‘Mahama Camboo’: Carting goods, transporting people
Many commuters fear traffic jams. It is always irritating to sit in cars in hectic traffic jams in Accra or Kumasi, particularly in the mornings and evenings.
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Some commuters, for instance, wake up at dawn to go to work or commute for other social or business activities in other places in order to escape the infuriating traffic jams.
However, it appears an antidote to curb the frenetic traffic jams on our roads has been found in northern Ghana, specifically in the Northern Regional capital, Tamale.
Commuters in these areas, for the purposes of convenience, mostly use bicycles and motorbikes to travel within the metropolis. Both men and women as well as children use bicycles and motorbikes to travel within the metropolis.
It is important to mention that the latest to join the bicycles and motorbikes in the Tamale metropolis are tricycles.
Mahama Camboo
Although the use of tricycles is not a new development in the country, the use of a new model of the tricycles, popularly known in the Tamale Metropolis as ‘Mahama Camboo’, ‘Yellow Yellow’, ‘Nahi Nahi’, ‘John Mahama’, ‘Akorikori’ has created a new means of making transportation easy within the metropolis.
Besides the ‘Mahama Camboo’ providing the cheapest means of transportation for commuters and their goods, it has also made it easy for commuters in most inaccessible areas in the Tamale Metropolis to travel with comfort.
The use of the tricycle as a means of public transport is one of the new modules under Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) to create jobs for the teeming unemployed youth within the savannah ecological zones of the country.
Page 140 of the Green Book that captures President John Dramani Mahama’s achievement states that the ‘Mahama Camboo’ was introduced as a government intervention to create jobs and reduce unemployment.
Operators
Some of the areas that the Mahama Camboo operators ply in the Tamale Metropolis are T-Poly, Chuggu, Yapala, Gurugu, Sheshagu, Kasalgu, Lamashegu, Hospital, Vetting, Asawaba, Sagnarigu, Kukuo, Nyohini, Fuo, Dungu, Village Water, Estate, SSNIT, Gumani, Kanvile.
On Monday, August 8, this year, at about 9:16 a.m., I set off to see how the tricycle operators worked in the metropolis. My first port of call was around the ADB Aboabo branch.
Few metres from where a popular porridge seller known in the Tamale Metropolis as ‘Agberisa’, (to wit thick), has her base, I saw a number of tricycles parked in queues. Some of the tricycles were painted green, yellow, blue and black.
Some passengers were on board the Mahama Camboos with their riders comfortably seated behind their handlebars. Other riders were standing close to their bikes and shouting for passengers.
I walked to Mohammed Saani, one of the Mahama Camboo riders. Mohammed, who is in his early 20s, is a second year student of the Kalpohin Senior High Technical School in the metropolis. He was playing a Dagbani music in his tricycle at the time of my visit.
Mohammed has been in the industry for the past two years. He told the Daily Graphic his younger brother takes over the business when he goes to school in the morning until he returns.
Seats
According to him, the tricycle has a space for four people, including the rider, but most of the riders, including himself, have created additional two spaces for other passengers.
“We have made a seat on both sides of the rider so we now take six passengers, including the driver,” he said, showing me how the passengers sit in the tricycles.
Close to where Mohammed had parked his tricycle was Abdul Rahaman Salam, a 25-year-old Mahama Camboo rider. He was in short jeans and red T-shirt, standing by his tricycle and calling for passengers.
“Sagnarigu, Sagnarigu, Sagnarigu,” he shouted repeatedly. I approached him with my notepad opened.
“Master, are you going to Sagnarigu?” he inquired, thinking I was a passenger. I responded in the negative with a smile. He was about to shout Sagnarigu again when I interrupted him: “Boss, can I ask you something?”
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Salam’s facial expression communicated his unwillingness to grant me an interview. But with the help of Mohammed, he accepted it and asked me to conduct the interview quickly. I agreed.
He said the business was very lucrative, adding that because of its profitability, many players had joined.
“Some taxi drivers, for instance, have even abandoned their taxis to join us,” he indicated.
According to Salam, passengers were charged based on the distance, noting that “from town to T-poly is GH¢1.00 while Town to Sagnarigu is GH¢0.80”.
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Challenges
He, however, said the only difficulty they encountered every day was the police, particularly the Community Police, known commonly as ‘Zoom Police’.
“We pay GH¢1.00 to the police every morning, whether you have licence or not,” he indicated, adding, “When you pay the money, they write your number in their books and if you don’t have a number too, they find a way of identifying your bike.”
Salam added that “when you are arrested by the Zoom Police, you have to pay GH¢5 in order to avoid being sent to their head office where you will be charged GH¢50”.
He, however, expressed worry that the new branded Metro Mass Transit buses were gradually making their business unattractive as most passengers preferred sitting in the air-conditioned buses.
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Passengers
Seated comfortably with their hijabs nicely wrapped around their necks in one of the Mahama Camboos were Madam Bawa Ayesha and Zenabu Yakubu. Both of them were going to Sheshagu.
According to Madam Ayesha, it was cheaper to use the Mahama Camboo than taxis. She added that “we pay less to cover the same distance with the tricycles than taxis”.
For Zenabu, “when you are inside the Yellow Yellow, the wind blows on every part of your body, that is why I prefer it to the taxi.”
Mohammed Abdul Rauf, a second year student of the Tamale Polytechnic, said he patronised the tricycles because of its convenience.
Protest
It will be recalled that on Tuesday, December 1, 2015, some commercial drivers in the Tamale metropolis took to the streets to protest against the use of tricycles for commercial transport purposes.
In a petition presented to the then Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna, the drivers urged the minister to stop all activities of the tricycles in the region.
The spokesperson for the angry taxi drivers, Mr Sherriff McCarthy Frimpong, said the use of the tricycle for commercial activities contravened the country’s motor traffic regulations.
Concerns
It is important to mention that many concerned citizens in the country, particularly road safety workers and advocates, have expressed varied opinions about the use of the tricycles for commercial activities.
Mr Abubakar Fuseini, a taxi driver, accused the Mahama Camboo riders of not having number plates, insurance, in overloading and also having minors and untrained riders riding them.
Although taxi drivers in the Tamale Metropolis may continue to fight Mahama Camboo riders over passengers, it appears the taxi drivers are fighting a lost battle.
Writer’s email: [email protected]