Not Easy

Unable to plan timewise travelling from one point in the motherland to another, cannot be easy.

Once only in my life I had an opportunity to ride in a presidential convoy. Even in ordinary X Trail (not V8), it was fast, from Akokɔ Foto to the International Conference Hall in minutes; a typical James Ene Henshaw 'clear the road, the Emperor is coming' experience.

It means an unsweet life for yesterday's congress ampɛbrɛ chop chopbabies who jumped the road traffic gridlock, blaring sirens but now forced to endure bumper-to-bumper commute from Adenta or Dobro to Parliament House.

They could be the ones cheating by flashing hazard lights past all of us all the time, past traffic jams. Cheaters will always cheat; hence stealing double salary after all the thieving.

A journey across Greater Accra, Eastern, and Ashanti to Brong Ahafo should take some eight hours.

Recently, it took me almost 12 hours. Talk about doing good business with impossible time-planned travel, which involves moving within and across her borders.

It's time wasteful to travel WITHOUT any idea about time needed. Development without aid should incorporate timed travel planning.

'If you are at the VIP yard by 7:00 am, you will be able to catch the Drobo bus,' someone had said.

Although I arrived at the yard at 8:30 am, I was told the Drobo bus had just left; meaning the Drobo bus does not leave at 7:00 am but rather it is usually full AROUND 8:00 am when it departs once it is full.

My next bet was Sunyani. Unfamiliar with the VIP yard where there is no proper signs to direct passengers, I had passed Sunyani to go and inquire about Drobo.

By the time I was directed from Drobo to Sunyani, the Sunyani bus was fully loaded and gone. I missed it by a whisker because of no clear directional signs. So wait for the next Sunyani bus. Not knowing WHEN the next one will show up, along with other passengers, we waited, and waited and waited with no bus in sight. Feeling a Sunyani bus would eventually turn up too late, I headed for a Kumasi bus. I was going beyond Sunyani so I needed to avoid night arrival there. Kumasi buses leave at shorter intervals, still timelessly, though. It, therefore, didn't take long to be aboard one of them. Not bothered by the Pokuase bottleneck (where peak jams cause delays for hours) we were in Kumasi in some five hours. I came off the bus at Labour and took a taxi to Adehyeman.

It's a lot of driver work and plenty fuel burning to exit the Adehyeman choked lorry station. Same there with the principle of we leave when the bus is filled up. The ride to Sunyani was comfortable. Those big buses make one feel safe. One felt a big difference, though, between the bad condition of the Ashanti stretch of the road (which was constructed earlier) and a better maintained Brong Ahafo stretch, which was built later. 'Maame hwɛ's' tragedy occurred at a spot on the poorly maintained Ashanti stretch. Passed Sunyani, it was a passenger taxi to the junction of my boy's quarters.

I crossed the road looking for taxi only to find myself in the first pragea ride.

The lady passenger assured me of a safe ride. Eventually, it was free ride; thanks to the generosity of the driver/rider perhaps as an assurance for my initial fear.

It paid off for the pragea market because next morning and for the rest of my visit, it was all pragea. I was able to convince my pharmacist nephew to ride along in it with me. The low class air-conditioned Kufuor bus ride from Sunyani to Kumasi was another experience.

I keep wondering about awkwardly installing the seat I sat on, above the tyre point with hardly a leg room.

My nephew wouldn't believe his ears when I said we could see the president ride in pragea, like us. He wouldn't believe despite the president's campaign trɔtrɔ ride. Only the security apparatus would prevent his pragea ride. I insisted even then, the security can't stop him if that pragea ride will get him one district one factory, one village, one dam and value for money everywhere till development without aid.

Not easy the lowest level of rides, kumkum bagya pragea, for an over seventy who worked to achieve the highest in his field of endeavour and yet is without a V8.

Meanwhile, tɔtɔfeewa ampɛbrɛs bit deep into the national cake for that top level and are cruising all over the place evading traffic jams with blinking hazard lights. Not sure theirs will lead to development without aid. Our generation's inconsistent efforts have left unplanned and poorly planned transportation that costs the motherland billions, hasn't.

By Kwasi Ansu-Kyeremeh