Tro-Tro line pickings
There is no better place to talk frankly with people, ordinary people, than in a queue waiting for buses or lorries in Ghana (tro-tro) to travel. The conversation can be humorous, informative and exciting. Of course, some are mere hearsay, some are facts and some are a clever blend of the two. Why not share some of these 'pickings'...The commercial banks are doing real battle with one another to catch the attention of the farming community, in competition with the now mushrooming Rural Banks especially in these days of "bumper harvests". The Ghana Commercial Bank now accepts sacks of maize over the counter as payment into current accounts there is the now famous Atobriso story. The branch of the bank in this rural community has been choked with maize so much that weevils and insects are driving the manager crazy. He has to do a triple jump every morning over sacks and sacks of maize to get to his office. Now he has sent an S.O.S. to head office for sprays and pesticides or whatever . . . And nobody has thought about storage problems to cater for a 'non-rainy season'.
So you know J.J. is becoming a real man of culture, attending all kinds of festivals from Aburi Odwira Festival to the Yam Festival at Ve-Koloenu and to the Hogbetsotso Festival at Anlo... well, his cultural showing is poor-all the time in military uniform. Hasn't the man got any "cultural" attire... maybe he has a Scottish kilt or something - you know, those chequered skirts men wear in Scotland?...
Charlie, the other day, my girlfriend's uncle's cousin was found crying in bed - I mean a 65-year-old man actually shedding tears . . . why? . . . Hmm... he is one of the many landlords whose huge properties and building have been seized in West Roman Ridge by revolutionary cadres. Public Tribunal Chairman Addo-Aikins in a report copied to operation director at Gondar Barracks, commended the cadres for the no-nonsense manner in which tenants and landlords were ejected in a flamboyant asset-stripping exercise ever mounted in Accra...
There is something that has been in the news very often in the past month. Full page advertisements on newspaper front page . . . Expensive, isn't it? Well, it is this Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International of Ghana (FGBMFIG). It appears to be a sudden conglomerator of Ghana's wealthy business executives and company owners. They meet on Saturdays at all regional centres in the country in the most luxurious and expensive hotels and fabulous restaurants. Their breakfast, luncheons and dinners cost a fortune and always conducted against the background of religious and spiritual music. They now label themselves the most powerful laymen group, in fact, so powerful that they have secured representation on the newly formed National Funerals Committee and that their much publicised 7th West African Convention has been addressed by Anaa Enin, PNDC female supremo herself. Now the question agitating gossipers' minds is: Is this rich man's spiritual den a reincarnation of the 'Lodges', I mean, Odd-Fellows, Freemasons and what-nots that were persecuted into acquiescence, in the early heady days of the revolution? Or are they a thriving ground for breeding a right-wing political movement under the guise of religion? . . . I don't know really... I'm just tired and about fed up with life waiting all day for tro- tro which never comes...
I wonder whether you've listened carefully at the lyrics of the song on the album MOSES released by A.B. Crentsil which is causing such controversy among different sections of the Ghanaian public... Maybe one of these music Reviewers and Critics of magazines will tackle "MOSES" ... Anyhow, some people see it as the apogee of depravity, profanity, moral decadence.
Well, others like to enjoy it to the full rhythm is superb, in fact, I can't sleep without MOSES playing low and cool...
Look can you imagine how exhilarating it can be to stay on a dance floor for a quarter of an hour continuously smooching... I have to telephone my pal, Kwabena Asamoah London to have a go at MOSES... Never mind if the GBC wouldn't put it on the national radio... It is known that high officials there play MOSES for their breakfast in their homes...
Life, sometimes can be one long pendulum. You realize the "ins" and "outs" of Dr Francis Acquah, newly re-appointed Secretary in charge of Science, Technology & Industries? He vacated his post as head of the Dept of Chemical Engineering at U.S.T., Kumasi, entered parliament and was appointed by ex- President Limann as Deputy Minister of Industries, Science and Technology. After the coup of 31 January 1981, he was dragged by "Abongo Boys" from under his bed at the U.S.T. in Kumasi. After days of torture, and detention he was out again, this time as Director of the Institute of Industrial Research. Now he has been swung again into the saddle from where he was toppled.
