Quarry business in the Ashanti Region taken over by 'goro boys', 'professional crooks' - Patrons cry foul

Developers of land and those in the construction industry in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital are being taken advantage of by ‘Goro boys’, ‘professional crooks’ and layabouts who style themselves as ‘middlemen and agents in the construction industry in the region in an attempt to get materials for construction purposes whether it is meant for physical development like the road construction industry or the estate development industry of the Ashanti region.

Of particular interest is the area of supply of chippings and quarry dust being supplied by various quarry sites and companies in the region. It is worrying to learn that people who go in for chippings or quarry dust for their constructional purposes are being given a raw deal as they are being cheated by some unscrupulous persons in the quarry industry who are either ‘Goro boys’ or self-styled ‘middlemen and agents who are cashing in from the blind side of the unsuspecting public, they do these acts of cheating at times with the tacit support of these quarry owners in the Ashanti Region motivated by getting rich quick attitude.

It is that simple to cheat the unsuspecting customer when he or she comes to buy chippings and quarry dust, required almost inevitably at all construction sites these days, especially in the road construction industry and for all other civil engineering purposes.

This writer has been a victim of crooks, ‘Goro boys’ and the so-called ‘middlemen and agents’ within the value chain of the quarry business in the Ashanti Region, as they often create untold hardship for developers and people in the construction industry.

These findings were based on a painstaking investigative process by this writer to be able to uncover this ‘conglomerate of crooks’ who are involved in shady and underhand dealings with customers who patronize products from quarry sites in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.

It must be a duty to expose them through their hidden modus operandi used by these aforementioned ‘crooks, middlemen and agents’ and professional crooks of construction artisans, who are busy cheating the unsuspecting customer in Kumasi and its environs. And this has been going on for God knows when!

It is that simple and straight forward but the ordinary customer can never detect unless he is given proper education about such crooked and unapproved operations by industry players within the quarry industry in the Ashanti Region.

For example when one is buying chippings or quarry dust for whatever purpose this is how it is supposed to be done contrary to what is happening on the ground. We are therefore writing this piece to create the needed awareness and public education for all and sundry so that customers or clients can challenge and demand what is their right from these bands of crooks within the quarry industry.

The quarry sites have what they term ‘cubic system of calculation’ for the buyer or client/customer and they are variously ranged from five (5), ten (10), fifteen (15) and twenty (20) cubic. This ' cubic system of calculation’ is meant to refer to the type of vehicle(s) that is/are often hired to carry the customers’/clients’ load or need of chippings or quarry sand at any particular time business is being transacted.

And the type(s) of vehicles used for the purpose include four ( 4) wheels tipper trucks, five (5) wheels tipper trucks ten (10) wheels tipper trucks twelve (12) wheels tipper trucks, and thirteen (13) wheels tipper trucks. Fourteen (14) wheels tipper truck fifteen (15) wheels tipper truck and the ‘almighty’ twenty (20) wheels tipper truck.

Again they are ranged according to what is often termed as ‘axles’ of the tipper trucks used in carrying chippings and quarry dust for the customer/client. For no reason, this is how unsuspecting customers have been cheated and are still being cheated within the quarry industry business in the Ashanti Region.

One (1) cubic of quarry dust or chippings is pegged at one point five (1.55) and so if one wants say twenty cubics of chippings one would have to calculate it this way: 1.55x20 and the results are not in the actual answer to this simple arithmetic being employed here but rather the type of vehicle(s) one will have to hire to carry the chippings or quarry dust to square up to the required twenty ( 20) cubic the customer/client wants.

We have already mentioned the types of tipper trucks involved in the quarry business as a matter of convention and agreed on trade practice.

Now the complex nature of this business is the fact that it involves crooks made up of drivers, foremen, site foremen, masons and amazingly some unscrupulous women who carry themselves as ‘agents’ for chippings and quarry dust business industry and at times one cannot rule out the involvement of some quarry sites managers from the blind side of quarry owners who collude with these crooks for cheating unsuspecting customers/clients. All these people are involved in these shady deals of cheating the unsuspecting customer/client who wants chippings or quarry dust for his or her construction business.

It is that simple! Customers who come looking for the actual twenty (20) cubic chippings or quarry dust, instead of making the customer/client know that it is the vehicle that is often the reference point here and the type of vehicle being used for the purpose, the customer/client is rather made to go through a needless process of rigmarole and the customer is made confused under the circumstances over what I have explained here, and so easy for the crooks in the quarry industry, a fifteen (15) cubic tipper truck would end up being short-changed as twenty (20) cubic without the customer knowing it, or a thirteen (13) cubic tipper truck will be made to easily pass as twenty (20) cubic and so on.

The size of the tipper truck matters a lot in the business. But due to ignorance on the part of the unsuspecting customer/client, tipper trucks used in carrying chippings and quarry dust which for the ‘trained eye’ ranged from say five (5), ten (10) thirteen (13)fourteen (14) and fifteen (15) are all being pushed down the throat of the customer/client to pass as twenty (20) cubic for the customer, simply because he or she is an ignorant person within the quarry industry settings. Again four (4) or five (5) wheels tipper trucks could be ‘forged’ and shortchanged as eight (8) cubic without the customer realizing it.

One must admit that in all the findings of this writer, quarry owners do not seem to have an idea of what is really happening on the ground with the cheating of customers/clients within their quarry sites by these crooks and ‘middlemen and agents’ or could it also be that they are aware and yet they are silent over it?

For example, in the Ashanti Region, one of the leading quarry sites is KAST QUARRY located at BUOHUN. It is owned by a Chinese company and this writer can say without any shred of doubt that they may be ignorant about happenings within their quarry site. They may not be aware because they are surrounded by a chain of crooks and dishonest fellows with some of them working as their staff or some of the crooks and ‘middlemen and agents’, parading themselves within their premises pretending as if they are bringing legitimate business to the quarry companies, so they may think, but these are wolves in sheep clothing!

They need to put their ears on the ground and fish out these crooks and ‘middlemen and agents in the quarry industry with their debilitating financial effects on the unsuspecting customer in the Ashanti Region.

Again in the Ashanti Region, we also have popular quarry sites such as MOREY located at KODIE on the Kumasi Offinso road, BURUSA, KK and ASURMASU (forgive my spellings as those engaged in these shady deals know very well what I am talking about here).

The quarry owners need to up their games within their company settings since these crooks and ‘middlemen and agents’ both within and outside their operational areas are actively involved in cheating the unsuspecting customers/client in the Ashanti Region.

What we are writing here may as well pass for the rest of the country and it needs to be checked and corrected to save the average person in the construction industry.

Times are hard in the country and so each time you are in the Ashanti Region of Ghana or elsewhere in Ghana and you either want chippings or quarry dust for your constructional purposes please look for a ‘trained eye’ in Kumasi to establish for you the type of tipper truck(vehicles) for the purpose and not the 1.55x20 calculation method that may settle on any vehicle for the much sought after twenty cubic tipper truck and the actual quantity you want.

Don’t you ever depend on your mason, foremen or workmen, ‘middlemen and agents’ and the so-called ‘Goro boys’ found commonly at quarry sites, for they are all cheats and crooks who are never out for your good but to make cheap and easy money at your expense through no work done by rather cashing on your seeming ignorance (Nyansa kronu-cheating) just to take away your hard-earned money simply because you want to develop your land or you are into construction of any sort.

I want to use this opportunity to appeal to the entire various metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies within the Ashanti Region and beyond to step up an effort to flush out these ‘Goro boys, ‘middlemen and agents’ and professional crooks within the quarry industry in the Ashanti Region.

And to quarry owners kindly put your ears on the ground to also assist in flushing out this pack of crooks who are not out for the growth of your industry but to satisfy their selfish ends through cheating and lying in a business setting like the quarry industry.

We wait for a pragmatic solution on the part of all in the quarry industry!