every fashionable or vogue stuffs are not left out. Boutiques can be found on almost every corner of the street. Monte –Carlo is a high class boutique which carries exotic collection from the famous designers in the world. The local kiosks find their way in every little space (if any) on the street. These shops usually sell local artifacts and paraphernalia to exhibit the rich culture of Ghana. There are also a multitude of electronics stores like the story centre, Somovision Ghana, just to name a few. For your passport photos, right at the Danquah roundabout is your ideal choice and photo club is the place for all your advanced photo needs.

The OSU-Oxford Street attracts people from all spheres of life, from rich to poor, citizen to Foreigner, young and old. Towards the end of every year, there is a big carnival and is opened to all. All the major embassies are 5minutes max, from the OSU oxford street. Apart from all these, there are banks, hospitals and forex bureaus, all of high standards. With all these said, you’ll never have a feel of what I’m talking about until you see things for yourself. Visit the OSU oxford street during your stay in Accra and you’ll have an experience of a kind.

HOW THE USAGE OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA BY THE CITIZEN JOURNALIST AFFECTS THE ACTIVITIES OF THE TRADITIONAL MEDIA PRODUCTION HOUSES AND HOW TO STRATEGIZE TO MEET THIS CHANGING TREND IN THE MASS MEDIA

PAPAYAW ASAMOAH

STELLA ELORM BIGSON

ISABELLA KONADU AGYEMANG

ANIMAH NKANSAH DOROTHY

EUGENE ADU AYEH

Starting in 59 BC, Julius Caesar had a daily sheet called Acta Diurna (daily event) posted around Rome. In the mid1400, Johannes Gutenberg first used a printing press. Later on, in the early 1900’s, radio technology was perfected with motion picture technology closely behind. By 1930, the popularity of radio was spreading, whilst some people were catching the first television broadcast. Throughout the1930’s, 40’s and 50’s television progressed and ultimately worked its way into family rooms and kitchens across the United States.

With the launch of facebook in 2004, the founding of YouTube in 2005, the creation of twitter in 2006, social media is more extensively used for the dissemination of information and news to the public by the public. These technologies have allowed for even greater peer-to-peer engagement and interactive publics, organization and mobilization of support, collating voters’ data by the electoral commission, and the basic function of disseminating messages.

The advent of new media has strongly affected the way through which information is spread to the masses both negatively and positively. Citizen journalism is made possible as lay members of the public play an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and information to the public. In order to understand who a citizen journalist is, let’s take an insight into what citizen journalism is all about. The term citizen journalism refers to a wide range of activities in which ordinary people contribute information or commentary about news events through the use of social media like twitter, facebook, YouTube and Google plus.

The traditional media, which is also known as “the old media” deals with the old ways and procedures of gathering, analyzing and disseminating news and information through the hands of professionally trained journalists using the “few to many news approach”. That is, a few qualified/trained journalists manufacturing news for the masses to consume.

The new media involves the active use of the internet. This is in the sense that the World Wide Web facilitates the effective functionality and fluent interactivity. From influential bloggers to community networks and activists, this new technology or new media activity offers new competition for the main stream media. These groups are becoming an alternative source of news as well as another option for politicians, businessmen or other public figures to bypass the older media forms and outlets to take their message to their supporters or followers. This is because the new media provide a wide range of advantages.

First of all one can tweet and check the status on their phones, this is because the internet is available at the back of our pocket, and there’s no need to wait for the morning newspaper to get news. Therefore the new media presents the audience with absolute convenience. For instance channels like RTE, SkyNews, FOX and CNN have a bar at the bottom of the news with headlines of news and when breaking news occurs it covers it also with the internet we have. Also it’s affordable in the sense that you don’t need to place an expensive call using mobile phone credit to reach someone on the other side of the continent but using Skype free calls on the internet or watsapp text messages which are less expensive. Now you don’t need to drive all the way to a news stand to get a newspaper which is now two Ghana Cedis (2GHC). As if to add insult to injury, these new networks and individuals are also now acting as a check on the traditional media, questioning their accuracy, standards and focusing a new transparency. With the common news on the internet, citizens begun to have a vast array information available to them without having to search too strenuously or wait for schedule broadcast or speeches.

But, it is important to note that the activities of citizen journalists through the new/social media platforms are rather making old/traditional media to loose grounds and influence. This factor can be attributed to the somewhat “slow” process traditional media houses go through to gather, edit, and publish information; as compared to the use of blogs and websites by citizen journalists to quickly publish news and information to reach out and interact with his/her audience. Also, the key feature of interaction makes it easier for new media users to share, comment, and reproduce news and information.

In response to the changing trends of media production, traditional media houses are putting initiatives in place to correct the problems posed by the new media. These initiative include;

·         Corporate retraining of traditional journalist staff for them to adapt to the use of the internet and the social media.

·         Building online presence through the creation of blogs and facebook accounts in order to still reach their audiences who are inclined to the social media. For instance, myjoyonline news portal on facebook is a mechanism put in place by Joy FM to reach their audiences who enjoy going on the internet.

·         Creating room to accept views from their readers, listeners and watchers where issues from daily news are put on the internet for the audience to comment. Open forum on Metro TVs is a typical example of how Metro TV get the views and comments of their viewers, TV3 also has in place the viewers’ comment section.

·         Accepting news from the citizen journalists instead of challenging them and trying to set them to the background. So CNN’s iReport is a typical example of such, where they accept stories from the ordinary citizen and treats it using journalism ethics. Actually it can be accessed using an application on any smart phone, hence the citizen can report at any time and any location.

The old media in this case, if they want to avoid extinction by the advent of the new media and technology in the name of the social media, should make sure they stick to the strategies above and explore more strategies. They should not try challenging the course of the new media but see it as an avenue for developing the traditional media.

REFERENCES;

TODDAND.COM/2006/11/23/A_BRIEF_HISTORY_OF_TRADITIONAL_AND_SOCIAL_MEDIA/

HTTP://NEWMEDIAGIJ.WORDPRESS.COM

HTTP://BING.COM

NIGHT BEACH IN ACCRA

NIGHT LIFE AT THE BEACH

Ghana faces the Atlantic Ocean and is blessed with some of the world’s most untouched beaches. Some are nicely maintained and are certainly among the most beautiful you will ever see. Most are places of work for fishermen who are happy to share the surf and sand with visitors. There are strong rip tides at many locations making a number of Ghana beaches dangerous for swimming. So always inquire locally before entering the oceans for swimming.

Tilt side locations along the coast can provide some stunning views of villages and beach below. Apam and Meree are a couple especially scenic hilltops. The third phase on my blog talks about night life at the Labadi Beach.There are a lot of beaches in Ghana among these are Ramada Resort Accra Coco Beach, Tawala Beach, La Palm Royal Beach, Bojo Beach, Kokrobite Beach and many others. Labadi Beach or more properly known as La Pleasure Beach is the busiest beach on Ghana’s beach. Labadi Beach is just 25km west of Accra; it is particularly popular during weekends.

It is a public beach located in La, at the western edge of Accra. It has a three-km beach front that offers wide variety of activities. The beach is blessed with strong winds. The wide expanse of this sandy beach is right for Frisbee, football and beach volleyball. Changing room facilities, restaurants, snack bars and shower rooms are plentiful on the beach. There is an entrance fee of 5 Ghana cedis for getting into this beach. Entertainment by musicians, performers and acrobats take place here regularly and there are always vendors selling crafts, usually at a significant mark up. A lot of people also organize night parties at the beach.

On holidays and weekends there are often performances of reggae, hiplife, playback, and cultural drumming and dancing. One can see people trooping to this place to relax their nerves after a hard day’s work and stress. There is a luxurious first class hotel inside the beach, uniquely combined with a traditional African style throughout, and is well equipped to meet the demanding needs of business and leisure travelers alike.

Long beach after dark is a world like no other; it is the hotbed of grooves and tunes to light up the night. Whether you are looking for a casual night on the town or something more exclusive and upscale, labadi beach has got it all. If you are in the mood for drinking, dancing, and an all-night party, join the rich, famous, and beautiful all you need to do is to get your groove on and join the train to Labadi Beach and you will never forget it. I have pictures and a video attached to this chapter to enable my reader get a clear view of night life at the Labadi Beach.

CLUBBING IN ACCRA

CLUBBING IN ACCRA

A nightclub also known as a discotheque, or simply a club or disco is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night. A nightclub is generally distinguished from bars, pubs or taverns by the inclusion of a dance floor and a DJ booth. Most people have the notion that Ghanaians don’t leave their homes at night so city nightlife would completely be nonexistent. The second chapter on my blog is about clubbing in Accra. The dancing, drinking, and meeting up other people are just a few of the wonderful pleasure of going out and cutting loose. You have no idea how many times I have heard of people not getting into clubs because of their age, dress code and guest list. This is used to make their status as a nightclub more ‘exclusive’. Most nightclubs have a team of security men also known as Bobbies or bouncers. They have the power to remove people from club. The team would only intervene or ask for the removal if the clubber is extremely drunk, physically ill, breaking club rules, or hurting /abusing other clubbers, they also ask people to leave once the club closes.

With direct flights from New York, London, and Washington, D.C, Accra, Ghana is a thriving, trending city bustling with nightclubs. A lot of nightclubs are scattered in Accra among these are Aphrodisiac, Epo’s, Rhapsody, Citizen Kofi, His Majesty’s Nightclub and casmo, Joker’s Nightclub, Shaka Zulu Nightclub, Duplex Nightclub, Vienna City Nightclub, Paddy’s Nightclub, Boomerang Nightclub and many more.

Among the various clubs I have already elaborated, I would like to pick one and elaborate on it. Aphrodisiac opened 23rd December 2004, and has been one of Accra’s most exclusive night clubs ever since. Some of its most famous guests include Stevie Wonder, Jay_Z , Akon and a host of others. Confidence Haugen owns it and is located at Osu Badu St, Airport Residential, and Accra.

 The clubs in Accra are fairly spacious. A typical night out begins around 11pm with pre-gaming. Most drinks in the clubs are similarly more expensive than on roadside bars, Mixed drinks like Vodka, Gin Rum, Whisky and Requila , Moet, Remi Martin and all kinds of drinks are available but to my observation is rare to see people drinking  mixed drinks.

The music in clubs is about 70% local music, Ghanaian and Nigerian hits , either live bands or, more commonly, a mix of songs played by a DJ through a powerful PA system. Most clubs or club nights cater to certain music genres. Even though the music is completely unfamiliar, it’s not difficult to blend right in since the beats and rhythms are just like the hip hop and R&B’s hits played in US and the UK..

NIGHT LIFE IN ACCRA

There are several activities which go on in Accra during the night. Gone are the days when people used to sit with their family members in the evening tuo tell them stories as a form of entertaining themselves. In this global era, there is a drastic change in the way people entertain themselves after a hard day’s work.

The word Accra is believed to be derived from the Akan word nkran , meaning ‘ants’, a reference to the numerous manner in which the natives of Accra kept re-appearing like army ants during a war with the Ashanti’s. Accra is the capital city of Ghana, with an estimated urban population of 4,010,054 as of 2012.  It is also the capital of the Greater Accra Region and of the Accra metropolitan district, with which it is conterminous. Accra is furthermore the anchor of a larger metropolitan area, the greater Accra metropolitan area which is inhabited by about 4million people, making it the second largest metropolitan conglomeration  in Ghana by population and the eleventh largest metropolitan area in Africa.

 Accra serves as the greater Accra regions’ economic and administrative hub. Accra like any other metropolitan city comes alive in the night. The city offers a wide range of nightlife that every tourist would surely enjoy. It is a centre of a wide range of nightclubs, restaurants, live music and bars. Among these nightclubs we have (New Office, Seven  Star , Next door , Savannah Club, Bywell)  talking about restaurants  we have ( blue gate, Ryan,s Irish pub and restaurant, Champs). Accra’s nightlife is diverse; there are bars that are not much  more than a cooler, a beaded curtain and a good view of the African night sky. Sometimes these are the best! You can often find live music or street performers to listen and dance. In addition, a lot of ex-pat bars and casinos are scattered around OSU.

 One can see people selling different kind of goodies(for example video cds, shoes, dresses, etc) and others buying food along the roadside, others at the drinking bars, street  hawkers  seen hawking from one place to the other. Both sexes entering restaurants, night clubs, drinking bars, visting the cinemas (silverbird cinema) and a lot of activities to cool them off  after a hard  day’s work.

The video exhibited here is one of the restaurants by name ROOSTER’S restaurant ideally located off  DOME  road facing the goil filling station. It is a nice restaurant which have several services available to its customers, among these is the ice cream parlor, a grill and barbecue section, snack bar, the restaurant and many more. It is mostly operated in the evening till late night. A lot of people troop into this place day in day out especially in the evening to have a taste of their food and ice cream and relax in their healthy environment. I personally went there just this week to eat and interact with some of the customers. I must say their food is very delicious and healthy. It is good that nightlife options in Accra are not merely concentrated on one aspect.