He will treat you to very cool sounds or movies
that will take your mind off the hustles of life
– at least for a while. If you’re fortunate to hit
the front sit, then you’re on your way to making
a new friend. There’s the nationalist type – the
political communicators type – the naughty (‘bad
boy’ who talks about anything sex and women)
– the’ I’m serious about life type’ – the something
must change type; most of whom you will always
find playing songs by Shatta Wale. My favourite
being that type by the way; considering where
we have come from as a nation and where we
are heading to economically and socially, I will
like to see some changes and reforms in our
political terrain. Often there’s complacency
in governments when they remain too long
in power. The two major political parties in
Ghana have remained in power for too long
they have forgotten what being there actually
means; but how do you convince over 5 million
voters to think in a different direction as yours?
I
will often engage them in such
discussions just to have a better idea
of their level of understanding on
politics, governance and economic
issues – well, they may not know
about deficits & depreciations
however, they do know the pain
of spending more whilst earning
less. These are the people who
are mostly affected by fuel prices.
Considering the fact that they’re always taking
fares and rarely giving free rides, you can easily
conclude and call them rich. Contrary to that
school of thought, most of these drivers lament
on how their entire sales are swallowed up by
fuel prices, police fines and station fees. A driver
who plies the Lapaz – Circle stations spends
an average Ghs20 – 40 on station fees a day.
Failure to pay, the driver’s vehicle is clamped or
passengers are asked to join another vehicle (a
driver who has obviously complied). Why are
they being forced to endure such ordeals? Is it
even constitutional? Who’s taking these monies
36| Colossium . June 2019
and for what? To the best of my knowledge
these station fees are collected by station
masters who are affiliated to owners of the
station. The down side of this is that these lorry
parks are nothing to write home about. Sitting
in this trotro at the time I conceived the idea to
pen this down, the driver has been stopped by
MTTU officers for parking at a wrong spot at
Kwame Nkrumah interchange and we’ve asked
to join another vehicle which is parked right in
front of this one. This is not intended to dent the
image of the Ghana Police Service but to shine
the light on this illegality in our social fabric.
The mental health of a driver is very important.
Having a driver who has had a very bad day
with station guards, AMA and MTTU will most
likely end up at the hospital or worst morgue.
“
The way I see
it, it’s the
city’s form
of galamsey.
These daily trans-
actions are costing
the state millions
of Cedis in revenue
”