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Borla man —Part Four
After a couple of days, Martin had finished breakfast and was about to leave, when his mother motioned to him to wait.
“Martin, I came here from Koforidua three days ago, not because I have nothing to do at home, but because your father and I thought we should find out how you and Sarah are doing. Yet since I’ve been here, you’ve not sat down with me for even fifteen minutes.”
“Mama, I’m getting late for work. Can’t this wait till when I get back in the evening?”
“When will you come back this evening? And in what state will you be? What’s happening to you, Martin? Where do you go after work every evening?”
“Mama,” he said as he moved to the door, “I’m sorry I have to leave. Moreover, I’m not a boy anymore. I’m quite capable of managing my affairs.”
But his mother blocked the door.
“If you are capable of managing your own affairs, why did you call to make all those complaints about Sarah? Since I’ve been here, I’ve noticed that the place is always clean, there’s always good food available. She washes your clothes and even irons them. And what’s your response? You’ve turned yourself into a ghost, leaving home first thing in the morning and coming home late, every day. All those tales you told us about Sarah, they have turned out to be lies. Listen, you either change this stupid lifestyle, or we will force you to change.”
“What will you do, Mama, beat me up?”
His Mama surprised him with a big, nasty slap, nearly flooring him. Very angry, he picked his briefcase and went out.
He came home very late as usual, ate, and dropped off to sleep. The following morning he confronted me as I was preparing his breakfast.
“Sarah, what nonsense have you been telling my mother? If you can’t keep your mouth shut, then it’s best you go to your parents. After all, even though our parents gave their brief chat, the elderly lady went to her room.”
“So what’s happening?” she asked. “Has there been any improvement since the old lady has been here?”
“No. Things have gotten worse. Apparently, he called her and made all kinds of allegations against me. And she’s found out the truth. But you know, he’s not paid her any attention. He’s not sat down with her for five minutes. This morning he was quite rude to her, and she slapped him.”
“Oh dear. And she’s leaving today?”
“Yes. I’ve asked her to come with us and drop at the station.”
“I don’t believe this. Martin is not dropping her at the bus station? Sarah, where did you pick this guy from? If he can do this to his mum, then you had better leave before things get really bad.”
“His mum says she and his dad will go and apologise to my parents, and then I can leave. I have no regrets whatsoever. By the way, what did Paul Allotey say?”
“Basically, he liked you the moment he saw you. He wished you weren’t married. If you were single, he would have done everything to grab you.”
“Life’s like that, isn’t it? Whilst someone is treating you like garbage, someone else is wishing he could have you. He is quite a guy. But aren’t you hitting it off with him already?”
“He’s a very nice guy. I certainly like him. But you deserve him, so let’s see if we could make something happen.”
An hour later, I sent the following note to Martin: “Hi, this is to inform you I walked back with him, and he begged his mum to come back. Very reluctantly, she came down, and Martin picked up her suitcase.”
“Okay Mama,” I said. “I will see you at the house shortly.” But he held me again.
“Sarah, I need to have a word with you. Please wait a minute.” I waited as he led his mother to the car, placed the suitcase in the boot, and came back.
“Sarah, I’ve been very foolish. Please forgive me. I need you very badly. I, I’m in trouble.” He walked with me to Paul’s car.
“Hi, Dinah and Mr Allotey, please forgive me, I need to have a little discussion with my wife. Please.”
“Oh, that’s okay,” Paul said. “Sarah, let’s do it another time.”
Unwillingly, he followed me to her room. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she heard him out.
“Ei Martin, you see what your arrogance has gotten you. You prefer a prostitute to this beautiful girl? Let’s go to the police now. Twenty thousand cedis. Goodness! I’m calling your father, then we’ll go to the police.”
At the police station, we were handed over to Inspector Beatrice Addy who, surprisingly, listened patiently to Martin.
“Okay,” she said. “Martin, you are fortunate that your wife and your mother are standing by you even though you were disloyal to them. I will get together with my colleagues, and hopefully we can get at least some of your money for you. It appears that the lady is a fraudster, in addition to being a prostitute. So our team will locate her, and I believe you will recover some of your money. I am very glad that you have come back together with your family. I hope this unfortunate incident will make the family stronger.”
Dinah called soon after we returned from the police station.
“Okay, what’s the news?”
“He got into a problem with a prostitute he’s been going out with. She stole twenty thousand cedis from him. Now the scales seem to have fallen from his eyes.”
“Oh dear, oh dear. You can’t leave now then. Hang on a bit. Give him a chance. But don’t compromise on going to school.”
“That’s exactly what I plan to do. But I will insist that he makes changes immediately. No more hanging around with the boys after work, no more getting drunk every day. And I hope after the experience with the prostitute, he will keep clear of girls. Actually, from the signs we are seeing now, I think he is already a changed person.”
“Sarah, that girl, I don’t know what she did to me. I just, she seemed to control me.”
“You said you are in trouble. What has happened?”
“Immediately I get home, your father and I will go to her parents and apologise to them, then I will personally come back and take her home. I hope you understand the implications of the behaviour you are putting up. You are not only rejecting Sarah, you are rejecting your parents. You can go away. Sarah will take me to the Accra station.”
To my great surprise, he left.
Dinah came in just when I came out of the bathroom. She greeted Martin’s mother and sank into the sofa.
Paul stopped his car, and I carried the old lady’s suitcase in. We drove off to the station, and I led her to buy the ticket. I hugged her warmly, and she boarded the bus. As I was walking to the car, I saw Martin, looking as if he had been run down by a car, rushing towards me.
“Sarah! Please Sarah, where is she?” I pointed in the direction of the bus, and moved forward. But he held me.
“Please, don’t go away. I need your help. There’s something we need to discuss. Please.”
“She defrauded me. She asked me for some money when I dropped her yesterday. I took out my cheque book to sign out one thousand cedis, but she suggested that I simply sign it so that she filled in the details later. A short while ago I saw a message on my phone that twenty thousand cedis had been withdrawn by the girl.”
“Martin, I told you that the girl is a prostitute. She was waiting for the right moment to strike. Listen, I can’t handle this alone. We can’t make too much noise about it, but it is certainly a criminal case. Let’s talk to your mum. She will scold you, but she’s your mother.”
“Have you had the chance to speak with him?”
“No. His mother insisted that we make a report to the police. We came back some fifteen minutes ago. He just left for the office. He sounds really apologetic, but I won’t assume anything now. By the way, how did lunch go?”
“Very well. He dropped me at home. He’s picking me up at six.”
“You and the Borla Man are doing rather well, aren’t you?”
“Yes. The only problem I had was you. He has a soft spot for you, but now that you and Martin are sorting things out, I’m going all out.”
Martin came home at five forty-five. He hugged me and asked whether supper was ready.
“The stew is ready,” I replied. “I was about to boil some yam.”
By Ekow de Heer
THE typical itinerant salesman in Sikaman is a herbalist. He is normally a slim macho with the capacity to perambulate the expanse of area covering the triangle of Accra-Tema-Ashiaman. In short, he can walk a total of 60 miles a day, marketing a product that cures every disease, including poverty. 
The door-to-door herbal pharmacist advertises his product by word of mouth. He has nothing to do with the Food and Drugs Board (FDB). After all, his concoctions do not feature on FM stations.
Those herbalists who cannot walk to propagate the herbal gospel, liaise with drivers of mass transportation and their mates. They are, therefore, given the chance to sell their products on Benz buses that ply the routes.
Normally, the herbalist starts his sales message with a prayer and Bible study. He asks the passengers to bow down their heads in supplication to God the father, the son, the Holy Spirit.
When a herbalist asks the passengers to close their eyes and bow their heads, Moslems on board naturally feel offended. They feel that the herbalist has no right to assume that every passenger is a Christian. They think such an assumption is an affront to Islam.
So a Moslem on board will raise the hand for a point of order. He’ll remind the herbalist that it would be in his own interest to mind his language.
“Be careful the way you address people in a public place. Not every person here is a Christian,” he’d state assertively.
Of course, the herbalist will promptly ignore him, but would all the same “watch” his tongue. Who knows whether or not the Moslem brother is inspired by Quoranic zeal to defend the tenets of Islam to the hilt?
When he starts saying, “Wallahi!” and “Inshallah!” it could be the beginning of proclaiming Islam as supreme, a point which must be driven home with talibanic precision.
So the herbalist must tread carefully lest he steps on fire.
The herbalist could even add a measure of mirth to it all, by announcing that Christians on board today have very interesting company on the journey, but that should not detract from the business of the day.
The Moslem brother will weigh the words carefully and offer a wry smile.
He must be careful the occasion does not degenerate into the use of semantics and proverbial oration to deride his conviction that public utterances must be mindful of religious sensibilities. He has made his point very clear and expects that it is taken in good faith in the interest of a peaceful journey.
The herbalist will now open the New Testament and preach salvation, stating clearly that salvation can come only through Jesus Christ and NOBODY else.
The Moslem brother will now start twitching his moustache. The visible and almost revolutionary reflexes of his upper lip can be an indication that sentiments have begun superseding reason, and the outcome could well be tragic now shift uneasily in his seat.
The time has come for him to also express his right to the religion of his fore-bears. He’ll put his hand into his pocket and rise to his feet. The time has indeed come!
This article was first published on Saturday, September 9, 2006
When the cause of a particular problem like sickness, disease, sudden illness, a social issue etc. are not known, it stands to reason that resolving it becomes a huge challenge.
Citizens would understand the government when public announcements are made to the effect that government is trying to find a solution to the issue, even though it is taking a while for it to be resolved because citizens are rational beings.
On the other hand, if the solution to a particular issue is known to everybody but the government for whatever reason, is dragging its feet in resolving it, citizens become frustrated and begin to lose trust in their leaders.
One such issue is the heavy traffic along a section of the Kasoa – Odokor road. A short stretch of bad road between the traffic light at the Weija Government Hospital and the entrance to the entrance of the overhead that leads to the N1, is the cause of the problem but nothing is being done about it, day after day, week after week, month after month. Thus is clearly unacceptable.
Another issue that requires urgent attention is the lack of pavements along a lot of streets in parts of the various Municipal Assemblies. Exercise is a prerequisite for long life and healthy living and for those of us who it has become a way of life, this issue of people putting up structures right to the edge of the drains beside the roads, are making life difficult for us.
We are compelled to walk along the roads, putting our lives at serious risk. Pedestrians should never be compelled to compete with vehicles on our streets and roads. Roads and streets are made for vehicles and pavements are made for pedestrians. That is the norm. Any attempt to normalise a situation where pedestrians are mingling with vehicles is insanity.
It is the road regulations that makes it so and therefore district or municipal assemblies are to take responsibility and ensure that spaces for pavements are not encroached upon. Citizens have rights that must be protected by their leaders and making pavements available to pedestrians, is one of them.
When we hear of teachers having sex with students, it appears it is something recent. It is not a new phenomenon. It has been there since Adam. Perhaps this issue is getting much attention due to the proliferation of social media. It was an open secret in times past when Teachers were in relationships with female students and some married them immediately after completion of school.
Some teachers were also known to be having unholy interactions with female pupils but due to the times that these acts occurred, human rights issues and the awareness around it, allowed such unscrupulous teachers to get away with their crimes.
Now we are in a different era and so a Headmaster is now in hot waters. He is alleged to have raped about 19 female students and as usual, some officials tried to cover it up and are also in hot waters and their actions or inactions in the matter are under investigation.
Why the man has been allowed to roam freely without being arrested is simply mind boggling. It appears that the law applies differently, depending on who you are. This issue came to public attention sometime in August this year, yet the police had not arrested or invited this man for question regarding the rape allegation.
It has come out that he is a Constituency Secretary of the ruling party and the question in the public domain is that, is it because he is a political figure that is why he is still walking around without questioning? I believe in the rule of law so let us hold our breadth and let the proper thing be done.
The police must however be seen to be active in this matter. God bless.
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