All about Accra & Ghana is:
Tourist Info for First Timers
Police & Law and Order
From the editors experience the average Ghanaian citizen, in social terms has probably has more of a sense of justice , and is more prepared to dish out punishment, where warranted than the average British Citizen. They take theft very seriously and have witnessed a couple of beatings against thieves for what would be considered in the UK fairly trivial matters.
Law in general is fairly flimsy and corruption quite rife. Ata Mills the president reported that he was disgusted when Custom Officers were filmed dancing at the port after receiving substantial bribes. I witnessed a police officer in uniform trying to extort money at the road side from a taxi driver over an issue about whether fees had been paid to the local assembly allowing the vehicle to operate as a Taxi. Everything was in order since I was a passenger in this taxi and I owned it!
On some issues the Police seem to act like social workers , one Policeman told me he was arresting a man after receiving a complaint from his wife stating she was pregnant, but her man had run off with another women. This would be a social worker case in the UK .
One area to be particularly careful is in the purchase of land. If you visit Ghana and fall in love with the place , think twice about buying land. Without going into detail too much here , it is not uncommon for the same piece of Land to be sold three times to different people.
One other thing to mention is that Ghanaians seem to worship the god of chaos , since they have no conception of queuing , so if your in a queue for a taxi and your at the front, don’t be surprised when Ghanaians just push in front of you. By the way Ghanaians are easily offended
Hospitls & Clinics
For a list of hospitals go to the database Database
Mosquitoes and other nasties
Mosquito and anti-malaria information
Currency Coins and Bank Notes
notes
Currency was re-valued from 2007 but now no old notes are, or should be, in circulation. The old currency was the Cedi with 100 Pesewas being equivalent to one Cedi. Exchange rates in 2007 of the old Cedi was about 17,000 Cedi to the pound.
50 peswas coin
The new currency is also the Cedi again with 100 new Pesewas making up One new Cedi, obviously this makes for the potential of confusion. The definitive distinction is that new Cedi notes have a GH¢ character before the number on the notes (see photo).
Currency rates are variable but one pound Sterling is equivalent to around 2.3 new Cedis as of September 2009.
To make things more complicated a lot of Ghanaians still talk and quote figures in the old Cedis. To convert old Cedis to new Cedis divide old Cedis by 10,000.
There are plenty of banks such as Barclays in Kumasi and Accra, for currency exchange if you need it. Also The ATMs work OK with Visa such as Barclaycard, due to fraud its best to tell your bank your travelling to Ghana, and how long you are staying. Banks have security guards sitting outside next to the ATMs to help park cars, and watch out for you which i found very reassuring
Internet Access
Most towns and cities even villages have internet cafe however if you wish to have your own private connection USB dongle modems can be purchased for around 60 Cedis which is around 30 pounds. Companies selling the modems and proving an ISP service include Vodafone, Airtel Tigo and MTN. Service is sporadic, Zain used to be excellent with speeds of around 7.2 Mbs ,but they got taken over by Airtel which is not 3G.
Getting About
There are basically three ways of getting about ;
The first is just to hail a cab, drivers generally can be trusted ; the condition of the
cabs can be variable. In some cases you can see the road through the floor of the cab and others
with rags stuffed in the hole where the petrol caps should be, could be described as
" Molotov cocktails on four wheels " .To give you a rough idea of cost you can hire a cab all day from around 65
Cedis which is around £ 33.
The second way is to use Tro Tros which are usually old VW vans ; they are not state run but privately owned, sometimes by the driver themselves often by small businessmen.
A & O coach station Kumasi
For longer journeys there are coaches such as State Transport Company (STC) coaches run by the state. From Accra to Kumasi as of 2011 will cost around 20 cedis. The coaches are air conditioned comfortable and safe. However they are the cheapest and thus also the busiest.
VIP coach Accra
It can be a bit manic getting a ticket and getting your seat. There are two privately owned coaches I have used which are V.I.P coaches and A & O coaches. They are slightly more expensive than STC but more ordered, with specific seat numbers being issued so you dot have to fight after your seat. A &O had the better customer care
Electrical Supply
Being an Ex British Colony the Electrical supply is 220v -230v and the plugs are identical to British three pin plugs. Electrical supply though is sporadic so that in some areas there will be no supply for 3 days , which tends to happen in new development sites of the capital.
Also the supply current is Colony variable so a Stabilizer is recommend, these can be bought from any half decent electrical shop and cost around 60 to one hundred Cedis. Since the electric supply can just go off at any time without warning if you are using a desk top computer you will also need a UPS system.
Food
The editor found food in general quite safe and is probably related to the process of cooking for hours for stews, or deep frying in the case of fish. The only time I got real serious food poisoning was eating rice from a none Ghanaian restaurant.
This was probably due to Bacillus Cereus and he fact that the rice had been cooked many hours previous and just left out at room temperature.
One medicine which I would recommended for food poisoning is " Metrolex-F " containing Metronidazole & Furazolidone and has a picture of long intestines on the packet. The label states "kills even Cholera "
I do not know about that but certainly sorted out a persistent bout of diarrhoea for me, also a serious bought of food poisoning for my wife.(she ate at some ones buffet )
Buffet food is particularly high risk since the food is often prepared in advance & tends to sit in the sun , where the bacteria multiply rapidly.
Do not think after taking Metrolex-F that your kidneys are failing, due to the almost red colour of your urine! Obviously the medicine travels through the body system, including the kidneys.
On water do not drink from any tap. Bottled water such as Voltic is OK . Voltic also due a safe sachet water which is very cheap. A bottle of Voltic costs around 1.2 Cedis yet a large bag containing around 30 500ml sachets only costs around 1.5 cedis for the whole bag!
I use a type of pro biotic every evening to help prevent upsets called Saccharomyces boulardii, you can buy over the counter in France or Belgium or get it over the internet.
It does not have to be kept in the fridge like a like Acidophilus , just out of extreme heat. It actually belongs to the yeast family, and very effective in recovering from or preventing diarrhoea.
Web sites worth visiting for general advice:
foreign and commonwealth office web site
national travel health network centre
World health organisation
Scottish NHS public access web site