Ghana embraces Salsa

By Bernard Yaw Ashiadey

Dance is at the heart of all traditional African societies, and Ghana is certainly no exception. No wonder a dance like salsa has come to stay, extending its influential magic to both the young and old in a country that loves to dance.

Salsa dance movements originate from the ‘Cuban Son’ dancing of the 1920s’ more specifically through the beats of ‘Son Montuno’ with influences from the dance of ‘Danzon, Mambo, Guaguanco and Afro-Cuban’ folklore dancing.

The dance started in Ghana around 1997, by a trendy Jamaican-born woman fondly known as Patsy and her suave partner Enoch. It started in her home as friends joined them and news of the opportunity to learn salsa grew.

They then formed a club called the Latin Club and began teaching classes at what was called Costa Rica restaurant, located at Ringway Hotel. For a short while also, Afrikiko became the centre of the salsa scene.

In April 2001, another salsa club was opened at the University of Ghana, Legon campus, by Lumo Bortei-Doku, a dance enthusiast who learned his first steps from Patsy. The concept of the club, called DANCATION, was, and still, is to develop the salsa talent in Ghana to the point where it could be further promoted through a sustainable television programme.

Other clubs began forming around Accra and throughout Ghana including at 7^th Heaven in Tema and on the KNUST campus, Kumasi. The influence of these various clubs has seeped into our culture and is increasingly apparent at state banquets, weddings, beauty pageants, gospel rock shows, nightclubs and in music videos and TV Ads.

Currently Citi Fm, a leading innovator in radio broadcasting, organises a salsa programme called ‘Salsa Mania’ at the Coconut Grove Regency Hotel every Wednesday from 7pm to 10pm. The event brings together salsa lovers and dancers of all ages, business executives and members of the general public to dance, relax, network with each other and release the stress of the week.

In an interview with B&FT Weekend, Programmes Manager of Citi Fm and Presenter of ‘Salsa Mania,’ Jessica Opare Saforo, said Citi Fm started ‘Salsa Mania’ about seven years ago with about 20 people because they saw that people wanted an avenue to express themselves while Citi Fm itself wanted to do something different.

“We at Citi Fm saw the need to entertain Ghanaians with something different during the middle of the week, so we came up with the idea of ‘Salsa Mania’ and the public loved it.

“Even though, salsa is not a Ghanaian dance, Ghanaians are really patronising salsa and every Wednesday we witness about 300 to 500 young and old Ghanaians listening and dancing to salsa at the Coconut Groove Regency Hotel,” she said.

There are a few basic steps of salsa. The most common are the three-weight changes or steps in each four-beat measure. The beat on which one does not step might contain a tap or kick, or weight transfer may simply continue with actual steps not occurring until the next beat. The option chosen depends upon individual choice and upon the specific style being danced.

One of the steps is called a break, which involves a change in direction. Different styles are often differentiated by the timing of the break stop (On Beat “Down break on 1” or off beat “Up beat on 2”). After six weight changes in eight beats, the basic step cycle is complete. While dancing, the basic step can be modified significantly as part of the improvisation and styling of the people dancing.

Salsa has several styles just like any other dance genre. These include the Columbian or Cali, Cuban or Casino, Miami-style casino, Rueda de Casino, Los Angeles, New York and Puerto Rico style.

Duffour appeals to car makers

By Bernard Yaw Ashiadey

The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffour, has urged vehicle manufacturing companies to set up manufacturing plants on this part of the continent.

He made this statement at the handing-over of 149 trucks, trailers and other equipment to Global Haulage Company Limited in Accra by a consortium of banks.

“The time is long overdue for sub-Saharan Africa to have its own vehicle manufacturing plant. I therefore want to suggest to companies to seriously consider setting up manufacturing plants in our sub-region to produce vehicles specifically designed for our environment.

“I want to believe that Renault, a company that has been in Ghana for years, will make up its mind to come to Africa; and when they do, they will have no better place than in Ghana,” he said.

Across sub-Saharan Africa, only South Africa is recognised as a vehicle manufacturing destination, with total annual production under 1million units.

This is partly due to the relatively small size of the region’s automobile market and competition from investment destinations in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.

Car plants provide thousands of jobs and could possibly raise the continent’s manufacturing capacity.

The Minister lauded the efforts of banks in support of private-sector development.

“I commend Merchant Bank, Ghana Commercial Bank, HFC, National Investment Bank, Intercontinental Bank and Barclays Bank for your support to private sector development in the country.

“I also thank Van Vliet and Renault for your collaboration to make this transaction a success and hope you have accepted my invitation to come to Ghana,” he added.

In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister of Roads and Highways, Joe Gidisu, stressed the need for freight vehicles to eschew overloading, so as to reduce accidents on our roads and also keep the roads in good conditions.

“About 3.6% of roads accidents are caused by freight vehicles, of which 17% are caused by overloading. Research also indicates that if vehicles are not overloaded, road accidents will be considerably reduced,” he said.

The government spent US $271m in the repair of roads all over the country,” he said, saying the ministry is doing everything possible to enforce the Axle Load Law in order to preserve the country’s roads.

Let the Games Begin…

By Bernard Yaw Ashiadey

This is how the Vice President, John Mahama, on behalf of the President, declared the commencement of the National Unity Games over the weekend at the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium.

The National Sports Festival, which was formally known as the Founders Day Games(after independence), Revolutionary Anniversary Games(during the PNDC era), and now National Unity Games, seeks to display the talents and skills of about 5000 sportsmen and women from across the ten regions and the security services.

Under the theme, “Uniting the people through sports,” the events brings together 20 sporting disciplines, which include, football, volleyball, tennis(U-16), table tennis, cycling, swimming, netball, amateur boxing, badminton ,athletics ,hockey, handball, judo, karate-do, scrabble, chess, weightlifting, disabled sports and taekwondo.

The activities which will be held from the 17^th to 26^th of this month, are being hosted by the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium, University of Ghana, National Hockey Stadium, Prisons Complex, PRESEC (Legon) and ATTC (Kokomlemle)

The essence of the National Unity Games is to provide an ideal setting for the youth to honour their land of birth on the wings of sports.

It is also an avenue to give the youth from the various regions the opportunity to learn to live together as members of one grand family.

The festival also provides an opportunity for technical personnel of the country’s sports administration and the various national sports associations for talent hunting to strengthen the national teams for the various disciplines preparing for international competitions, which consist of ECOWAS Sports Festival, which will be hosted in Accra next year, All Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique and the 2012 London Olympics.

The Vice President in his speech said, this unity Games is undoubtedly one of the biggest stages and opportunities for our young athletes to showcase the talent they have and make their regions and other outfits proud.

“Lets us all feel and show the passion around and make our various contribution for a highly successful unity games. The country is afforded a big platform to unearth more sporting talents for the future glory of the nation,” he said.

Mr. Nii Armah Ashitey, the Greater Accra Regional Minister charged the technical members, referees, umpires and judges to be unbiased in officiating so that the games would be fairly decided.

Africa Digital Week 2011 slated for Accra

Accra will play host to Africa’s premier ‘Digital Week’ slated for July 26^th to 29^th.

The three-day conference will see delegates from Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Malawi, Ethiopia and Liberia converge in Accra to discuss experiences of African governments, private and non-governmental institutions in using new and emerging digital technologies.

It also seeks to promote the strategic understanding of the role of digital technologies in achieving the millennium development goals and good governance.

The conference is under the auspices of the Ministry of Communication and is being organised by African Institute for Development Informatics and Policy (AIDIP), Ghana; PearlRichards Foundation, Ghana; and Africa E-governance Academy (AfegA).

The Digital Week is scheduled to have one conference, two workshops and a three-day exhibition.

The conference theme is ‘Social Media, The Youth and Development’. It will examine ways in which capabilities and competences of the youth and graduates can support business, development and good governance in Africa.

The exhibition event is to launch and showcase new and innovative technologies, services and products from entrepreneurs and African companies.

A special feature will be the launch of VIVA Africa Multimedia – An Internet Television for the Internet Generation of Africa.

The workshop will review case studies and policies of e-democracy and e-government across Africa and comes under the theme: “New Technologies and Governance - Can a Government Be Open without being Public?”

A policy dialogue for policymakers and academics form civic society to explore electronic governance policies in Africa began with an online policy engagement from 1-15^th July, and will conclude with a panel discussion during the conference.

The conference will be concluded with the launch of a book, titled, “The African Woman, A Role Model for the Girl Child.” The objective is to inspire and empower girls in positions of leadership and achievement.

Fairgreen and PFU introduce Fujitsu scanners

By Bernard Yaw Ashiadey

An I.T. Solutions Company, Fairgreen Ltd, in partnership with PFU Imaging Solutions Ltd, has introduced a range of Fujitsu scanners onto the I.T market.

The scanners, according to the Country Manager of Fujitsu for the Africa Region, Adrian Cafferkey, are Personal-ScanSnaps (S 1100, S 1300, and S 1500), which are used to scan documents at home, and Workgroup Scanners (fi-6230 and fi-6130) which scan office documents.

The rest are Production Scanners (fi-6800 and fi-5900C), which are able to scan 90 and 135 pages a minute respectively, and Departmental Scanners (fi-6240, fi-6750, and fi-4340C), which are used to scan forms, letters and emails in departmental offices.

The scanners have software called AnyDoc Software, which offers automated solutions to quickly, easily and accurately classify, capture and process all documents - including invoices, letters, e-mails, forms, contracts, licences, passports, medical records and personnel records. It also successfully stores the documents onto your computer.

He stated that banks, hospitals, ministries and other governmental agencies do a lot of paperwork; they therefore need Fujitsu scanners to scan all these documents and store them as back-up for future references.

The Chief Operating Officer of Fairgreen Ltd, Mark Cofie Jnr, said the advantage Fujitsu scanners have over other brands is the speed, exceptional image and paper handling it delivers. He added that the scanners are best in class and ensure reliable scanning even with mixed batches of documents.

Fairgreen Ltd is the only authorised dealer of the product in the country and has the requisite technical capabilities to solve any problem that arises with the product.

The scanners, depending on the maintenance level of the end-user, have a life span of between 5 to 10 years, and the products come with a one-year warranty.