Taxi Ride For Cow Ends In Tragedy
“Downtown, and step on it…”
We probably should not bother with this, but the title has that certain je ne sais quoi which makes all resistance useless. Further, given our ongoing interest in cows – (here) and (here) – as well as in African journalism – (here), (here) and (here) – all we could do in the end was go for it. The piece below is from the daily “Ghanaian Times” of Accra and, as far as we can tell, is not under copyright. It can, for the moment at least, also be found online (here). As usual, we are putting up the full text only in order to preserve it for all of humanity…
At any rate, the paper this comes from is published by the New Times Corporation (NTC) of Ghana, whose official company history is a reminder of the complexity of corporate life in certain markets:
“THE NEW TIMES CORPORATION (NTC), formerly known as THE GUINEA PRESS LIMITED, was established by the first President of Ghana, the late President Kwame Nkrumah, in 1957, as the printing house for his political party – THE CONVENTION PEOPLE’S PARTY (CPP).
“After the overthrow of the late President in a military putsch in 1966, THE GUINEA PRESS was taken over as a state property by NLCD (National Liberation Council Decree) 130 of 1968.
“In 1971 the PRESS was transformed into THE NEW TIMES CORPORATION by an Instrument of Incorporation – Act 363, 1971, which also repealed THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS (GUINEA PRESS LIMITED – INTERIM RECONSTITUTION DECREE) which acquired it as state property. That Act was given further recognition by the provision of PNDC Law 42.”
In Africa, the peculiar conventions of local journalism may also apply to the corporate website of the publisher, so we find NTC bragging, under the title “CHECKERED HISTORY”, that: “In the brightly recollected space of bygone years, the NTC was selling not less than 120,000 copies of its Ghanaian Times a day. However, with the proliferation of newspapers on the news-stand, its market share which stood at 45 per cent for the Ghanaian Times and 65 per cent for the Weekly Spectator has now reduced to 35 per cent for Ghanaian Times and 50 per cent for the Weekly Spectator.”
We’re certain things will all work out for the best though, as long as the flagship daily can keep this kind of news in the pipeline…
Taxi Ride For Cow Ends In Tragedy
By Times Reporter
Tuesday, 17 April 2007
It certainly could not be the best means of transporting a cow. But when the animal settled peacefully in the back seat of the taxi cab without a struggle at the beginning of the journey, both driver and his passenger believed they had hit on an innovation of transporting the animal from Sunyani to Wenchi, both in the Brong-Ahafo Region. The peaceful journey did not last long however. A few kilometres into the journey, the bull in the animal took the better half of it and it struggled to break free, rocking the cab violently.
By the time the cab, a Tico model, known in local parlance as “Akodaa” reached Chiraa, the centre could no more hold. The cab somersaulted throwing the owner away, but the cow remained on board.
According to an eyewitness, Mr Richard Sanaky, an officer of the Retired Mines workers Foundation who was among the first to reach the scene, the cow got injured. Its owner on the front seat allegedly fled the scene. But the driver was not that lucky. He died instantly.
According to Mr Sanaky, he was on his way to Wa in the Upper West Region, when he saw the accident and captured the scene with his camera.
The eyewitness claimed that the accident attracted farmers from surrounding area who helped to pull-out the body of the driver from the wreckage. But the police at Chiraa told the Ghanaian Times that they were unaware of the accident.
The dazed cow in the wreck of the taxi is (here).
