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An encounter with the VELD ‘colonel’
I was always very uncomfortable when I was driving without a driver’s license. Once a policeman stopped me and asked for my license. I gave him my Insurance booklet.
“I say your license.”
I searched frantically for a non-existent license and told the cop the damn license wasn’t showing up in my briefcase. Next time I’d get it for him. He opened the insurance booklet and studied it.
“Are you the writer?”
“Yes sir,” I saluted.
“Carry on.”
The Inspector would have gotten me gaoled if he hadn’t recognised me as the Sikaman Palava man. But I realised that the cop-master wouldn’t spare me a second time so I decided to go for a license.
The Vehicle Examination and Licensing Division (VELD) in Accra is a perpetual beehive of activity. You’d see trainee drivers meekly trailing their instructors, enroute to a tiny office downstairs to meet the man who looks and works like a very efficient Colonel. Mr Joseph Amamoo is the name.
You’d also be privileged to meet ‘connection men’ right at the gate. They’d stop you and politely enquire whether you want a licence. They could get you one in exactly 15 minutes whether you believe it or not.
“Or are you coming to do ownership? That one would take 10 minutes.”
“No I am only coming to see the director here.”
I drove in and was ushered in to see the Acting Director of VELD, the living legend in the person of Mr. J.M.Y. Amegashie. He is the VELD Field Marshall,
“What can I do for you?”
“I want a license.”
“Know the road signs?”
“Yes.”
“Go downstairs and see Mr Amamoo and go for the various tests.”
“Oh, I can drive,” I reminded the director.
“So go and prove it.”
Mr Amamoo was busy taking a trainee-driver through the road signs. The guy was shivering and I wondered whether he was suffering from malaria.
Apparently, he didn’t know half the signs…
“Go back and study the signs well and come back next week,” he was told. It was my turn. The guy left extremely disappointed.
“There are four things you have to do when you want to overtake a vehicle. State them!” Mr Amamoo ordered me. I also went through the drill of identifying all the road signs, and now…
“Did you bring a car?”
“Yes sir.”
Let’s go for the test.”
It was now my turn to shiver. I die finish. I should be careful I do not mistake the accelerator brake.
“You are going to drive through some parts of the capital.”
“Yes sir.” I got in and while reversing I hung my elbow stylishly on the car door.
“Get your arm off the door,” Mr Amamoo growled at me. “You must know that you are at a driving test. You are not in your sitting room.”
“No problem sir,” I said and took off the arm. I drove and got to a junction and stopped although could have gone ahead.
“It is alright for you to stop, but because of the volume of traffic these days, It is always advisable to watch before you get near a junction so that you can enter without stopping if it is clear. You don’t necessarily have to stop at every junction, so watch approach.”
We went round and round through intersections, double lanes, U-turns, whatever. Then we got to a steep slope, I was instructed to stop and then ordered to climb the slope without coming back in the least. I prided myself to being a master driver and executed the task almost effortlessly.
I then forgot and put my arm again on the “You don’t like taking instructions-eh. Take off your arm,” he barked this time.
“Sorry-o.”
When we returned, I was made to go through a process of signing my name here and there, filling one form after another. A whole lot of elaborate procedure that made me impressed with the thoroughness the system applies to the issuance of licences.
CONNECTION MEN
“Mr Amamoo, why do you allow these connection men at the gate,” I asked.
“They are the people who issue fake drivers’ licences to people,” he said. “When a driver is in possession of a driving license without going through the process you have undergone, you can be sure that the license is fake. If you go through the process, you’d have every necessary record at VELD so that in case your license is lost, we’d only have to refer to the records and issue you with a new one. The connection men hang around here and you can’t drive them away because you can’t identify them.”
“But we hear people come here to VELD officials and are given licences without taking the tests,” I said.
“Then those licences are not genuine. Look, whenever the police mount operations to check licences, they seize 15 to 20 fake licences every single day. Those licences were not issued by VELD but by the connection men. If you come to VELD for a licence, you’d certainly go through the process. If a VELD official gives you a licence without a test, it is wrong and against the law.”
Mr Amamoo showed me many fake licences, more than a thousand of them. The ‘connection men’ really must be in big business. I would have done some personal investigation on these connection men, I said to myself.
When I was issued with my licence, I saluted Mr Amamoo, got into my car and drove away, my arm on the car door.
This article was first published on October 31, 1998
On Sunday, October 11, 2026, it was the turn of Ghanaian Catholics in Finland to lead the singing in the church service of the African Catholic Chaplaincy in Finland (ACCF).
It was indeed a spirit-filled feeling for worshippers present. And for the Ghanaian migrants, the occasion also brought back to them memories of church services in their home country, Ghana.
The ACCF has a roster for each country/community to sing from time to time. Next Sunday will be the turn of the Nigerian community. Other communities that usually sing are the Kenyan/Tanzanian community, the Cameroonian, the Ugandan, group, etc.
A powerful religious experience
The mass services of the Chaplaincy usually give a powerful religious experience and a display of cultural diversity, especially in occasions such as when the Bishop of Helsinki, Bishop Raimo Goyarrola, celebrated mass with the Chaplaincy on Pentecost Day, May 24, 2026.
There was a similar time of spiritual joy last month (September 27, 2026) when Emeritus Bishop Teemu Sippo, former Bishop of Helsinki, visited the Chaplaincy. Bishop Teemu was the main celebrant, assisted by the Chaplain, Reverend Father Thomas Otieno.
Last Sunday, Reverend Father Bernard Sor, a Ghanaian Catholic priest based in Austria, was the main celebrant in the mass service where he performed a rite of baptism. Fr Bernard had celebrated mass a few months ago when he visited his sister and her husband in Helsinki. 
All these well-attended religious occasions indeed leave lasting memories. The homilies (peaching) by the priests usually emphasize religious tenets such as the importance of loving and serving God in truth, existing in peace with our fellow humans to promote unity in diversity, etc.
Unity in diversity and a colourful display of cultures
The African Chaplaincy church services usually produce impressive displays of diverse cultures from different parts of Africa and elsewhere. The events are often spiced by rich cultural displays of dances and colourful attires which are a delight to watch.
On special occasions, members of the Ghanaian Catholic community, in their gay and colourful kente attire and with adowa dance and music, usually lead the procession into the church. Other communities such as the Cameroonian, Nigerian, Kenyan and Tanzanian as well as Sudanese/South Sudanese groups also put up well-choreographed performances from their cultures.
The African Catholic Chaplaincy in Finland
The African Chaplaincy was founded on June 4, 2017, which was a Pentecost Sunday, in a Pontifical High Mass celebrated by Monsignor Emeritus Sippo S.C.I., the then Bishop of Helsinki, at the St. Mary’s Catholic Parish Church in Helsinki.
The Chaplaincy was created by Bishop Teemu in collaboration with the Diocesan body when they detected a great flocking of African immigrants to Finland, the majority of whom were Catholics. This was to give the immigrants a possibility to integrate into the Finnish society by worshiping as Catholics and in their African cultural identity.
The responsibility of the Chaplaincy was given by Bishop Teemu to Father Dr Leonard Wobilla Shwei, who is thus the first Chaplain and ably led the Chaplaincy. He was succeeded a few years ago by Father Thomas Otieno, who continues to move the Chaplaincy forward. Thank you!
GHANA MATTERS column appears fortnightly. Written in simple, layman’s terms, it concentrates on matters about Ghana and beyond. It focuses on everyday life issues relating to the social, cultural, economic, religious, political, health, sports, youth, gender, etc. It strives to remind us all that Ghana comes first. The column also takes a candid look at the meanings and repercussions of our actions, especially those things we take for granted or even ignore. There are key Ghanaian values we should uphold rather than disregard with impunity. We should not overlook the obvious. We need to search for the hidden or deeply embedded values and try to project them.
With Dr Perpetual Crentsil
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She did not find out he was cheating. She found out he was drowning.
It was two weeks after their beautiful wedding. The jollof was still in the fridge. A loan officer called her number-not his-and politely asked, “Madam, please tell your husband to pay his overdue loan. We have been calling him.”
That was how she discovered her new husband had entered their marriage with a hidden debt of over GH¢ 40,000. No cheating. No other woman. Just a financial secret.
And that is how many Ghanaian marriages begin to die. Not with a shout, but with a secret alert on a phone.
We prepare for the wedding. We do not prepare for the wallet.
What is money honesty?
Let me define it simply. Money honesty is not that you both earn the same. It is that you both know the same. It is the ability to sit down and say without fear:
“This is how much I earn.”
“This is how much I owe.”
“This is how I was raised to see money.”
“This is what scares me about money.”
Financial transparency is not about control. It is about clarity. You cannot build trust on top of secrets.
Many couples tell me, “Counsellor, we love each other, love will handle money.” I always answer, “Love is the car, but money honesty is the fuel. Love without honesty cannot move.”
How To Buy Your Marriage Insurance Today – My 5-Step Protocol
If you are engaged, newly married, or even 20 years in marriage, you can still fix this. At Counsellor Prince & Associates Consult—CPAC, this is what I give couples:
Step 1: The 90-Minute Money Naked Session.
No phones, no blame. Each partner writes down on paper: Monthly income, monthly debts, monthly family obligations, savings, and your biggest money fear. Then you exchange papers. Read it. Don’t react for 24 hours. Just absorb.
Step 2: Create OUR Money, YOUR Money, My Money.
You need three pots. OUR money for rent, food, school fees, utilities, properties, and the like— joint contribution. YOUR money and MY money—a small agreed allowance no one questions. This stops the feeling of being controlled.
Step 3: The No-Secret Debt Rule.
Agree from today: No new loan, no new hire purchase, no new family financial commitment above GHS 500 without telling each other first. Not permission, but information.
Step 4: Talk About Your Money Personality.
Are you a Spender or a Saver? Are you Risky or Safe? Most Ghanaian marriages are a Spender married to a Saver. Neither is wrong. But if you don’t understand your partner’s personality, you will call his saving “stinginess” and her spending “wastefulness.”
Step 5: Do a Monthly 30-Minute Money Date
Not an argument date. Light, with tea. “How did we do this month? What worried you? What should we plan for next month?” Couples who do this divorce far less.
My Final Word
Before you say “I Do” at the altar, have pre-marital counselling and also have the money talk on the sofa.
Ask your partner:
“If I lost my job today, how long can we survive?”
“What debt are you bringing into this marriage?”
“How much do you send to your family monthly and will that continue?”
If he or she gets angry that you asked, don’t get married yet. A person who is angry about accountability will be abusive about money.
Marriage insurance is not bought at Star Assurance or Enterprise. It is bought in honest conversations when no one is watching.
The wedding costs one day. The marriage costs a lifetime. Don’t enter a lifetime contract and covenant with hidden costs.
You can still insure your marriage today.
Source:
Counselor Prince Offei, CPAC’s founder, is a leading Mental Health Professional, Marriage Counsellor, Author, ADR Expert/Arbitrator, and Spectator Newspaper Columnist. He writes on relationships, marriage, parenting, special needs support, and their connection to mental health. For therapy, counselling, or enquiries, contact Counselor Prince & Associates Consult (CPAC) in Accra on 0559850604 / 0551428486.
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