Las Palmas Food Centre is too noisy
On Wednesday, July 6, this year, Mr Johnson Quashie’s franchise, Las Palmas Food Centre, expanded to First Light, Kaneshie, with a typical “Ghana-style” launch. Ghana-style launch basically means 7ft tall cluster of speakers which violently blare out music exceeding 10,000 watts, accompanied by dancers (cultural or western) to draw public attention.
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The launch followed this concept with predictable accuracy, playing excessively loud music which carried on till 2 a.m. First Light residents went to bed shortly after that. At exactly 7a.m Thursday, residents heard noise that would rival a massive advertising float that crawls through principal streets flaunting “new” products and pissing off both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. But no, Las Palmas was open for business; but come on, at 7 a.m with the same decibel level as the night before? Did someone forget that the launch ended yesterday?
So food was sold, soft (and hard) drinks and pastries were consumed, and Las Palmas had the last say on who slept and when they were allowed to. Staff closed shop between 1-2 a.m. but loud music accompanied staff while they tidied up the place for the next day long after the last customer had left. Staff live on the premises so some also watched TV while they dutifully kept First Light residents wide awake!
By Saturday, deprived of sleep coupled with epic head-and-ear aches, we made calls to their advertised contact numbers. One Yaa Akyaa Watts answered the call on 0572291558 as the other numbers 0244233341 and 0244841022 went unanswered. Yaa claimed the noise was an oversight and that she would deal with it. True to her word, in a few hours, the noise went down. Then by 8 p.m, there was commotion at the forecourt: four formation dancers were in full swing entertaining only God knows who! The music/noise was back to launch-day levels again and stayed so till 1:30 a.m. Yaa couldn’t explain this but came to First Light Sunday and met with us. She wanted us to talk to her staff about the noise, inside the premises. We declined the gesture, wondering what that was about! We preferred where we were at the frontal area of the food centre. Yaa told us that in her culture, meetings weren’t held outside so if we wouldn’t comply with her request, then too bad. She left us and walked away; end of story!
Today, nothing has changed even though the Accra Metropolitan Assembly office in Adjabeng has received a formal complaint. The director, one Dr Boateng, seemed poised for doing his official mandate but…….. How do I put this? After numerous visits to Las Palmas First Light by Dr Boateng’s enforcement officers and a reading taken which clocked them at more than double the accepted decibel level, nothing. That is a lie; after an encounter with one AMA officer at about 11.45 p.m last Friday, Daniel Blankson, the resident DJ, has unleashed higher decibel music/noise to teach us a lesson for reporting them! Fantastic.
Las Palmas has become a household name in the local food industry, boasting not less than five outlets in Accra alone. It even has regional branches and has hosted no less a dignitary than our own Mayor of Accra, Alfred Oko Vanderpuije.
The metamorphosing of our beloved chop bars into something modern, hygienic and internationally accessible spawned the food centre. Our forebears didn’t brutalise our eardrums with commercial speakers; ask anyone who has patronised Heavy Do, Lom na va to name but a few. The environments were serene so much so that one could request for clay pot cooler water without straining the vocal chords. If this is modernisation, then Las Palmas has lost the plot. A food centre that mimics a Vienna City area night-time hangout doesn’t cut it, especially in a residential area.
We at First Light Kaneshie are sick and tired of the persistent noise pollution; the wanton disregard for fellow human beings; the stalling at AMA Adjabeng that deprives us of peace of mind and sleep; the exceptional nonchalance and deception of Yaa Akyaa Watts.
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Can Mr Johnson Quashie truthfully tell us that he would embrace this type of nuisance wherever he resides? Would Mr Johnson Quashie please obey the laws on noise pollution? His weapons of mass hearing destruction could relocate from the forecourts of First Light branch, to inside his food centre and placate his staff’s voracious appetite for noise! It might even draw more customers inside, reinforcing the Vienna City concept to the max!!
Dr Boateng please come to our aid.