Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Albert Luthuli Road, Accra

It is a little, arboreal street turning off the Gamal Abdel Naser Avenue at Ridge, in the city of Accra. Luthuli hosts the Ghana Maritime Authority, and a part of the Passport Office, where Accraians, other Ghanaians (and people who sound Nigerian) queue from 5 a.m. for Ghana passports. It also hugs a long wall around a decrepit colonial bungalow. In seven places on the wall, somebody has charcoaled “Don’t urinate here”. It must be that passersby do not know the great South African Chief, so they pee on his 'Nobel' renown. Would they stop if they found out who he was?

7 comments:

  1. Char, but we need to pee!(looking aggressive and gesturing wildly). {:. But seriously, probably because the place of convenience is not accessible to them, so they improvise(in not so wise a way; nature's call must be heeded).I tell you, 'Don't urinate here' is a sort of graffiti for some Ghanaians.

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  2. Men will piss on any good name..I've seen them do it on Kojo Thompson, Samora Machel with so much glee. As for the road where Kinbu secondary school is (don't know the name) it should be called Ammonia Road.

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  3. I'd pee oh! Freedom of self expresiion- that didn'yt come out right.;)

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  4. And it's usually the men that are the culprits, lol.

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  5. The typical Ghanaian (men and women alike) would pee anywhere as long as it is not on their own grave.

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  6. Kwame Mensa-Bonsu22 April, 2010

    Guess there are no proper alternatives! So what can a human being in dire straits do,Lithuli or not?

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  7. @ Lyrix: I was not even thinking that far. Great. But, somehow, I think that even if decent toilets were put up all over, Albert Luthuli Road, Patrice Lumumba Street, Starlets 91 Street and Olusegun Obasanjo Way would still smell of urea!

    @ Anon: I'll be sure to take the Ammonia Road when I go to court on Monday. It must be a very 'heady' experience.

    @ Juanita: So what did you intend to say? Lol.

    @ Myne: Yes, except for the girl I caught at the National Theatre at the city centre before it was too dark.

    @ Kissi: Here lies ABC, a good man. He would not pee on his own grave. But he'd pee on Nelson Mandela. D'you mean something like that?

    @ Kwame M-B: Awww, poor Luthuli, and Machel, and Nkrumah. Oh, oh.

    @

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