- Expanding on the ten-year cashew project on his own accord, he said he was all for it, as cashew trees are unlike Guinea fowls, and thus unlikely to grow long wings that can willingly or unwillingly force them to take a one way flight to neighboring countries like Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, and even to Togo, where they may likely consider the fifty-year-old dynastic rule of the Eyadema family a deterrent.
A novel group of youthful Ghanaian entrepreneurs based in Laterbiokorshie, Accra, identifying themselves as the ‘Manholers and Potholers’, have, in the typical germane sense of the Ghanaian approach to finding solutions to local problems, come up with a unique way to utilize the manholes and potholes that abound on several of the country’s streets to the fullest maximum.
The group, presently undertaking a new project christened ‘Manholing and Potholing for Food’, have taken over several of the unkempt and abandoned potholes within their communities, and have started planting plantain and banana trees in them.
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The group claims it’s a better alternative to letting the crumbling potholes and manholes lie fallow, as the authorities have continuously failed to respond to appeals to fix them.
According to one of the unemployed prodigies behind the project, who laid claim to wielding a B.Sc. Ag. from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and opted to remain anonymous, they are looking into expanding the project in the near future with the support of a fleet of mobile SUV’s, whose operators will coordinate locations based on geospatial data from GhanaPostGPS.
He said all their plans will depend on their ability to secure funding from the government and private entities in the country, as they are presently not interested in approaching international bodies and foreign agents for funding, due to the possibility of them freaking out at the idea.
Banana/plaintain trees planted int the middle of the street to draw the attention of public officials.
He expressed strong optimism that project ‘Manholing and Potholing for Food’ has the potential of rivaling, if not overtaking, the NPP government’s much-touted, year-old ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ program, and that the coal, tar, and stretch of the country’s roads could be the only limitation holding them back, should they taste success in the program’s first phase, and then take on a gargantuan project such as the ten-year Cashew Development Plan, recently launched by the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, at Wenchi, in the Brong Ahafo Region, under the Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) project.
Expanding on the ten-year cashew project on his own accord, he said he was all for it, as cashew trees are unlike Guinea fowls, and thus unlikely to grow long wings that can willingly or unwillingly force them to take a one way flight to neighboring countries like Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, and even to Togo, where they may likely consider the fifty-year-old dynastic rule of the Eyadema family a deterrent.
He, however, expressed some wariness about the cashew nuts ending up in the stomachs of locals, especially Senior High School students, as they continue their alternative search for avenues to improve the pricey, miserable meals from the school feeding program at school, with the alacrity of a driver bent on avoiding the potholes on the Dodowa to Yamoransa highway.
Touching on the possibilities, another member, who was very high on the plan, hinted that planting plantain seedlings alone for all the potholes and manholes in the country can decrease the numbers of unemployed by several folds, especially should their plan to diversify into other crops pan out.
All in all, he noted that project ‘Manholing and Potholing for Food’ can easily dwarf the recent employment numbers of 745,000 touted by the Minister of Agriculture, as inroads made against unemployment rate in the agricultural sector.
He added that residents and drivers have been very receptive to the project; drivers on their part can now keep their heads up, as the trees are easy pointers to where the dangerous potholes and manholes are, in addition to saving money from frequent tire damages inflicted by the potholes and manholes. For residents, it’s been a great relief, as the use of the standing water from the open faced gutters on the plants has led to a strong attrition in the mosquito population.
Disclosure: Someone or some people did indeed plant the banana plants as shown in the image to draw attention to the ‘pothole situation’. The rest is parody, written with the hope of boosting their course.
