Ga Kenkey Sellers in Accra Threatens to Stop Giving Out Free Pepper when you patronize their food.
Natives living in Accra, whether visitors or born, should be prepared to face a challenging situation concerning the delicious and famous food we all know as kenkey with pepper (Ga Komi ke shito in ga).
Kenkey and pepper, although the favorite food for the people of the Ga tribe are also among the most popular foods anyone can get in Accra because of how cheap they were some years ago.
Still, due to the recent rise and fall of prices, kenkey, which is sold with fried fish and pepper, has now become an expensive meal for the citizens in Accra.
At first, with as low as 5 cedis, you can get two balls of kenkey with fish and free pepper to meet your satisfaction, but recently, just one ball of kenkey sums up to 4 cedis, almost equal to 5 cedis without fish, but with "free" pepper.
News reaching us here is that most of the Kenkey sellers are still complaining about how they are still not getting their supposed profit after the close of the day, so they are deciding on other alternative ways to be able to get their profit to continue with their kenkey selling business especially with "free pepper".
After conversing with Kenkey sellers in some parts of Accra, they all complain about how expensive the cost of the ingredients for the Kenkey alone has become and how it affects them negatively.
"The economy is not fighting fair for us, the kenkey sellers; look at How expensive it is to buy the ingredient for making kenkey, especially "corn" right now; we also have to worry about how currently the prices of pepper, tomatoes and even onion is also raising, this is too much for us to take. We will soon start selling the free pepper for Kenkey.
Kenkey was supposed to be the lifesaver of the day, even with 10 cedis. Yet, if you want to enjoy kenkey alone with the right fish and pepper, you must spend more than 40 cedis to get that here in Accra because everything has become so expensive, not leaving the fish out. A basket of pepper alone is now 800 cedis."
This is the statement from one of the Kenkey sellers at Accra Tudu.
One of the women named Hajia, who is also a kenkey seller at Adabraka, a suburb in Accra, said bitterly about how she could not serve her clients with enough pepper she used to serve them when buying kenkey because of how costive the ingredients are lately.
However, she is aware the quantity is small, but she has no choice but to manage.
"Many people come around with GHS 10 to get themselves two balls of kenkey with only pepper, and there are others who come with just 5 cedis for a ball of kenkey without fish, but I also use the fish to sell my kenkey, so I sometimes say no to such demands, they ask for only kenkey because the fish is also expensive. The less expensive fish is now GHS 10, and the pepper will soon not be free." She added
Adding up, she also stated that, in 2017, her Kenkey market was booming with many customers. Since Kenkey's price changed from 2 to 3 cedis and now to 5 cedis, her sales have significantly been affected negatively.
"Now, I don't get many customers like I used to. Haven't you noticed my place is quiet?" she sadly laments.
How will the cost of living become if our Kenkey seller starts selling the "free pepper" they give after buying Kenkey?
This will be very problematic. What do you think will happen now, especially for the people living and hustling in Accra? Drop your comment in the comment section below, and let's discuss.