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.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nana A Damoah
Author/Writer/Facilitator
www.nanadamoah.comhttp://www.facebook.com/nanaaweredamoah