Certainly,
in their quest to survive, every man is sometimes tempted or even compelled to
sin or die to perhaps live, by just doing anything to make a living. For these
men, the rule of the end justifies the means holds. They would do anything by
hook or crook to live irrespective of the risk involve.
Interestingly,
some people in some towns and villages along major highways in the country have
risked their lives or taken advantage of the highways passing through their
towns to establish mini table top selling spots, to attract passersby and travelers
to their wares.
In
fact these selling joints are not like the usual markets you see around;
neither do they resemble makeshift hawking trade, nor even merit the status of
satellite markets. So far, this new creation or a hybrid of hawking, which seems
to defy definition, is on the rise in the country. Although the development is
yet to be named and officially sanctioned by any authority, for the purpose of
this discourse let’s refer to it as a wayside
mini market.
Unlike
the hawkers who shout and yell: “Yeeeees
Tsofi worhaoo! Yesss fresh br-e-a-d! Yesss pure water!” operators of these
wayside mini markets advertise their wares in the open just by the highways,
sometimes at the mercy of the weather, just to attract customers.
Depending
on which highway you are using, one is likely to find edibles such as cucumber,
watermelon, orange, tangerine, avocado pea, among others as items on offer.
Sometimes one could find plantain, cassava, yam, mushroom, and even mortar and pestle,
earthenware, palm oil, smoked or fresh fishes and palm wine among others.
With
the intention of selling their wares and getting some monies, the sellers
indirectly showcase the products of their farms, towns and villages.
One
is likely to find products such as cassava, plantain, prekese, mushroom, palm oil, pear, tomatoes, garden eggs, kontomere, snails, mortar and pestle,
earthenware, and bush meats on the Accra-Kumasi, Kumasi-Sunyani,
Kumasi-Kintampo and Accra-Asamankese-Kade and Accra-Koforidua Highways.
On
the Accra-Ada-Aflao, Accra- Hohoe, Accra- Cape-Coast-Takoradi Highways in the
Southern sector of the country, one may find wares like watermelon, small
onions, Keta school boys (Anchovies), pineapples, pear, salted, smoked or fresh
fish, bush meat, shallots or small onions, sugarcane, sweet potatoes, gari and sometime drums and other
handicrafts.
Similarly,
though the highway mini-markets phenomenon are scares in the Northern sector,
wares commonly on offer include yam, millet, watermelon, shea butter, groundnut
and guinea fowl eggs on the Tamale-Kintampo, Tamale-Bolgatanga, Techiman-Wa, Fufulso Junction
–Damongo-Sawla, as well as
Nkwanta-Kpassa-Bimbila-Yendi roads.
Benefits
Indeed
the highway markets phenomenon is an ingenious manner of utilizing the highway
facility that passes through the towns and villages. While serving as an avenue
for job creation for indigenes in these areas, it is in one breathe an
indication of the viability of the agricultural industry and an exhibition of
the entrepreneurial spirit of the people.
Although
done on small bases, it is worth noting that the operators have largely
succeeded in eliminating the middlemen problem and now have direct access to consumers,
who are attracted to the wares in the comforts of the vehicles.
To
a large extent the level of patronage of the wares hinges on the volume of
traffic on the Highways. A cursory look at these highways shows that the
operators are likely to make more sales on weekends as many people travel of
Saturdays and Sundays.
Risk
It
might be an inappropriate market, especially considering its location along the
roadside. Sometimes they are situated right on the shoulders of the road.
At
a time when the country is battling with an incessant upsurge in road accident,
wayside mini market is nothing but a risky venture.
On
one of my numerous journeys outside Accra, an articulator truck carrying timber
logs, and travelling ahead of the bus I boarded, nearly run into a group of
women selling plantain and oranges at Apedwa on the Accra Kumasi Highway. This
was after the truck developed a brake failure, and apparently tried avoiding
crushing into the car which wrongfully joined the main road at its front,
without watching, perhaps after buying some things from the wayside mini
market.
Then
came the sporadic shouts of Je-s-u-s, Je-s-u-s from the Christians and I think
onlookers including the sellers for Jesus Christ to save the situation. Truly,
Jesus intervened, as the truck managed to park after struggling to a halt.
Momentarily
panic gripped everybody at the scene and I thought to myself that but for the
swift and timely intervention of God, all aboard including those selling by the
wayside might have lost their lives by now.
A
friend I narrated the incident to said the sellers were lucky to have escaped.
Certainly, they were lucky on that day, but for how long can they depend on
this miraculous luck?
For
how long must we look-on helplessly for this development to continue before we
act? Must the authorities necessarily give-in to people’s quest for survival,
by allowing them conduct all sort of businesses without considering the
risk?
Conclusion
I
would not subscribe to the notion that because man has to live he should be
allowed to do anything, or engage in this risky business of operating the
wayside mini markets.
It
is in this vane that I appeal to the National Road Safety Commission as matter
urgency to sensitize the operators of the wayside mini markets to vacate their
designated selling places and relocate to safer grounds to operate their
businesses.
I
think the various Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies must create
satellite markets that are much safer than these wayside mini markets. We
cannot afford the luxury of sitting down unconcern about issues of street
hawking, wayside mini market and streetism among other issues that challenge
our effort at ensuring development of Ghana.
We
should act now to ensure that proper things are done the proper way, instead of
waiting for the situation to get out of hand before acting.
The
time to act is now!
By Kwesi Yirenkyi Boateng
kybem11@yahoo.com
*Watermelons and mangoes on sales by the Ada-Accra Highway
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