My car, SPIRIT, was 16 years old when I imported it last year... and I nearly cried when I had to pay an arm, a leg and probably one functioning kidney in duty and overage penalties.
But you know what's funny...
It looks better, drives better and is, overall, a safer car than many of these accident cars people import, drag to a body shop and join together like a hobby time project.
There are accident cars we import that are barely a year old but those cars would fail every proper safety test known to man.
But some self-styled panel beater oo s3 welder oo s3 bodyworks artisan, will hammer it for weeks, pull the chassis back into shape with more faith than a member of evangelist mama Pat's church, apply more filler than the foundation of a call girl at the Togo Embassy Roundabout, spray it, polish it and sell it to some banker for an amount that could easily have been seed capital for a small entrepreneur to start their hustle.
Then we turn around and say the problem is a well-maintained car simply because it is over 10 years old.
I mean How?
How can you tell me this story???
We're encouraging the importation of newer death traps while discouraging properly maintained older and classic cars... it's absolutely vexing, to say the least!
If the concern is safety, then please, let's inspect the cars properly. Check the chassis, structural integrity, brakes, emissions and roadworthiness.
Because clearly we think age alone makes a car unsafe... Meanwhile we're leaving write-offs that could not hold a candle to the trotros that ply the labadi, osu, cantonments routes, to be driven around with just a fresh coat of paint and call them roadworthy.
If we can get the fundamentals right, everything else will follow. Please call your officials and commit to fixing this once and for all. Thank you, sir.
#AccraFloods#FixOurDrains
@JDMahama Mr. President, leading a nation where our cities have flooded every time it rains for over 30 years is no small challenge. Rain is a natural occurrence. Flooding, however, is a consequence of man-made issues; choked drains, blocked waterways, inadequate planning