I was just going through some news items on some news sites on the internet on the 27th October, 2009 and came across a news item to the effect that some Ministers of State and Members of Parliament in Ghana were to join public transport otherwise known as Tro tro’s on the 28th October, 2009. The reason being that, they were to have the rare opportunity to experience the trotro’s we ride on everyday and the problems inherent in that.

I must honestly admit that I was so angry with that news. The number one question that came to my mind was that are MP’s God or any different from those of us who uses public transportation on daily basis. Infact I asked myself also, if Ministers and MP’s in Ghana have in their body gold plaited blood! Any media house has the right to choose what story it deems important but without any apology I think there are more pressing things that Ghanaians will want to hear or read about in the media than MPs and Ministers taking trotros. To me some news items are just but indirect insult to Ghanaians and that story is one such example of those kind of stories especially, when the very vehicles those MPs are using are bought for them at the expense of every Ghanaian including the trotro users.

My dear readers, it doesn’t have to take Ministers and MPs a ride on trotro’s to know the inconveniences and the nature of our public transportation system and even the nature of our roads. In any case no MP or Minister was born as such. We were using these trotro’s with them and in some cases paid the fares for them until they became MPs and Ministers so they know all they need to know about public transportation system in Ghana.

In any case some of them are in parliament because; they campaigned on the back of poor transportation and bad roads to get to parliament and did promise the ordinary people provisions of such facilities. So we want action and fulfilment of those campaign promises not populists ride in trotro’s!

An English friend I visited Ghana with recently told me that, some of the vehicles our MPs and Ministers were using in the country were not used by even British MPs and Ministers in the performance of their parliamentary duties even though we are always running to them with cups in hand to beg for virtually everything!

A majority of the MPs here in the United Kingdom uses public transportation (trotros) for their work. They ride on buses and trains to visit their constituencies. This is a core fact that I don’t have to waste much time to explain. I have had the opportunity of visiting some rural constituencies in the United Kingdom and believe it or not some of the rural areas in Ghana are better than those places. Yet their MPs still visit those places on public transport. I can say authoritatively too that, in the United States of America some Congressmen also go to office on public transport or trotros. Joe Biden the current Vice President of the USA for all his over 20 years as Congressman used public transport to work and to his constituency.

Let me be careful not to go into full details about the mode of transportation of Members of Parliament in Developed Countries and those in what is generally call under developed or developing countries in Africa.

Left to me alone any MP aspirant in Ghana who can not afford his own vehicle to tour his constituency after his election should as well not be deemed qualified to contest as MP. If this were to be the norm we would have being on the right journey to fighting corruption in Ghana. This is because in most cases the Ministers of state are appointment from inside parliament.

May I suggest that, next time there is any suggestion or decision that Ministers and MPs should join trotros they should not join it in Accra and travel round the good roads in the Capital city. They should take the “watunchinis” and the Benz buses to their constituencies, for example from Bole to Bamboi, from Tamale to Kumbungu, and Maybe from Accra to Sogakope etc.

I hope our Ministers and Members of Parliament are Listening and reading.

Akilu Sayibu UK

Email: Akilu.sayibu@live.uwe.ac.uk