Features
On a ‘trotro’ bus
The most interesting place on the planet, in my view, is on a ‘trotro’ bus in Ghana. A cross section of the society can always be found on a trotro, from the office worker in his tie, the market woman, the lady taking her child to the clinic, the last but not the least, the driver’s mate who oozes some new, new, scent which makes you wonder the last time he had a proper bath or washed his clothes.
Depending on the hour of the day and the luck following you that day, you can find yourself sitting beside someone who apparently had been sweating but had not used a deodorant and the scent from the armpit comes to add to the chaos already on the bus and you can really testify that indeed, God is King ‘Onyame ye odo’ as someone will translate it.
We should not forget the usual drug peddler whose medicine heals almost every ailment and also the occasional preacher who ensures that he motivates you to give an offering to support God’s work, at the end of his preaching.
It is a place where one gets to know which party is going to win the elections and which one is going to lose. In fact, the political parties should not waste money on opinion polls.
All they need to do is get some of their members to get on trotros and just listen to the conversations or initiate conversations about which party is poised to win impending elections and their job will be done.
The reasons why a particular party will be winning the elections will be expertly laid out in such a manner that you will be amazed. Passengers speak their mind freely, not giving a hoot about what other passengers may think about what they say. That is the real opinion polls and not the ones conducted by pollsters most of which never turn out to be true.
I recall a conversation I once overhead on a trotro between the driver and a passenger and was shocked by the details. The conversation started with the behaviour of some women these days regarding infidelity.
The passenger sitting at the front, farthest from the driver, was talking to the driver about a friend of his, who was having an affair with a married woman.
He went on about how the lady in question when she is going to her boyfriend, deceives the husband that she was going to visit her mother and goes to spend time with the boyfriend, leaving her young son with his father, her husband.
The amount of sensitive information that can be gathered on a trotro, will amaze you. That is trotro for you.
On the funny side, story is told of a drug peddler on a trotro who was trying hard to convince passengers to buy his drug. He went on to espouse the efficacy of the drug and then he proclaimed that if your spinal cord is paining you, severely” while pointing to his forehead, “this drug will heal you and stop the pain instantly”.
A teenager on the trotro who was a student, stopped the drug peddler and said, “Uncle, our spinal chord is at our back and not on our forehead”. The peddler shouted at the teen and said “Naughty boy, don’t come and spoil my job”.
A very interesting place to be, I can assure. Another thing I have observed is the narrow spaces between adjacent rows of seats. If you are vey ‘tall’ like a former big man I know, then you do not have an issue.
However, if you are a bit tall, then you are going to be very uncomfortable if you are travelling to a far point and therefore you will spend much time on the bus. How to adjust your knee becomes a big issue. I will end and continue the conversation on trotro, another time.
By Laud Kissi-Mensah