Plaeces of Interest in Accra and Ghana- Makola and Kaneshie market

Makola Market consisted originally of two physical selling areas one and two; however there were allegations that various products considered illegal in Ghana were being sold particularly in one area, so Jerry Rawlings dealt with it in 1979 , if I have my dates right simply by flattening the offending market area.

The area flattened is now a car park appropriately called "Rawlings Square". Makola also know as 31st December market is a stones throw away from Kwame Nkrumah memorial park over the High St, and bounded by Kinbu, Thorpe Road( which becomes Kojo Thompson Avenue to the North), and Pagan Rd.

Jerry Rawlings square is particularly convenient if don't like walking unnecessarily with your arms laden for miles,but want to buy in bilk and stuff it straight in the boot of a taxi for transport to your hotel; because the main sprawling market area is within walking of the square.

Side of Kaneshie market from road

In fact what I did was to get the taxi to park in the Jerry Rawlings Square while I walked about 30 yards to a restaurant to eat fish and have a beer. I then phoned my mother-in-law who was buying in the market, to meet me in the restaurant with her goods. We then walked the 30 yards back to the taxi with goods in stow- now that's what I call shopping!

In Makola you can buy virtually anything from the traditional cloth Kente to fresh food produce, leather wax for the leather brief case ,I just bought in the cultural centre, imported foods, clothes,beads and batiks, and so on.

I didn't see many new age, none chauvinistic blokes like myself ,selling or buying in the market assuming they were all too sensible to be cajoled into the environment; but in fact just as Ghana has a generally matriarch social structure, the market is dominated by women traders who have a union type membership known as the "31st December Women's Movement". Organizations like these are designed to to improve the livelihoods and security of female market traders.

Kaneshie at the end of Dansoman is another market where virtually anything can be found and bought; what is the difference then between Kaneshie and Mokola you ask? Well my wife says Kaneshie has a reputation being more of a rip off, and full of crooks.

This translates to Makola being generally cheaper than Kanishie , otherwise there is no difference and you can get what ever they have at Kaneshie from Makola. The only other difference is that Makola is at ground level mainly, where Kaneshie started out as small shops in a high rise type block, with traders then spilling out as it were to the perimeter around the building

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So really it depends on where you are staying in Accra, simply go to the one thats nearest.