'Sakawa' Snake In Taxi

TRADERS AT the Takoradi Market Circle ran helter-skelter amid shouts of “sika duro! sakawa!” when a long yellowish brown snake slithered out of a taxi parked near the Market Circle at about 4:30 pm on Wednesday, September 28, 2011.

A lot of people who confirmed the story to Daily Guide at the scene said they saw the snake moving from beneath the front seat of a taxi just after the driver had alighted from it.

The shouts of “sika duro! sakawa!!” drew the attention of the taxi driver who tried to catch the snake with his hand, but it climbed into the boot of a nearby taxi, so the unidentified taxi driver quickly jumped into his cab and drove off.

City guards, young men and some drivers around searched the boot, engine and underneath the taxi but could not find it.

The curious crowd rushed to the scene and people immediately offered Raid insecticide to spray all sides of the taxi, but the “mysterious” snake could not be traced.

The car then moved to Kokompe, a suburb of Takoradi where a special pesticide was sprayed into the car and the snake reared its head after some Moslem incantations and prayer by a Mallam who declined to mention his name.

He held the neck of the snake and some taxi drivers tooted their horns and drove to the scene where the incident initially occurred.

There were other shouts and booing when people saw the young Mallam holding the live snake and dangling it to show his ‘magical’ powers.

Some argued that the snake was four-feet long and had no fangs because the herbalist who used it for the ‘sakawa’ had ensured it no longer bites its new owner.

Some people, who spoke to Daily Guide, on condition of anonymity, said the unidentified taxi driver might have gone for the ‘sakawa’ for some big time traders in the market circle.

He was going to the market to inform the owner to bring along a special sack which he (the sakawa taxi driver) was going to put the supposed stubborn ‘money vomiting snake’ into when the reptile followed the man just after he had alighted from the taxi.

This was confirmed by some women who alleged that many businessmen and women in the Takoradi Market Circle had ‘sakawa’ snakes inside their stores or stalls.

“Master, you would have been the first person to admit that the snake was a ‘sakawa’ one for money. This is because during the last fire outbreak at the market, many snakes were burnt. Some people were not bothered about their burnt items, but were more concerned about their sakawa snakes,” one of them said.

A woman who claimed she was an eyewitness said the snake was for ‘blood money’ and that the owner was going to give it three eggs daily and the snake would in turn vomit money after certain rituals had been performed. “Shame! shame! sakawa people,” the woman hooted at the perceived ‘sakawa’ people as she spoke to Daily Guide, adding, “No ‘sakawa’ person will inherit the kingdom of God.

Those people who ride in big cars and put up mansions a lot of them deal in ‘blood money or are sakawa.”

Meanwhile, many have given various interpretations to the ‘sakawa snake’ which appeared at the Takoradi market last Wednesday. Some said it came from one of the cabs of a prominent businessman, whose name they declined to mention.