Francis Kokutse
Amid the bustle and clamour of delegates around Accra, most ordinary Ghanaians still wonder what the fuss is about.
Hospitable Accra has once again drawn delegates from all over the world to meet and to talk.
This time it is about how to make aid effective, with about 1200 officials from governments, donor agencies and civil society gathered at the 3rd High Level Forum. That’s HLF3.
But amid the bustle and clamour of delegates around the Accra International Conference Centre, most ordinary Ghanaians still wonder what the fuss is about.
Joseph Owusu, 45, a taxi driver who lives at Osu near the conference venue where he was seen the preparations take place: “I don’t understand what the High Level Forum means because no one has mentioned it to me. Well, if you say it is about aid, even that is not clear to me.
“Me, I’m a taxi driver and pass in front of the conference centre most of the time. I see people going there to do their business … other than that, I’m just driving my car. I’m not sure how it would benefit me because these conference people don’t normally take taxis – they come in buses ready-supplied for them and official cars.
“Well that is life…”
Rita Mensah, an 18-year-old high school graduate, lives at North Ridge, which is also close to the conference centre. She thinks such conferences may be “good for Ghana.”
“I heard the news on television and one man said it has something to do with the Paris Declaration and all that …The people who have come, I have heard, have given enough jobs to hotels. My father says most of the big hotels are full. That is good for the economy of Ghana, isn’t it?
“These meetings are meant for the top people, so it is not a crime for me if I don’t know what it means.”
Forty-year-old union member Doe Nutor clearly had some knowledge of the goings-on at the conference centre.
“I know some of the women in my union, the Timber Workers Union, have been involved with discussions on this conference…I know that the High Level Forum is taking place.
I am not sure if I know everything about it. It is supposed to be a discussion to make aid effective so that people see what it is used for.
“It is important because we read about aid coming to Ghana but we are not sure what it has achieved so far.”
Dovi Messan, a 55-year-old food seller at Osu, has seen an increase in the number of foreigners in the city since last week:
“I am not sure I understand what meeting you’re talking about. So many meetings take place in Accra… why should this one interest me? Everybody does what his or her work is. Mine is to sell food and that is what I do.”
