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By Isaac Ato MENSAH
\nAccra \u2013 10 December, 2018.<\/p>\n
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Friday the 7th December was the national Farmers and Fishermen\u2019s Day holiday.<\/p>\n
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I joined a group of children in the afternoon at the Efua Sutherland Children\u2019s Park in Accra.<\/p>\n
The filth and rubbish right from the gate, opposite the Kempinski Gold Goast City was annoying.<\/p>\n
I was in two minds about taking pictures, especially of children at play in a park full of rubbish.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, I formatted my phone and cleared all the pictures. I did not care.<\/p>\n
Why?<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/writersghana.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/IMG-20181129-WA0022-225x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Because just like the Independence Square situation, after 30 days I will still go and meet the filth.<\/p>\n
In the park are open gutters filled with mosquito breeding stagnant water, rubbish and all.<\/p>\n
The railway track in the park had a broken down engine with a child trying to fix something in it.<\/p>\n
And just to the back of it, part of the wooden sleeper which can support the track for 70 years before rotting had been burned by human activity.<\/p>\n
Whatever was being burned on the spot only heaven knows.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/writersghana.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/images-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
At a point I did not want to do any story. Then I met an old time friend. She was there with her husband working as vendors.<\/p>\n
She told me about poor sales and took me to other vendors who had serious complaints.<\/p>\n
‘You\u2019ve taken 250 Cedis (USD 50) from us and you\u2019re letting other vendors come in and also sell\u2019, said the first vendor. \u2018It\u2019s very bad.\u2019<\/p>\n
One vendor showed me five ice chests full of fresh yoghurt at 3pm. \u2018I paid 300 Cedis to the organisers\u2019, she complained.<\/p>\n
Some said the vendors were too many for the expected participants. \u2018They promised us 5000 children will come but the number is far less\u2019, another said.<\/p>\n
I could easily have been molested because even though my friend had introduced me as a blogger, others thought I was among the organisers.<\/p>\n
Some threatened to give the organisers negative publicity on social media. \u2018They promised us Kuami Eugene will perform his live music here\u2019, charged yet another. \u2018Look at the time. It\u2019s past 3pm.\u2019<\/p>\n
A lady complained about poor sanitation. \u2018I\u2019ve been selling at events in America,\u2019 she expressed her frustration. \u2018I even brought a container for rubbish.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018They will not even come and ask if they should announce anything for you, complained a vendor with a high social media following.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, a rep of the organisers appeared and the heat was turned onto him.<\/p>\n
\u2018Didn\u2019t I suggest to you how we should handle the sanitation\u2019, she charged at the rep.<\/p>\n
She then showed us pictures of the 30th anniversary of Alpha Beta Education Centre in Dansoman where the sanitation was beautifully handled.<\/p>\n
The vendors now left Matthew Essuman, the rep and I alone to attend to their sales, and of course I fired him many questions.<\/p>\n
\u2018We paid for sanitation to someone working at the ministry of children\u2019s affairs’, he responded and readily gave me a name and telephone number when I asked.<\/p>\n
The amount paid he said was confidential information.<\/p>\n
\u2018Some of the things go beyond the organisers\u2019, he responded on the vendors space allocation. \u2018We arranged everything but the vendors kept moving and taking other people\u2019s tables. We had to bring in military guys to restore order.\u2019<\/p>\n
I saw the soldiers in uniform but I did not know their mission.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/writersghana.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/images-4.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
On the appearance of the musician Kuami Eugene he explained that the organisers had paid in advance for his appearance so it was a simple matter of collecting their monies back.<\/p>\n
\u2018Six thousand children have come here today\u2019, he responded to the poor sales problem. \u2018Maybe the kids don\u2019t know your product.\u2019<\/p>\n
I pressed him further on the burning issue of charging kids 10 Cedis (USD 2) per head, vendors an average of 200 Cedis (USD40) and allowing other vendors to come in and sell.<\/p>\n
\u2018If we have to compensate some of them we will do that to build a future relationship\u2019, Essuman graciously offered after the lady passionate about sanitation had threatened to report to the health minister whom she claimed to be a brother.<\/p>\n
When all was quiet, something very unsafe unfolded.<\/p>\n
Every now and then someone will announce that Kuami Eugene had arrived.<\/p>\n
The children will then run all the way toward the gate, get the wrong signal and return running with some other announcement.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/writersghana.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/images-5.jpg\")
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At 4:13pm the musician arrived.<\/p>\n
There was a speeding car on the park with children running around and in front of it. I held my mouth and prayed.<\/p>\n
My school kids had been summoned into their coaches earlier and departed just two minutes later.<\/p>\n
The organisers from my school had decided that they had had enough.<\/p>\n
\u2018They promised us Kuami Eugene will arrive between 2:30 and 3pm.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s now 4:15pm\u2019, explained Alfred Adjetey, an organiser from my school, as the coaches stopped in front of Kempinski for a negotiation with the kids. \u2018It\u2019s now 4:15pm. Soon your parents will be calling. And it\u2019s not like Kuami Eugene will be the first to perform. By the time he will be done it will be past 7:30pm.\u2019<\/p>\n
Most of the children were so hurt inside. \u2018It\u2019s not like he didn\u2019t come\u2019, said one student. \u2018We can see him live with our eyes and the bus is moving.\u2019<\/p>\n
Others rehearsed how those who refused to pay and attend the event will mock them.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/writersghana.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/download-1.jpg\")
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Efua Theodora Sutherland had brought traditional African drama into formal study in academic institutions and advocated children\u2019s parks.<\/p>\n
This certainly is not the brand she envisaged and promised. The park was named in her honour by the government of Ghana.<\/p>\n
What will you do if the name of your church, school or family is held in vain?
\nWhat\u2019s in a name? Have you asked that question before?<\/p>\n
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Feedback; ato@writersghana.com<\/p>\n
Writers and Shakespeares Ghana Limited exists to be a moral and intellectual guide to the best practice of PR and integrated communications around the world, beginning with Ghana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"