Features
Drivers and interesting writings
The name Bedford, will not mean anything to the Gen-Zs or bring any interesting recollections to them. However to those of us who are on the fifth floor and above, the name Bedford quickly brings to mind what most people call boneshaker or Mummy Trucks and the Gas call it Tso Lorry.
In our youthful days, Bedford was the most prominent means of transportation. It was the most popular means of transportation for travelers from Suhum to Accra.
I recall the Trotro between Accra Newtown and UTC were mostly these Bedford trucks, the front being the metallic Bedford frame and the passenger cabin made of a wooden frame built on the chassis.
I also recall that the route between Nkawkaw and my Grandmother’s village near Akoase, on the Nkawkaw to New Abirem road, was untarred and these Bedford trucks were plying the route.
Most of the time during school vacations that my mother took us to the village, we had to walk the seven mile journey after alighting at Akoase because the frequency of the trucks to our village was dependent on whether it was a market day or not. Times have really changed because today, you can travel to the village by taxi any day.
The interesting aspect of these Bedford trucks were the names or sayings that were written on them both front and back. The construction of the wooden frames, created a space at the front of the vehicle immediately above the top of the windshield for designs and writings.
There were writings like ‘Obaakokoo’ (Fairlady), ‘Wonders Shall Never End,’ ‘Wofa Yaw’, ‘Osikani’ (Richman), ‘Sea Never Dry,’ ‘God Is Alive,’ ‘Jesus is Lord’ etc.
This reminds me of a funny story about a man who wrote on his vehicle ‘Oguaafo Wonnye’ (Oguaa people are bad) and he was summoned by the chief and his elders to the palace and was told to remove those writings because they were offending the sensibilities of the people in the town.
He accepted to obey their instructions, went and removed the Oguaafo and replaced it with Still. The new writing on the vehicle then became ‘Still Wonnye.’ Nothing was going to make him change his perception about the people in the town.
What the motivation is, for the choice of names varies. Some choose the names based on personal experiences, so someone who had encountered betrayal by a friend will choose ‘Be Careful of Friends’ or ‘Onipa Ye Bad’ or ‘Suro Onipa.’
A person who had been delivered from an accident can write ‘Miracle Working God’ or ‘God is Great.’ Others too do it for fun, using popular clichés like ‘Yese Yesee,’ ‘Gas will say Akee Akee.’ Others also choose writings that portray their religious beliefs like ‘Jesus is Lord,’ ‘God Is Awesome.’
The funny or hilarious side of these writings is the spelling mistakes that sometimes characterise these writings.
Some of the artists are not well educated and do not have the capacity to notice the mistakes in the writings that sometimes the drivers bring to them to write on their vehicles.
You can therefore see God is Kin, with the ‘g’ missing at the end of kin. If I am about to hire a taxi which has such basic mistakes in writings on it, it gives me an idea of the level of education of the driver so I become alert in monitoring how he drives.
Normally, a well-educated person, drives with care and is usually disciplined, compared to someone who learnt how to drive at the washing bay. Do not joke with your safety.
NB:‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’
By Laud Kissi-Mensah