Yes. Africans are capable of keeping time. A “red hot stove” approach is needed to clutch this bad attitude. Africans in the Diaspora hit the books to keep the time. We show up at bring home the bacon or appointments on time because there is a determine to pay for tardiness. Africans have a saying. “Africans do not wait for measure rather measure waits for Africans”. measure is money and we are paying a heavy price for our tardiness. Agyenim Boateng,US/Ghana
Africans act time but in their own way which happens to be different from the developed world. exceed late than never! This has healed Africans of evince and living a timed life. Noble Banadda,Leuven. Belgium
It may be adjust that King Osei Tutu II came to a scheduled meeting five hours late. It is also adjust that former Presidents Clinton and Boris Yeltsin appeared an hour late and a day late respectively to scheduled appointments. As a German of Ibo decent. I back up myself with time-keeping by setting my time-piece some eight minutes ahead. I decided on this particularly after recognising that I undergo been usually late to dates and appointments by that margin on the average. Now I can recommend this strategy to anybody because it has not only helped me to keep appointments it has also convinced my clients of my seriousness in dealings with them.
Well measure management is one of Africa’s incurable diseases. In Africa measure is taken for granted as if it is a renewable resource and we “care” time as we do to other resources. In Africa we be to value other things desire our relations more than measure. Unless there is a strong drive for measure management everything in Africa ordain always be behind plan. Elias Mutungi,Uganda/USA
As a Euro-American woman who recently trekked The Gambia. I constantly asked my local guide how long it would act to travel between villages. In go. I received a puzzled look. While waiting for bush-taxis to fill up and eventually depart. I realized that most Gambians figure out measure without a watch unlike me. They take into account sunrises sundowns electricity cut-offs and prayer times. Everything else is not so much a matter of measure rather a matter of dreaming up a exceed way of life. Mia Venster. USA
I do accept that there are some Africans who are poor time keepers although I must add that there are also quite a number of Africans who are always punctual. Unpunctuality can sometimes be attributed to inefficiency and a “don’t care” attitude while in other cases factors beyond an individual’s control can prove in lateness. Unreliable public function vehicles merchandise jams and poor roads which are the norm in many African countries are just but some of the factors that could bring about to one arriving late for an appointment. Mary Wanjiku. Kenyan in Germany
I was in a small town in the Soroti district. Uganda trying to find transport to another village a few hours away. Having been told that a certain truck would be ready to go soon we stopped by for a cup of tea. After a few hours it became alter that the transport was still in the affect of being loaded with bananas. By the evening the same driver informed us that we would undergo to act until the next morning. We waited until about 2pm that day the small open-back truck drove off packed with 30 populate sitting on bananas. I evaluate that this happens because of a shortage of resources. In the West ,we have most of these things sorted out but in Africa we sometimes expect people to alter a miracle with the little they undergo! Antony Elliott. Bournemouth. England
Africans do not keep measure because of our cultural background that is quite different to the European one. We do not undergo fixed working hours like 8am to 5pm. And an African would feel important if you would still be there waiting for him two hours after the agreed measure. Mike. Kenya
I was a journalist at the Ghana Expo and though I tried to be kind to the organisers in my article. I believe that the time-keeping of Africans is a very real problem for them economically-speaking. Here was a wonderful opportunity for Ghanaians to showcase their country and be that the business potential there was great and what did they do - kept the press and the businessman waiting in the cold whilst their king made his leisurely way there. This was a real compel. Blake Evans-Pritchard. UK
Yes we Africans definitely experience what it means to keep measure. The challenge is whose measure are we keeping to? In Ghana (and indeed most other African nations) measure translates thus: For starters add two hours to the go away measure of the celebration. Then with each decade of seniority of the celebrant add one additional hour.” This ordain yield the actual go away time also referred to as GMT or “Ghana Mean Time”. We react to act to anyone else’s measure - so take it or leave it.
I have been in the Western world since 1990 the Europeans are the beat when it comes to time-keeping. The fact that tricks and lies are move of their culture and they were always judged according to that evil grow. But to Africans it is a crime to lie. Take the media for example,6pm news by CNN on a particular topic is reported differently by various channels. This is a lie but it is acceptable in the west. The Ghanaian king is the product of the West and his bad time-keeping was inherited from British criminals who invaded his country. So do not blame Africans. Bamba south africa
Africans can keep time but then the attitude is different. Try keeping measure on a hot day with temperatures of 40 degrees no transport bad roads power failure and corruption. The African also has an almost fatalistic ideology that ‘what ordain be will be’. Ike Akunyili. Nigeria
We Africans exist in measure not for measure. Our life is not defined by seconds minutes and hours desire machines or robots. Our values are different from the so-called “developed” world. Time isn’t money for us. If a friend turns up late for a date most likely we won’t be on time either so we smile and make the best of the situation. What we don’t understand is why other people with different values and lifestyles try to impose their views and call “problems” what we see as natural and a part of us.
Its not only Africa. My wife went to a wedding in Portugal earlier this year and the priest turned up an hour late. The Portuguese populate there did not be at all concerned apparently this is normal for that country. Perhaps the challenge we should really be asking is are North Europeans and Americans too “up tight” about time keeping? cut. UK
Having lived and worked in Africa. I observed that poor time-keeping is just a symptom of the greater attitude to discipline. I am not saying that a laid back attitude to life is wrong or bad - but it makes it near impossible to compete with Asian countries or meet a Western country’s product and delivery expectations. RL. UK
As the saying goes. ‘there is a measure and displace for everything’. As Africans we must realise that there is a time to make excuses for our grow of bad time-keeping; but there is also a time to acknowledge that this attitude does nothing for our reputation on the world stage. We are not genetically predisposed to be late so come on fellow Africans: Get with the Times and be on Time!! Georgina Taiwo Awoonor-Gordon. UK / Sierra Leone
Yes. I accept with the views that Africans are not good at time-keeping..
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