Chronicles of Wofa Ampong Kwesi

  One day there we were having a departmental meeting discussing plans on how we were going to revive one of our most beloved brands. This brand used to do very well but due to a business decision to prioritize another brand over this brand, the bottle format of our beloved brand had been out of stock for more than 18 months. When this brand was launched, I was a second-year student at the University of Ghana, Legon. This drink was my go-to drink anytime I had lunch at the Odo Rise Restaurant in the Akuafo Hall of the university. I must confess that I had lunch there every working day of the week. This means that I had this drink every Monday to Friday. The brand then was positioned as the best of both worlds (a blend of Malt and Cola). This novelty was generally accepted and patronized by the market when it was introduced to the Ghanaian consumer. This was because it was the very first time such a product had hit the market and as the typical Ghanaian consumer trend would have i...

  The Marketing Director stood in front of her office and called out my name to come for a short discussion in her office. I immediately got up, walked into her office and sat in one of the two chairs positioned next to her side round table in her office. She then proceeded to ask. “Kwame, when is the scheduled date for your wedding with Sabina?” I replied “9th April”. Then she dropped the bombshell, “You have to postpone your wedding. It cannot come off on April 9 th ”. The reason was not due to illness, the death of a colleague or relative or something devastative. Let me rewind and take you back to events leading to this interesting directive from my Marketing Director. Can I? My church adheres to a strict 6 months counselling session ahead of any marriage. They had over the years stressed that they do not embark on any emergency weddings. They still stress this fact today. I and Sabina enrolled to be part of the counselling class in September 2010 ahead of commencement in O...

 A story is told of a man called James who had a very interesting encounter with a group of guys at a traffic intersection he uses every single day. I saw this story some 24 months ago and thought, his experience was interesting and strange until a similar thing happened to me at N’Adom’s school on the last day of school in December last year. Let’s talk about the experiences of James first after which I will share mine with you.   James drove a BMW X6. Those who are into cars know the caliber of a BMW X6 car. If you have no idea, just Google it. Whenever James got to the traffic light at Opeibea in Accra, the boys who wipe car windscreens for coins rush to him, smile, and attempt to clean his car windshield. He always prevented them from cleaning his screen, but that did not stop them from smiling at him, showering him with their usual praises “Boooorsuu, Honorable, Chief Justice and to a point IGP”.   He always gave them some “coins” because he was of the notion that ...

I wanted to name this piece, What is Ghanaian Hospitality If We Cannot Help Each Other or Believe In Your Inner Instincts,  but when I shared the story during a meeting as part of a safety share moment, Seth reminded me that the story depicts the Good Samaritan Jesus spoke about in the gospels. I still choose to go with the original title I intended to use for better impact. After reading my true story, I will leave you to pick any of the titles above based on which one suits you. In the morning I planned to visit the Volta region to do a recce for my organized trip scheduled for later this year, I went outside to start packing my things into my car boot. I realized that one of Uncle Nana’s car tyres was “down flat”. I called out to him to inform him about it. He came out and said asked whether I had a jack in my car. I was not sure I heard him well because I was in the bedroom and he was outside. When I came back outside he was already by his car jacking it up with N’Adom givi...

  Weddings are one of the most important milestones in the lives of couples seeking to get married. The day signifies a seal of their relationship as man and wife and comes with all the fashion and grandeur one can imagine. Most people who attend a wedding ceremony/event see all the colorful kinds of stuff and go home with the impression that all went well. Some even go to the extent of comparing it with previous weddings they have attended to pass judgment on which one was better attended, more colorful, better organized, and of course, which one the bride and groom kiss better. I dare say that some couples even plan to outdo their friends who had their wedding days/weeks/months before them. The whole process of the wedding i.e. planning and execution of the ceremony itself including the honeymoon comes with so many challenges. There are known unknowns and some unknown unknowns. I aim to bring you true stories of issues and challenges that occurred to friends of mine with the so...

  Between the time I published “Wedding Wahala 18+” and now, a lot has happened. I was supposed to pin three or four blogs but for personal reasons, I had to shelve them. Someone felt one of the blogs I was intended to publish as I announced the title was about her so she “corned” me backstage to sweet talk me out of releasing it. Well, I have suspended it for now but be sure to read about it before the end of the year. Something happened in April, I am not permitted to say what it was but the event of that month triggered this piece. Not a pleasant thing to happen to this close friend of mine but I will pray for strength and hope God sees this person through life. When I was preparing for my wedding 5 years ago, Elorm, Ben, Sammy and my wife-to-be drew the wedding budget. The template I used came from my one and only Low Down Pop Corn (Freda Safo-Nyame). Auntie Free as we affectionately call her even gave me a standard engagement list which I must say was spot on comparing her...