Ghanamanic Gullibility

There are some names and words

that are unique to Ghana. My writer friend Kofi Akpabli has a number of them

listed in his book ‘Tickling The Ghanaian’. He calls it Ghanakasacartograph. In

there he has terms like ‘Tokyo Joe’, ‘Opana’,

‘Shogologobangoshay’ and ‘Ampukyekye’. What

is fascinating about some of these ‘terms’ is that we usually can’t remember

the origin of its coinage or the story behind it.

And there are some brand names

too that have meaning unique only to Ghana. Like Space bus. Google that or ask

any non-Ghanaian or even a Ghanaian who is not familiar with Accra or

specifically the Circle-Kaneshie-Odorkor-Mallam route and you get the response

of a vehicle that is out of this world. Literally. But on this route, it is the

name of a famous mode of transport that has been with us for years.

The ‘Space bus’ is a bus which is

used as a trotro on this route. I have a strong feeling that it was built by

the Willowbrook company which had an assembling plant at Dzorwulu, close to

where the World Miracle Church has its headquarters now. I grew up in Kotobabi

and used to pass in front of that factory to fetch water. Amazingly, this same

Circle-Mallam route (extending to Accra) was known the ‘King of Kings’ buses,

featuring the double-decker ‘Auntie Dede’ buses. Ah, how it is that our Sikaman

past was so glorious!

There aren’t new Space buses

being made anymore, so most of those in service are as old as this writer.

Their steering is so loose that it is not unusual to see the driver swing the

wheel and let it go this is hits the other end in its circular motion. Adwoa

Gyamera captured it well when she indicated that ‘the steering wheel of the

space bus can be turned 360 degrees and yet the bus itself would move 5

degrees!’ The sitting arrangements are such that there are two columns of seats

arranged in a transverse format in rows along the bus, with an aisle running in

between the column, up to the ‘last seat’ which occupied the full width of the

bus. The aisle serves two purposes: for easy movement and also as addition standing

space for passengers when the seats are fully occupied.

A third benefit is that at the

beginning of this aisle, just behind the massive gearbox which was also exuded

a steady stream of heat, was ample space which was useful for bus preachers and

mobile ‘doctors’ aka herbalists.

The Kaneshie-Circle route became

a favourite of mine when I started losing my heart to the daughter of my

father-in-law. One day on the journey from Attico Junction to Circle, this

herbalist got onto the bus and started extoling the virtues of his ointment –

it could clear blocked noses, relieve backache, headache, eliminate sneezing,

ease the discomfort of piles and practically anything apart from HIV-AIDS. To show

how confident he was of his claims, he passed along one or two tubs of the

yellow cream dotted with spots (some herbs, he must have said) for the

passengers to smear on our foreheads and into our noses to see how fast acting

the ointment was.

Within minutes, eyes were oozing with

water, noses were running, foreheads were sweaty and many passengers were

nodding in appreciation of the ‘hotness’ of the stuff. There was a massive sale!

It has been said many times that

what happens in a trotro is usually a microcosm of the larger society. And I find

that nowhere is the Ghanaian gullibility exhibited as well as in a trotro. None

of those passengers who tried that ointment paused to wonder what exactly it

was the herbalist had used for his concoction. I have seen people on public

transport chew barks and drink concoctions that one herbalist or the other

shares freely. We are that openly trusting.

And this translates into our

daily lives. And so it is not only the herbalist who knows it and uses it to

advantage.

Recently, there was the matter of

the Obengfo Hospital, which was in the news for having conducted plastic

surgeries which left some of the patients disfigured for life or forfeiting

their lives. I can wager that a greater percentage of those patients got to

know about it and tried it after hearing a ‘live presenter mention’ (LPM)

advert.

A listener once called into a

program ran by one of the popular broadcasters on an Accra-based radio station to

complain:

Caller: Oh [name of presenter,

withheld], m’ade wo ho yaw paa (I am disappointed in you).

Presenter: Oh why?

Caller: I tried that blood tonic

you advertised the other day and it didn’t work for me. Why did you tell us it

would work?

Presenter: Oh, I was only doing

my work to advertise it. I was paid for it.

We are that trusting. Gullible, I

should say. Inasmuch as the regulators such as the Food and Drugs Authority and

bodies such as the Ghana Medical Association should help protect the public,

personal responsibility is very key and we should teach ourselves this

attribute.

The politician knows this

weakness of the Ghana(wo)man too. That is why spin doctors still find usefulness

in the nation of our birth. Next time a politician gives you a political

ointment to use on your mind, pause and think about its ingredients.

This gullibility finds expression

in how quickly an innocent person can be beaten to death by a mob incited by a

shout of ‘thief, thief!’. A few years ago when we had the phenomenon of ‘vanishing’

genitals, a hall mate of mine was killed in the Western region during his

national service, just because a young boy he had stopped to ask directions

from and whose hand he shook in thanks had shouted that his genitals had

vanished and my pal’s car broke down a few meters into his outbound journey,

allowing his pursuers to catch up with him and beat him to death. In more than

one case, when the initial accusers were confronted, they confessed that the

genitals didn’t actually vanish but diminished in size! Many an innocent person

was killed in such callousness instigated by a foolish propensity to believe

without questioning.

Unfortunately, the church is not

spared this negative tendency. Tune into various radio stations around the

country and you will be amazed what is spewed out in the name of Christ and

even more shocking is that there are numerous people who heed such spurious

calls.

In our bid to move from third

world to first world, or is it from lower middle income to first world, we have

to begin to work on our ability to question and challenge. To be skeptical and

to be analytical.

Gullibility will take us only to

Golgotha or even a worse place.

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Nana A Damoah

Author/Writer/Facilitator

www.nanadamoah.comhttp://www.facebook.com/nanaaweredamoah