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Combine love, a bit of humour, 80s nostalgia and a pertinent social message about infrastructure underdevelopment and you get  Keteke.  Keteke , which means train in Akan, charts the escapades of heavily pregnant Atswei (played by Lydia Forson) and her husband Boi (Adjetey Anang) who are hell bent on getting to Atswei's village to give birth. But they miss the weekly train which forces them on an adventure filled with comic and nail-biting moments.  Debut This Ghanaian film was first screened in March 2017 in Accra and had its European debut at the London  Film Africa  festival in October to rave reviews. image sourced from zionflex.com Written, produced AND directed by relative newbie Peter Sedufia,  Keteke  takes a serious look at Ghana's failing train system and gives a human face to the plight of ordinary Ghanaians who have no choice but to use it. The idea behind the film came from Sedufia's contrasting experiences of accessing t...

Bamboo is equivalent in strength to steel The guy Ghanaians reportedly call the bamboo man came to London in June to promote his handmade bamboo bikes to the UK market. Kwabena Danso is the founder and ceo of Booomers - a range of bikes made in Ghana and designed to provide the healthier ones among us with a novel way of getting around. These bikes are also hoped to tackle Ghana's youth unemployment problem, and promote green transportation.  Ok, so these bamboo bikes are not completely made of bamboo. The frames are, but not the wheels, handles or gears, and there is no bamboo helmet (yet?!). Nevertheless, the invention has been eagerly embraced by bike enthusiasts all over Europe, Canada, USA and Australia.  Even the UK's Minister for Foreign Affairs and the figure behind the sponsored London bikes Boris Johnson also had a go on one when he paid a recent visit to Ghana.  Danso hasn't stopped riding them since coming to London for the first time in early June and...

This blog is written in tribute to every trotro (Ghanaian mini bus) I rode during my eight-month stay in Ghana. A must for every traveller ©  MisBeee Writes I know some people see them as rickety, rusty and dangerous forms of transport. But for me - a diasporan accustomed to the English bus system - trotros gave me unique insight into Ghanaian culture. They helped me navigate Accra's ordered yet chaotic roads and improved my mental arithmetic. Yes, it is true that a couple of my nice dresses got jammed and torn as I tried to descend from them. And I am the first to admit that I pondered getting a tetanus jab once or twice after drawing blood from the rusty vehicles. And YES I can still smell that acrid, sulphurous boiled egg aroma mixed with ‘scent e no, a gye bebia' (stale sweat). But believe me, I gained a whole lot more than I lost. Assimilation I came to live in Accra in 2008 before the new Achimota bus station was built. I was immediately baffled at...

Most days I get on the X68 bus and most days I see the odd person who ignores the bus number, the bus tannoy, the digital information screen, and even the bus driver’s announcements. But I would have to say that Monday 20 January was an exception....at LEAST 10 people unwittingly boarded the express bus. The reactions from each of them just goes to show that people have stopped reasoning or being observant. Or the X in express just messes with their minds. Image © Simon Bye For those of you unfamiliar with the West Croydon to Russell Square X68 service   – it is a godsend for those of us who believe train and tube travel has diminished in quality while the price of fares have moved in the opposite direction. Value for money This fabulous X68 ferries us (mainly office workers) to and from the City for the price of a single bus fair. The service is every 15 minutes and runs between peak times from Monday until Friday. And to top it all off, unlike a train service ...