Ghana Drama Episode Two: Defects List

So Adios Holiflats at Airport Residential Area – the apartment that I have stayed for 3 months ever since I touched down in Accra on 19-September, 2009. Holiflats, not because it is holy or sort, simply it is owned and run by the same operator of Holiday Inn, Accra.

I moved in to this house at Abelemkpe on Monday 30-November and the first week was simply chaotic:-

• First and foremost there was not water supply to the house, Seth the agent told us the water mains connection was done but at the moment there was no water supply to this area and he had bought water from the truck to fill up the tank for us. Well, that’s quite generous for him as I told myself as it is quite common for shortage of water supply in Accra area so we just took for granted that Seth did all he could.
• Secondly the defect list I emailed to Seth was not duly done. For instance the “pin-holes” on the ceiling, water-stain inside the toilet, among others were not duly rectified. My request for putting a roof over the car porch had fallen into deaf ear. My written request for additional works like office layout, partitioning, etc. were not answered.
• I had to buy water from the truck at GHc80 per 750-gallon. But our storage tank can only hold 450-gallon. Each time we bought water, they supplied one full truck and pumped in whatever the tank can hold and went away with the balance; yet we still have to pay for the full truck load. Between 30-November and 15-December I have bought GHc210 worth of water. Oh ya, Ghc1 = RM2.44, the amount I spent on water can last me more than one year in Malaysia on water bill. The main cause of the high water consumption was severe pipe leakage and they simply failed to contain the problem!
• On 12-December I saw my neighbour’s Domestic Helper watering his garden and only then I found out that their water is from the main pipe. So I had to personally (not my Liaison Officer) summon the Maintenance Supervisor of Goldkey, Ishmael to tackle the problem. Ishmael is a tall and tough Ghanaian with a high-pitched voice. After a detailed discussion with him on my problems, he called all relevant parties immediately and promised me to iron out all issues within the same day. They managed to complete all rectification works and by 5:30pm when I came back to the house, Ishmael had arranged for the tank to be filled up and advised me to monitor the water in the tank and kept him duly informed of any leakage and he promised to come back at a phone call.
• What I am trying to say here is I have a Liaison Officer who is paid USD700 a month (a top range salary here fixed by my HQ top management from KL) and who is supposed to assist me in dealing with all these petty chores and I have a Domestic Helper whose job is to do all the house cleaning and take care of the household appliances including checking and monitoring any defective parts. It ended up I have to worry all these hassles myself. Ishmael on the other hand is not under my employment instead gave me full satisfaction with what he endeavored on his course of duty.
• On second day when I came back from outside, I found to my horror that the floor tiles in my Master Bedroom were bulging up! This warranted for immediate repair of substantial part of the floor tiles. So I had to move out of the Master Bedroom and squatted in one of the two guest rooms. That was on 1-December and I left it to my Liaison Officer to do all the coordination works. By 7-December the rectification has not been completed due to shortage of floor tiles and of course poor coordination between the liaising parties.



To be continued…

Back to work

Now is the 'transition period' for me as far as work is concerned, so I can sort of sit back and relax and yes, back to work on posting on my blog. It's time to recap some of the interesting events that I regard them as the 'Ghana Drama'.

So let the saga continues...

Fly Emirates – Flight Delay (Re-timed)

I confirmed my return trip (to KL) to be on 22nd July and the ETD as usual was at 1730hours Accra-Dubai, Emirates advised me to check in between 12.00 pm and 1.00 pm, so I duly complied and I actually went to Kotoka Airport at 12.30 pm in order to avoid the ‘Emirates overbooked usual practice’. After taking the hassle of opening and overturning my luggage to facilitate the GIS (Ghana Immigration Service) ‘soul-searching’, I sat myself down waiting for the check-in counter to open. Minutes later came the airport staff asking for passengers that go to Abijan, Cote D’Ivorie. While I told him I was heading for Dubai, he was a bit surprised and asked if I have received any phone call from Emirates informing the passengers that the flight had actually been re-timed (now they don’t use delay or re-schedule, probably because of legitimate implications) to 4 o’clock the next morning. Yes, 4.00 am, I didn’t hear it wrong! I was advised to go home and wait till 2030 hours when they started to check-in passengers. I didn’t hear it wrong either, 10.30 pm check-in for a flight depart at 4.00 am the next day; that is hell a long wait of 6 hours at the airport. The delay was simply due to ‘technical problem’, that is to say the jet engine developed problem and they need to fix it before flying over with the same air craft!

So check-in time at 2030 hours, repeat the pain-staking process of open and over-turning luggage to satisfy the GIS soul-searching. The reason they check-in passengers at 2030 hours was to kill two birds with one stone, i.e. they check in passengers for both Accra-Abijan and Accra-Dubai, a very much Déjà vu of Air Asia’s ‘cost effective’ practice. Imagine the plane arrives at 12 midnight and leave for Abijan at 1.00 am and return from Abijan at 4.00 am to pick up passengers bound for Dubai at 4.50 am, what it is like to be idling around in an airport like Kotoka? Further to my horror, my Dubai-KL flight was 03:15 hours next day! I asked the ground staff of Emirates and he told me ‘everything has been taken care of’ with regards to my connecting flight in Dubai as waiting for 11 hours at Dubai Airport is really a pain-staking experience unless I am flying Business Class. And being a Silver Member for the Skyward, I am not qualified to visit the Lounge at the airport. What’s the point of granting me Sliver Membership?

So, to cut a story short, the flight took off at 5.00 am Accra time and after 7 & a half hours waiting and 8 & a half hours flight time, I finally touched down Dubai at 5.30pm local time. Since my waiting time was more than 8 hours, Emirates sent me to Millennium Hotel at the airport as compensation (mentally and physically). Since the ETD was 3:15 am, so wake-up call was scheduled to be at 12:30am and I had to check out at 1:00 am; another restless night for me in order to catch my flight!

I arrived KLIA at 5.30 pm on 24th July, a total of 33 hours journey I have taken, a record for a Accra-Dubai-KL flight in reality.

Homeward Bound

Everyday's endless dream of cigarettes and magazines
Each town looks the same to me, the movies and the factories
And every stranger's face I see reminds of that I longed to be homeward bound
Homeward bound, I wish I was homeward bound
Home, when all my thoughts escaping
Home, when my music's playing
Home, when my love lies waiting silently for me
Silently for me...
(Paul Simon: Homeward Bound)

So, after nine months of drifting in this city of love and hate, it's finally time for me to pack and bound for home. Will I ever return here? Only time and fate will tell.

I always said with respect to experience, no matter a good one or a bad one, it is always the foot print that I have travelled. Regardless of the nature of the journey, the road will lead me to one new destination, for better or worse. But I will cherish the moment that I have spent here, may be after a while I will start to miss some of the wonderful events, some adorable people here.

So long Accra,I shall leave you for now.