Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Electric Bills & 'Compound' Houses in the City of Accra

A compound clustered with twenty tiny cubicles - detached or semi - with twenty families 'tadpoled' into them. Human activity is measured by one power meter.

One government worker possesses the Tv, the hot plate, the iron, the fan and the fridge. Nineteen other families 'temp' his toys from him; cook their gruel on his hot plate, preserve their meat in his fridge and watch cheap South American Tv soaps into his sleeping time.

When the electric shock (sorry, bill) kicks in on the 29th, the landlord, without calculating, coldly carves a chubby chunk for 'white collar' to settle. The 19 families plead penury and unemployment and 'snitch' that it is the government man who hoards the Tv and other gainful gadgets. Nobody wishes to install a separate meter for their room alone.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone

4 comments:

  1. lol. I know this. I know this very well. lol. You are smart NYA.

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  2. Aptly captured. Reminds me of my "kid" days in La - living in a communal (compound) house proudly showing off about 60 inmates divided into 12 odd families.

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  3. Haha. I used to 'share' the bill when I was in SS. Calculating points and things, mehn! memories...

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  4. lol This is a great article, and a great topic to explore. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete

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