The attention of Bojo Beach Resort has been drawn to the ‘Thoughts of a Native Daughter’ column in The Mirror of August 29, 2014, with the headline “A letter to Bojo Beach and a cue for the Tourism Ministry”.
In as much as Bojo Beach appreciates your concern about our operations and interest in informing and educating the general public, we are however concerned about the following paragraphs in the children’s ‘Letter to Bojo Beach’ reprinted from the Daily Graphic of August 20:
• “Your toilets are disgusting. We have to step in other people’s wee to get to a clean space to wee”.
• “You don’t have much water. You know what, we bet it is not even clean water, we bet it is salty sea that you expect us to believe it is clean water”.
• “There has been some spitting problems. You should put a sign up about no spitting in the sand. Or the sea”.
• “Your canoose are scary. The water can go up to my neck”.
• “We think you should have tiles, basins, tissues and bin”.
Our comments:
Bojo Beach Resort acknowledges the complaints of customers regardless of their age, sex, race and nationality, among other things, and hence takes the concerns in the article very seriously.
Prior to the development of Bojo Beach Resort, the owners built and donated a 12-unit toilet for the neighbouring village in order to prevent settlers of the village from easing themselves at the beach side or along the bank of the river. This reaffirms our resolve to operate in and keep a very clean and healthy environment.
We would like to clearly emphasize that Bojo Beach Resort has two modern toilets at the island and currently operates four mobile toilets at the beach side, as the Environmental Protection Agency disallows the construction of a toilet at the white sand beach. These portable toilets are constantly cleaned and treated with chemicals for visitors’ comfort.
It must be made clear that the Management of the Resort does not have any control on the estuary or the adjacent spaces next to our facility and therefore we are not directly responsible for areas next to us. We encourage our visitors to stay within the boundaries of Bojo Beach Resort.
Bojo Beach Resort does not use salty water as speculated by our young visitors. We wish to emphasize that clean water is used by all visitors/customers at our facilities. Bojo Beach Resort pays an average of over GH¢4,000 in water bills monthly.
Putting up a ‘No Spitting’ sign would create an uncomfortable situation for our visitors and customers. Management therefore has limited control over visitors spitting even though we wish we could implement the suggestion.
New, motorised canoes are being built to complement the old ones. In addition, maintenance works are being undertaken on all old canoes.
Bojo Beach Resort has resident lifeguards and life jackets to cater for emergencies. During its ten years of operation, thank God there has not been any drowning incidence at the Resort – coupled with the fact that the Densu River is not deep enough to cause water to rise to a visitor’s neck.
The provision of tiles at the entrance leading to the island is not appropriate due to its slippery and hazardous nature for visitors and customers. Also, tissues, basins and bins are all available at the Bojo Beach Resort.
We wish to assure our visitors, customers and the general public that Bojo Beach Resort is safe, hygienic and a comfortable place for relaxation, entertainment, business or vacation.
We are ranked #2 on the “Things to do in Accra”. Our hotel is ranked among the top ten of the 88 hotels in Accra (www.tripadvisor.com). We therefore encourage our visitors to freely notify our management of any inconveniences.
We thank our young visitors for their suggestions and patronage and encourage the general public to come and visit Bojo Beach Resort to experience the difference as compared to other beaches in Ghana.
Sincerely,
Bojo Beach Management
Peter Kyei Boamah
Reply to Bojo Beach management
Dear Bojo Beach management,
Thank you for the rejoinder.
On September 1, a gentleman contacted me and introduced himself as, if I heard him right, Mr. Oppong Owusu, the owner of the Bojo Beach Resort.
During our telephone conversation, he told me that he lives in the US but being currently on a short visit home, decided to get in touch after his attention was drawn to the ‘Letter to Bojo Beach’.
Mr. Owusu said he disputed the criticisms because he gets weekly communication from his staff and the reports always assure him that everything is fine. He appeared to think that an adult was behind the letter, and that the letter was about the Bojo Beach Resort.
I assured him that the letter was really written by the three children who signed it: “Trinny Victoria Maame Adwoa Abrafi Gyapong (8 and a ½ years old), Amy Lelaby Ama Kakrabah-Quarshie (8 years old) and Cybil Naa Aku Shika Pappoe (6 and a ½ years old)”.
Furthermore, I emphasized that the letter was not about the Bojo Beach Resort, but rather about the adjoining beach, because the children didn’t go to the Resort. However, he confirmed to me that the beach is also part of his Resort.
I then suggested that it would be helpful if he could write a rejoinder to respond to the children’s genuine complaints, and also for the benefit of Mirror readers.
I’m sure that the concerned trio will be very happy that the management found merit in some of their concerns.
In conclusion, please note that although your rejoinder is focused on the Resort, nowhere in the ‘Letter to Bojo Beach’ is the Resort mentioned. It was the beach that the children visited and their concerns were about what they experienced there.
Email:
