Welcome to Asafo
A typical day at Asafo, one of the busiest suburbs in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, could best be described as sheer madness.
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From the struggle for Trotro by commuters to the selling of drugs to an under-aged tells a story that could be likened to slums across Africa.
The hottest place and perhaps the place that makes Asafo thick is BB, located directly opposite the VIP Bus terminal. The best description for BB is hell on earth. Perhaps the only thing that does not happen at BB is turning a man into a woman or creating human beings.
Basically, it’s a place for the homeless, drug addicts, commercial sex workers and head porters. But gradually, the place is becoming a venue for grooming would-be armed robbers and a hub for hardened criminals.
The miscreants have been emboldened and their trade expanded over time because they appear to have a strong network that protects them.
They are arrested and the next moment they are back with renewed stamina to cause more harm to society.
Lady car snatchers are also gradually taking their spot and despite the recent arrest of a group of four who snatched a taxi cab from a driver at knifepoint, it is business as usual for these criminals.
Nightlife at BB is something else. Girls as young as 10 years are seen in bikinis holding bottles of all kinds of drinks and puffing cigarettes perhaps to entice their would-be clients.
In most cases, they present themselves as ‘ripe’ for the market highly intoxicated with all kinds of ‘chemicals,’ including marijuana and cocaine.
Beyond that though, it is the criminal aspect of their trade with their pimps policing them around that makes them even more dangerous and scary.
But to them, it’s business as usual. They openly display their half-nakedness with little concern even in broad daylight to catch the eyes of first-time visitors.
Aside from these, BB is littered with buzzing pubs, food joints and all kinds of hotels both for short time and ‘all night.’
In spite of all the negatives of BB and Asafo in general, it’s really a place to be and indeed, it is where Kumasi happens.