transportation module viability studywritten and researched by mr.tom.n@gmail.com

conducted 26/04/2010 - 26/05/2010

Contents

1.0 Summation of findings

2.0 Recommendations for transportation module

3.0 Recommendation in terms of esoko

4.0 Findings

5.0 Transport research

6.0 Map of research

7.0 Additional data on Techiman

1.0 Summation of findings

The potential benefit of developing a transport module is found within the numerous practices of the transportation system that waste the time, money and fuel of the participants. Whether this is a driver driving empty in search of a load, a buyer standing with their goods in need of transport or a stationmaster delaying a waybill for lack of information. These instances are all responsible for the hiking of prices in order that the costs of the inefficacies are met. The esoko system can produce more money within the system by reducing the cost of doing business, these cost reductions should be then past on to those either side of the transportation, in essence allowing the buyer to pay more for goods or buy more of them, this should reduce prices of foodstuffs due to the greater supply of goods.

For the esoko system the inclusion of transportation allows for the possibility of recordable and trusted trading through the inclusion of third party guarantors. This can bring the esoko system to a point that more closely mirrors the manner in that business is conducted, the relational character being more closely involved.

There are strong hierarchies at work within the markets of Ghana and esoko benefits little from their exclusion by integrating aspects of these associations, as with the MOFA remunerators, esoko stands better placed to realise its ambition to move towards remote trading and acquisition of goods.

The reality of developing the functionalities and reaching the agreements needed to implement the system described below are by no means easy. I do however believe that in order for esoko to succeed in terms of the movement of more than information it has to align itself to a trusted transporter of goods. Until it is able to foster a belief in the physical relocation of items across its network there is little chance of people adopting it on those terms.

There are perhaps two positions that should be considered as to the viability of producing a transport module; firstly there is the question of its benefit to transporters specifically. Secondly there is the question of what it may mean for the current esoko platform.

2.1 Union organisation & access

The marked movement of the union away from welfare and towards becoming a semi-corporate logistics and buying organisation provides the union with some difficulties. Although its stations are usually competently run and well aware of the locality with that they operate data held in one station is only held in that station and is unable to interact with that of other stations. Besides the meetings of stationmasters held a few times a year there are no mechanisms for the movement of information. Currently some stations are advertising on the radio to boost sales, giving out phone numbers for extra business. It would seem that for the unions to continue to prosper they will at some point have to move towards a centralisation of data. Some of the stations have computerised the data already but as yet it is still static. The ability to organise themselves will ultimately become a necessity and the growth of transport companies attains to this.

2.2 In terms of drivers

Drivers have less work than they used to, this is blamed on the financial crisis, the NDC, previous policies of the NPP. Cheating market women, police interference, the growing numbers of trucks and the adoption of Kia cars by store owners reducing workload. It is abundantly clear is that within the systems that direct the work of drivers there are a number of inefficient practices that produce financial leaks that operate to increase prices and decrease the money spent on goods. If these holes can be filled then there will ultimately be more money in the

system. In terms of climate change one of the biggest expenses is fuel so this can be neatly woven into any discussion of its potential benefit.

2.3 Driving empty

The frequency with that this occurs unfortunately seems to affect most drivers once or twice bi-monthly, for drivers of particular vehicles going to some destinations (such as articulators moving to the north) it is rather the rule. The decision to drive empty is fuelled by a lack of knowledge of an area, the belief that loads cannot be found and often the visual impact of seeing other cars waiting for loads at a station. This situation may be helped if information concerning the arrival of trucks could be held by the destination station prior to their arrival.

2.4 Aggregation

This could allow traders within the destination areas to consider loads that they may not have without notification of transport. A possible automatic aggregation of goods within the system, of linking geographically close offers to produce larger loads that would allow a single truck to move amongst the producers rather than the aggregation of buyers reliant on personal association and knowledge. This may produce the possibility of more loads.

2.5 Route planning

Automatically producing a suggested waybill for the stationmaster that provides what the system considers the most direct route would reduce the time needed for waybill creation. This can be a process that holds the drivers up at the station. This in an afternoon will increase the number of police check points that a vehicle will have to pay money to. Also it is not clear that stationmasters always know the quickest route. For some stations the destination is very regular but for others they

2.0 Recommendations for transportation module

are constantly shifting, certainly those that exist outside the country are often unknown.

2.6 SOS

The SOS service currently relies upon the end station or the originating station to basically stump up the truck needed to rescue the goods. This means that the cars that come travel often large distances to collect goods on a long route. This may be the difference between goods spoiling or not. If the SOS could be organised from the closest station with a suitable truck then it is possible that this circumstance might be changed. It is also true however that there are barriers of pricing cost to this notion.

2.7 SMS push

The existing ‘push’ function could be put to good use with the integration of a map function and the ability to automatically group drivers within the system. Should road conditions change drivers currently alert stationmasters, this information is then fed to the drivers, it however relies upon the stationmaster and does not necessarily reach any of the other cars that have originated from other stations, centralising this data would allow for group alerts. The same could be argued of the bandits and the

possibilities of user derived content about the positions of attacks and safety on the road. This system if wanted could move to include information about mechanics and breakdowns.

2.8 Load finder

For drivers that are waiting at a station with a long queue ahead, the possibility of providing information about the closest and least supplied station might reduce the circumstance of drivers choosing to travel without knowledge of a load, on the off chance. It would allow drivers to move to areas of demand rather than waiting. This would allow circumstances where buyers are awaiting pick up with crops that are spoiling to be reduced.

3.1 Trusted party

Currently the trading of goods across the esoko system can only be organised privately through two individuals agreeing off the system to exchange goods with one another. This requires the full expression of trust to be centred in the verbal agreement that they make with one another.

By producing a system that used the GPRTU as the trusted party both in terms of handling the money and assuring the crop esoko may produce an environment of trust. The production of a waybill would ensure that the goods were those picked; a driver is liable if those inside the car don’t match the assigned waybill.

The driver is also unlikely to agree to the loading of rotted fruit, the driver is also liable for the state of the goods. If the GPRTU handled the money then they may also be relied upon to deliver it as records exist of their receiving the money and drivers are required to carry recognition of the receiving of it on the waybill.

3.2 Value of the site

The fact that esoko does not have any clear way of recognising whether people have traded across its system means that it is unable to properly register its true worth. If esoko is ever going to operate as a successful trading platform it will have to be able to quantify the sales that it hosts in order to attain to the scope of its activities.A moderated sales system that includes a third party guarantor also provides protection.

3.3 Increasing sales

The traders working across the esoko system are operating currently in an unfamiliar environment in that they are less comfortable about making deals or operating. Through the inclusion of nationally recognised members of trading partnerships and their relationship to buyers and sellers alike esoko may begin to produce a more simulated version of the existing system. This would hopefully encourage greater patronage.

3.0 Recommendation in terms of esoko

4.1 Driver’s resources

The drivers that I met where on the whole reasonably literate with most speaking some level of English as is common with the Ghanaian population as a whole. Although many of those that drive the northern passages hail from communities in which English is scarce, often only spoken by few of the members, the need to speak languages from other parts of the country means the drivers have a fairly good grasp of language.

All drivers use mobile phones, they are the predominant way in that they are able to contact one another and their station office. If you visit stations across the country you will find the walls covered in phone numbers, some of the station masters also keep more detailed written details on the drivers however only those that are regularly stationed in that particular area.

Drivers tend to choose a base-station that is situated close to their house and family. For a driver to stay away from their home basically means they will need to sleep in the car or underneath it unless they have someone that they can stay with in the town. They will also need to pay for food, this costs about two cedi per day, and is an important reason for a driver to choose to leave a place rather than wait for a load.

4.2 Drivers earnings

Drivers when asked about their earnings on the whole gave answers ranging between 30 and 60 cedi, this is obviously a very low amount and given the cost that some reported spending on rent and food seems impossible. It did later transpire that there is a good reason for this as they are actually earning more. If they stay in an area where they know people and are known to people then they will invariably be asked to drive some small loads around the town making short trips to nearby villages and other such small trips.

The money that the driver makes from these small trips, as opposed to the long journeys, is exclusively for the driver and his mate/s. This is basically the predominant income that the driver earns, the amount paid to him by the owner barely covers his food bill.

These conditions mean that if a driver reaches somewhere that he feels he is unlikely to find a load they will often quickly turn back if they can afford the fuel to do so. Fuel is expensive when a car is fully loaded, for instance the trip from Kumasi to Bolga costs approximately 600 cedi. When the car is empty it uses considerably less and drivers will often argue that it is better that they return back to their home station than to take on board the costs of trying to wait to find work at the branch where they will be forced to pay the costs of living. The small trips that they make are also important to this decision, as they will be the main source of income for the driver.

4.3 Payment

Drivers receive the money for the load either from the buyer or through the owner of the car if the buyer of the goods is not travelling with the car or meeting it. The drivers need to carry sizable amounts of money as they will need to buy fuel besides that money they have collected for the load. Before the car leaves the station they will pay 10% of the fee to the cargo station as dues for the load they have organised. They then go to the nearest fuelling station and buy the fuel for the journey. Each driver requires a stack of small bills for the payment of bribes, as no driver wants to be caught out having to ask a policeman for change.

4.0 Findings

The payment for the transportation may have been paid upfront or may be on credit, it seems to be the case that usually most mixed loads are in part paid for and in part not,

4.4 Costs

Drivers complain of the level of work that they currently receive, it seems most are able to get between 2 and 4 journeys in a month, when they receive the money for this it works out as being between 30 and 60 cedi. The bulk of the profit goes to the owner for almost all of the money per journey is given and from that.

If a truck travels from Tamale carrying bags of maize bag to carry to Bolga then the load costs 1500 cedi. The fuel costs about 600 cedi and the station takes 150 cedi. The duties on the road will cost as much as 150 cedi and the car will most likely return empty costing 300 cedi the owner will take the remaining 300 providing perhaps 40 cedi of it to the driver with something small for the mate/s.In this way the owners of the vehicles do fantastically better than the drivers. The drivers admit this quite freely and seem to regard the situation as given. They make their money from the little trips and in some cases this is explicitly the agreement between the driver and owner.

4.5 Stations and waybills

Drivers are hired mostly through the cargo stations however there are some that choose to pick a spot away from the station and look for loads from these places. The price of hiring drivers like this is less however there are also few guarantees that the loads will arrive. Stories of whole loads being stolen in this way are not uncommon.

Organised through the station the drivers must wait for the vehicle to be loaded and the waybills prepared. The waybill is vital as they will be asked to produce their papers at numerious points during the trip. To move without the bill is likely to incur the need to pay large sums to the police and customs officials. The waybill is produced by the stations and basically details the goods and destinations held within the truck. Although it is also the case that these things may sometimes be added to by the driver looking for a little extra in his pocket. If this happens it is likely he will either have to pick the extra along the way or to bribe the loaders.

The waybills are not always ready at the time the

vehicle is loaded, a busy station may delay for a few hours and this causes problems for drivers in terms of time taken as well as the number of police barriers they can expect to face. These costs are considerable and although they come out of the pocket of the owner technically they will also impact upon the amount of money a driver is likely to be able to take home.

4.6 Banditry

Driving at night requires that the driver is wary of bandits that operate particularly near Kintampo and Techiman where the long stretches of sparsely populated bush make it easier to rob without witnesses. The road barriers have been effective in stopping the frequency of these attacks however they nevertheless seem to happen nightly. A driver’s defence against this happening is either to avoid the remote roads at times when they are known to be dangerous or to phone other drivers or the station master for information. They are not unduly worried about the thieves, as they prefer to attack buses, as the money is likely to be better.

4.7 Maintenance and Breakdowns

The possibility of breakdown is very evident and problems with the wheels also. They do not however seem to cause the drivers serious problems as the drivers have proved in all occurrences I’ve witnessed to be able to fix the problem within a sort period. The common complaints have been wheel problems, brakes, lights and clutch issues. I have been related stories where the vehicle has had to stop for a night because the job was beyond the skill of the driver however only on two occasions has this been the case. Where it is so a mechanic is sought from a nearby place. If the car does not have the parts to make the fix on the side of the road they may also have to await the arrival of another truck. It seems there are very few circumstances in that a driver may be unwilling to give help to another driver, in circumstances where the drivers did not know the other drivers, where the other drivers were even coming from Burkina the driver was still willing to lend the other drivers their spare wheel on the understanding that they would pick it up again when they got to Kumasi. They did however return to the vehicle muttering about drivers that could be silly enough to consider such a journey without a wheel.

In other cases other vehicles have offered help mechanically and with supplies also. This unofficial service seems to keep most of the vehicles on the road.

The oil is also changed approximately once every three trips in order that the car is in good shape.

Maintenance is supposed to be carried out by the owner and is considered a fairly costly aspect of looking after the vehicle, if an owner is bad then they will fail to properly maintain the vehicle, equally if the driver is no good they will drive the car in such a way as to damage it.

4.8 Transport unions

The main transport unions of Ghana are the GPRTU, GNHTA and the GNTCA, of these three the GPRTU is far larger with the GNCTA having little influence outside Accra. Despite their separate states they all work with one another harmoniously at least so it seems.

The stations all have their particular conditions and idiosyncrasies but all are bound to an overall constitution that directs they’re basic working practices in so far as the information they must provide drivers and the documentation of loads.

The station’s executive is in most circumstances elected, in cases where this wasn’t explicitly said it seemed that the executive existed by consent in the face of superior ability or perhaps lack of challenge. The need to document the members includes the documentation of vehicle owners, drivers and mates, addresses, mobile numbers and vehicle numbers. The waybill will document the items the truck is carrying the destination of the items, the person for whom the items are due. Mobile numbers are included if possible and records of whether payment has been received for the goods is always recorded with a clear distinction made in the colour of the ink.

The unions will actively seek arrest of drivers that cause problems for the union; some have gone so far as to advertise phone numbers for the reporting of bad behaviour. In some cases the stations will operate as a trading partner putting the producers and buyers together and working to aggregate loads to produce the required number of goods. Unions may also vet drivers for their local knowledge to ensure that they are fully aware of their destinations.

Unions provide the SOS service where possible; sending trucks after vehicles that have suffered a breakdown from that it cannot be repaired. This works to a differing amount depending on the station. They will however be responsible for pursuing the driver should they fail to make the delivery on time, as will they for alerting the driver to poor road conditions and possible dangers such

as bandits.

They will negotiate on behalf of the drivers to keep the cost of bribes in check, to do this station masters will pass information concerning the costs of bribes up the chain until the national executive will take its complaint to the MTTU (although it must be diplomatic). The costs of transportation are decided by the stationmaster, this may be done in the sense of negotiation or by deciding upon fixed costs that they apply across the board. Even if this is the case there is generally some negotiation as the loads are very rarely exactly what is prescribed by the pricing list.

4.9 Trading Associations

Trading or buyers associations are also responsible for the organisation of goods; they do this through organising the deals between the buyers and sellers through negotiation on their behalf. They are also involved with the aggregation of goods from the villages. This they do through the information they are passed from agents that they have within rural markets and those that travel to the farm gate.

Working within an association may be a tightly controlled system with price controls and punitive measures for those that seek to avoid them such as the Techiman and Kumasi markets. They may also be associations that are only loosely organised and operate no particular pricing control over the goods as with parts of the Tamale, Takoradi and Techiman markets.

The trading associations and even individual buyers are often involved with the provision of credit to the farmers and even smaller traders down the chain from themselves. This on the one hand provides security to the farmers in times of need but for the association also allows them to better calculate the quantity of goods they are likely to have in harvest seasons. The provision of credit also allows the buyers to put pressure on the farmers to sell at times when the market price is low then guaranteeing more profit to the buyers that can then store the goods and sell them at a higher price. In some circumstances it seems as though the trading association is also largely in control of the local cargo station, they will be responsible for putting loads together and then organising the manner of how the truck is supposed to move. In situations such as the Kumasi Tomato queen and associated tomato union they were responsible for deciding exactly how many trucks would be responsible for servicing each of the large southern markets.

This level of control extended all the way into the destinations of the trucks and then the final prices that the tomatoes could be expected to fetch at their final destination. Associations of the Nigerian onion men are similar to this in the extent of its control over the market.

Most of the associations met were reasonably open and many had happily collaborated with MOFA in determining their trading patterns, there were of course those associations that viewed any attempt to engage in investigation of their activities with suspicion or outright hostility such as the mob in Techiman.

4.10 Trading transporting associations.

I have met relatively few transportation associations of this nature, the GNTTTA remains one of the few explicit associations of this type, perhaps also including the Nigerian onion farmers.

What is clear although is that despite the separate nature of the associations in actuality there are traders that are a part of the GPRTU and there are members of the GPRTU working in trading roles so there can be no clear distinction made between the activities only that given the varying nature of relationship between the parties there are seemingly elastic boundaries that exist between the scope of an associations remit.

There are the powerful members within most markets and these seem also to be whomever has become most successful at organising the trading and so acquiring more of a cut for themselves adding to the wealth and influence of their organisation. One might point to the GNTTTA and its supply of ‘leaders’ to the traders travelling in the trucks, these leaders speak the Burkina language and play a central role in the negotiation of prices particularly because of their personal relationship to the producers and the ability to patronise one over another.

I would suggest that the nature of how the associations conduct business is largely the cause of this elastic and changing relationship. As most of the calculations that allow business to commence are taken inside of the head/s of whomever is in charge then the faculties of its staff mostly determine the ability of an organisation.

This produces the mosaic of differing patterns of relationship between groups. Each has its unique bargaining point however the ability of the protagonist to negotiate, bringing informational resources to bolster material, becomes the only determinate of the momentary fixing of influence.

4.11 Police, customs, tolls and weigh stations.

The police and other organs of law enforcement are one of the most often stated problems faced by the drivers. This is not necessarily representative of the actuality of what effects the work but it is certainly that most felt by the drivers.

The numerous stops and tolls requested of the drivers can cost sometimes half as much as the fuel may and is a process that most drivers were extremely annoyed by. The winking lights seen on approaching a barrier will send the driver to his dashboard to grab the smallest sum he thinks he might be able to pay to the police. He will draw on lines of kinship, plead poverty and even accuse a previous barrier of collecting more than was considered ‘fair’.

On a car moving between Kumasi and Bolga the car I rode was stopped around 30 times within the 19 hour journey. Whether the papers are correct or not the fine must be paid, whether to the customs official or the police. The most farcical arrangement is of the weigh stations that are infrequently scattered alongside the road. These are to enforce the correct weight and loading of the truck. They are supposed to check that the driver has not packed too much.

Unfortunately the driver has few ways of knowing the weight of his truck, unless he is able to weigh the items individually there are no truck scales except at the weigh station. If he gets his car weighed and is over weight then he may expect to pay around 300 cedi, the bribe in the south is 40 and in the north 20. The system then becomes a strange gamble with a driver believing his load to be particularly light perhaps risking it, in most cases however the driver pays.

The quantity of costs that are finally past onto the consumer in the cases of bribery are questionable, it would seem that drivers and owners adjust prices to account for most expenditure and the amounts that owners receive is always told once the bribes are deducted and seem consistent. If this is the case then it would certainly seem that ultimately it is those consumers that will have to shoulder the price.

What follows are summarised versions of interviews made over the period of the study. it does not include informal interviews nor observations made, these have contributed to the overall conclusions and are then part of the final analysis.

Contents of the study

5.1 Meeting with chairman of the Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council.

5.2 Meeting with the executive of the Ghana National Cargo Transporters Association

5.3 Meeting with the permanent sectary of the Achimota charcoal yard

5.4 Charcoal Truck between Accra (Kanishie) – Takoradi

5.5 Yam buyers at the truck stop in Takoradi central market

5.6 Yam Queen, Takoradi central market

5.7 Tomato Queen, Takoradi central market

5.8 Deputy Onion Queen, Takoradi central market

5.9 Meeting with the Ghana Private Road Transporters association – Sekondi/Takoradi, Cargo Branch Newtin Kolloh

5.10 Meeting with the Ghana Haulage Transport Drivers Union, Takoradi/Sekondi, based at Port.

5.11 Tyre Truck between Takoradi – Kumasi

5.12 Meeting with the GPRTU regional branch Kumasi

5.13 Meeting with the GPRTU Cargo Station at Banda, Race Course

5.14 Tomato Queen, Kumasi Central Market

5.15 Peanut seller, Kumasi Central Market

5.16 Meeting with Esoko/MOFA enumerator, Kumasi Central Market

5.17 Corn wholesaler, Kumasi Central Market

5.18 Provisions Truck between Kumasi – Bolgatanga

5.19 Meeting with the regional GPRTU branch Bolgatanga

5.20 Meeting with the GPRTU Branch, Bolga Market Cargo Station

5.21 Meeting with the GPRTU Branch Navrongo

5.22 Meeting with the Yam Sellers Association Abobo Market, Tamale

5.23 Meeting with Small cargo station (Kia Station) Abobo Market, Tamale

5.24 Meeting with Tamale GPRTU Heavy Trucks Branch

5.25 Meeting with MOFA/esoko re-numerator, Techiman Market.

5.26 Meeting with Techiman cargo station number 1.

5.27 Meeting with the Techiman Maize Buyers Association

5.0 Transport research – esoko

20/04/20105.1 Meeting with chairman of the Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council.Matthew Hayford – Chairman

22 organisations make it up. These include unions, associations and cooperatives.The council is made up of various representatives from a number of organisations who are sent by there associations.Individuals form societies or groups that are then organised into unions at the district and regional levels, the regional level then forms the association that then forms a part of the council. This form is uniform in all types of work. The government goes to the council when they need to engage the transporters. Membership is voluntary however the majority belong to one of the associations or another. They then may receive training and negotiation on their part concerning rights and conditions. The council is funded from within and this is collected through dues paid by the members. The government does not provide any money. They are far less well off than the unions, which is where the money tends to stop. Membership of the association is fairly stable but financial constraints mean they are unable to offer the sort of services that they would wish. The government if they were considering a fuel price change they would need to come to negotiate. The council based upon fuel consumption fixes all the prices for trotros, combined taxi’s and buses. These fares have to keep the passengers, drivers, owners and government all happy this is not easy. They organise a wide range of issues over various issues such as tonnage and welfare the difficulty of organising over tonnage was partly caused by individual operators working outside of the framework in order to secure business. He also thinks there are more trucks than there are loads. Formally there were few cars on the road so it was a safe bet. The owners tend to organise that the drivers should bring a particular amount of money every day. This is decided between the owners and the drivers. For a cargo truck there is uncertainty over the amounts that they will make. This is not so for the drivers of taxi’s and trotros. Tomatoes have there good and bad side, you’d need to bring it within 24 hours and this can bring about serious problems with tiredness and unreliable trucks. Also the goods need often to be loaded from maybe six areas. Its not industrial farming so people need to go to the small areas. The trucks that go up country often return with no load. Truck ownership is generally concentrated in the south while the drivers tend to be from the north. The carriers of foodstuff tend to be cargo trucks as they need to be able to go into the smaller villages.

They are developing the new 2010 transport act. One of the areas they will be revising is the penalty for driving offences that are being reduced by up to 90%. They have also been organising seminars about road safety and driving courses. They want to introduce educational classes rather than tougher sentences for offences on the road.

21/04/20105.2 Meeting with the executive of the Ghana National Cargo Transporters AssociationPresident of the association: Abdul Mohamed

In 2003 they decided to set up their own union as the GPRTU is also concerned with taxi’s and buses and so they thought that some of their concerns were being overlooked. Up to now they have approximately 2 million members including cargo stations, drivers, owners and other affiliates like trading groups and buyers who use the cars to travel to the north. The cargo stations that are under the GNCTA are able to run their own bylaws so long as the central executive grants approval. They will largely determine whether the bylaws are reasonable based on their own experience of the business. Although a cargo station can seek to provide justification for a bylaw should it fail to be passed by the executive. The executive itself provides a common framework or constitution to all stations concerning the basic operation of their business. This is given in the form of a charter once a cargo station has managed to form itself around the central requirements of operation. These are largely concerning a staff and premise from which to operate. Currently the executive is exploring how it could set up a central warehouse that would allow them to sell goods directly to the drivers whereas they now currently buy them from many of the smaller shops. Besides this they act as a mouthpiece for the drivers and try to ensure that they get a fair deal from central government. They are also there to work on their behalf and to try and deal with some of their problems. One such example is that of the axle weight issue that currently does not make provision for the larger 6 wheeler articulator trucks that currently have to carry much the same weight as the cargo double axles, this they say obviously does not take account of their much larger load bearing abilities. Over a concern such as this they will basically have to inform the government of their wish to hold a meeting and then from this they will proceed to negotiate the terms of the deal. The general pattern of truck driving that is seen around the country is that of the movement of non-perishable goods for the south to the north in return for foodstuffs such as cereals, yams, tomatoes to name but a few. These are then conveyed to the south via Techiman and Kumasi where they are

often traded to buyers from the south. Being form the south they tend not to be able to go to the small villages where the goods are cheaper, instead they tend to congregate in the more urban markets.

22/04/20105.3 Meeting with the permanent sectary of the Achimota charcoal yard

Charcoal selling at approximately 10 cedi per bag in the station goes for between 3.5 and 7 in the village, the main buyers of the charcoal are the women who operate in the markets. He believes that it is they who are making the most money in the chain, they sell the charcoal in small piles as well as wholesale and this brings in the most money. They have also provided loads to Europeans for sale on markets overseas. The ladies can buy anywhere between 3 and 100 sacks. Prices are affected by the season as well as the fuel price that the drivers have to pay. The trucks will drive out to the village but if the road is bad then they will just park nearby. The drivers are contracted by someone that phones them or comes in person to the truck station. The major producing areas are those of Kintampo, Attabugu and the Affram Plains. The drivers cannot visit the small villages that produce some of the charcoal due to the state of the road.

26/04/20105.4 Charcoal Truck between Accra (Kanishie) – Takoradi Driver: Sergeant Doe

I explain that we’re trying to develop a system to link them up to buyers and sellers, and he says to me that they don’t buy and they don’t sell. The people will call him and then he will consult about the price. When the price is good for him then he will take it. Otherwise he will go to the station where he is likely to find a load. He never drives around looking for loads, he will visit the cargo station and some times people will just turn up with a truck and say that they need a driver. When the truck reaches the destination then they will get paid. He doesn’t get enough work to do at the moment the last two weeks he was waiting for a job. The truck he’s driving at the moment he has been driving for 4 years. There are plenty of drivers who need more work also. In the past he used to only wait 3 days for a job and in a week could sometimes drive between 4 and 6 times in a week. He says that during those times he would have to turn jobs down because they would ask them to turn around and drive straight back. He blames the current state of affairs on the economic decline and the quantity of taxes that people need to pay on the goods. He thinks that the traders don’t

have money to buy and that this is the case for the whole system, he thinks that this has been the case for perhaps the last ten years. When he reaches Takoradi he will wait between 2 and 3 weeks for a load. This causes serious problems for him given that his rent is around 20 cedi a month. When he is in Accra he will have to stay in his truck he will eat 2 cedi a day and if he eats more then he is in trouble. He will probably only make 30 cedi if he makes two trips in the month. If he can do more then he may make up to 50 cedi. As he puts it they are suffering. The prices offered to the farmers is too low and causes them to hold off from selling to the buyers and this generally means that the produce rots in the end. Once he arrives with a load then he will phone the buyers to say that he has reached the destination and that they should come to offload the car. He will also take jobs from people that phone him specifically to take the load somewhere, as to where he goes he has no qualms, he will go anywhere. If this leaves him somewhere that seems that there will be no work then he will come back empty. He simply decides this based on how it looks like things are going. This situation happens often and is a very bad situation. It happened to him in the last two weeks where he was stranded in Kumasi. He says that if you are going to the north or to somewhere that is far away then you have to consider the fact that you will not get a load to come back with so you need to charge enough to cover the expenses. The load going then will always be more expensive because of returning empty. He will go to visit the cargo station in the north but often gets there to find that there are other trucks waiting to pick loads, in this case he doesn’t wait he just goes back. The price you can charge on the load depends on how big the truck is but in the end the amount given to the driver is always too low. The amount paid for the load is 350, the amount to the GPRTU 35 cedi plus 10 cedi chop money, 250 will go to the car owner, 50 cedi for fuel on the road he will have to pay the police on about 5 or 6 occasions, despite this he still says that he will make between 20 and 30 cedi. The maths obviously doesn’t add up. He says that if he gets a job through a private phone call then he will take the cargo station’s 10% and put it in his pocket, if he’s been waiting in the cargo station then he will give them something small for sitting there this amount can be between 10 or 20 cedi.

27/04/20105.5 Yam buyers at the truck stop in Takoradi central market

The truck arrives at 7 to begin offloading, this can’t begin until the person that has brought the yam arrives, the yam is loaded into the front of the truck and so it needs to come out before the major stock

of charcoal can be reached. The yam buyers are already waiting for the load although it seems they are still holding yam from the other day that they have failed to sell, although they say they might be able to move a whole cartload in a day. They add that they may also fail to sell a single yam in a day. They say that the yams if they are good can last for a very long time, one says that this can be as long as a year but I think that he means if it is left in the soil. They certainly agree that they can do at least a week if they are in good condition. When the lady arrives a little later they get around to offloading the car. Although one loader comes forward it seems it is not his car and another after a slight altercation comes forward to take the load. The yam queen is not around but one of her advisors is there to see the offloading.

27/04/20105.6 Yam Queen, Takoradi central marketQueen: Efua Adjama, Elder: Mercy Ajei

When they go to the north to bring the yam it is the women that go with the trucks. There is sometimes some small spoilage and some of the yam is kept badly so it spoils. She points to a great pile of yam that seems to be growing trees, this has spoiled and although they can chop the growth off the yam will not be easy to sell. It was because they were unable to get the car early that this has happened. Because they tend to travel by public bus they are not at the farm site with the yam instead they need to gather the yam together and then find transport this can be difficult in the north particularly to bring it as far south as Takoradi. She says that sometimes they have to beg the transporters to come and then even then they can charge pretty much whatever they want. Apparently the drivers blame the high cost of fuel, mechanics and spares. The cars far prefer to go to Accra so they often take the yam to Accra where it is traded and then sold again to the women creating a high cost by the time it reaches Takoradi. The cars that carry goods to the north from Takoradi tend to be articulators so they are unable to visit the villages where the yams are found, because of this they have to wait for a cargo truck that does not travel frequently from Takoradi to such places. While they had used to take the transportation on credit from the north the drivers do not much like this practice as they do not know the ladies from the south and don’t trust that they will get back the money they initially spend. They don’t use specific drivers due to the fact that they equally don’t know them and so just take the first available car. Sometimes they have waited for a full month to take a car back to the south. At this point they are wiling to pay almost anything because they’ve not been back for a month and the longer they stay the more money they wind up spending. If the trucks

in the south are aware of the load in the north they will still not travel unless they have a load to take north. The queen would like the government to provide the trucks. In the past they did this and it meant that the trucks would always be moving,

27/04/20105.7 Tomato Queen, Takoradi central market Queen: Sarah Kofi

Sarah used to buy the tomatoes from Burkina and still does when the season is right she complains the people in Navrongo now tax the trucks that move through their town carrying tomatoes (there had been riots about the trucks passing through the tomato growing region). This taxation has caused the price of tomatoes to rise and she blames it for the large amount of waste that the trade produces. The tomato growing season runs between May and December in Ghana but despite this she would prefer to buy from Burkina where the tomatoes are of a variety that keeps better and they are generally cheaper. Formally they would pay the driver per box however due to the frequency with which they are unable to fill the whole truck the drivers have changed to charging for the whole truck. The difficulty with filling the truck is due to the farming communities being spread far and wide, they are also on such a scale that you cannot go to one community and expect to fill the whole truck. This is also because they are not always aware that the truck will be coming so they are not ready. Early rains can easily cause the tomatoes to fail to ripen. Because of the price people do not buy tomato like they used to. The canned paste has become more popular and many people choose to buy this rather than the fresh produce, at the moment they are also short of cash so buy little. The price in Burkina at the moment is around 40,000 cfa per box.

27/04/20105.8 Deputy Onion Queen, Takoradi central market Deputy: Mary Nuamah

Mary buys two types of onion, being the Nigerian onion that is either yellow or red and then the Bwaku red onion. The Nigerian onion is the best and can be used for all purposes the Bwaku red onion is generally used for stews and shito. The Nigerian onions are sold by men from Niger who live at the market here in Ghana. The only other form of supply is from those small producers that bring the onions to sell at the market from their farms. She says that the reason that the Nigerian men have a hold over the market is due to the distance involved in the journey and the fact that there are few Ghanaians who know Niger to be able to visit the farms. The Nigerians will only sell wholesale to other Nigerians

and in this way they continue to dominate the market. The onions that they produce can be kept for nearly a year and she has storerooms to this effect. Even kept in the open air they last well. The Nigerians decide the price and they will sell to anyone that wants to buy the onions but only at the rates they offer to outsiders of the Nigerian circle. Currently the old queen has died so there is disorder among the onion sellers, she says that they need to elect a new queen soon as they are getting bad prices from the Nigerian men. She says that if they are able to mobilise themselves then they will be able to get better prices from the traders. As it is she takes a car to Accra once every two weeks so that she can buy from the markets there. A sack that costs 80 cedi at Accra sells for 1.3 when they get it to Takoradi so she buys a trotro worth and then brings them. She is one of the few that can afford to do this however and although she used to go in on the trip with some of the other traders she now only does it for herself. The other traders were not consistent in their paying her back so she had to stop.

28/04/20105.9 Meeting with the Ghana Private Road Transporters association – Sekondi/Takoradi, Cargo Branch Newtin KollohChairman: David Apau

The Chairman of the cargo branch says that in the western region this is the largest cargo station. They used to be separate from the haulage union but after some time they decided that the challenge between them was causing problems. The two unions merged and made the Haulage union chairman the head and them him the deputy. Then they made his deputy the 1st trustee and then the Haulage’s vice the 2nd trustee. Now they then wanted to operate at the port so made an application to the port authority that provided them a license. Now then all the cargo must pass through them unless they are a company, as they have no power over the company cars. There are as many as 40 company cars that they use, while the union truck number 141 trucks. There are 10 or 20 companies that are registered with the port. Of the dues that are collected by the unions 1 third goes to each of the bodies, the two separate unions and then the conjoined. He will spend perhaps two hours at the cargo station before going to the joint office at the port. The port is basically the main provider of jobs in the area. Fish comes from the Tema fishing harbour rather than in Takoradi. There are a couple of factories that produce plywood and these products go to Mali and other surrounding countries. There is also coconut that they take to Nigeria. They will also bring Kola nut and Coco to the port. Food needs to generally come from the

interior so Takoradi has a reasonably high price when compared with other places. Those women that say the transportation price is the reason for the high transportation prices is the reason are lying. They say that they are going to buy for cheap, however they do agree that the price of bringing things from the north is high. They say that this is only the case for the perishable goods, for non-perishables this is not the case. The price changes when they increase the price of fuel, the prices are still negotiable. The work has reduced and they blame the world crash, people have also jumped into the business looking for money. Besides this the storeowners have brought their own cars and now pick their own things. The union wants to challenge the company so that they are able to take away some of the companies business. This they hope would provide the drivers with more work to do. The company’s price is already higher than their own. They are taking away quite a bit of the work. They argue that the unions serve the government more than the companies who do not have the same relationship with the government. They have most of the Coco transportation this is also because many of those who sit on the Coco Board have interests in the trucking companies. They only come to the unions when they are short of trucks. To increase the amount of work will depend on the government they need to reduce the prices, (Taxes?). If they need tomatoes then it is hard to find in Takoradi because of the distance and the length of time it takes to load the car. It takes three days to load the truck because the tomatoes are not in the same place; it takes a while of driving around in the bush to get hold of the amount you need to fill a car. The yam, cassava, mangos and watermelons are those that are far away. Although the GNCTA are technically a separate union they have an agreement that they will work collaboratively to ensure that if a car is spoilt then they will send another car to collect the goods depending on whether its closer to one station or another. Most of the jobs they get are from people who have heard about them through the FM stations and also by coming to the station. The porters that work in the major offloading stations are a source of plenty of the information about where loads can be found. The station agents fix the price and this was something that was agreed by the drivers and the station. Some goods also have a fixed price. If the goods are not one for that they have a price that’s fixed then they will negotiate with the customer. The union here has 45 members who will vote for the chairmen, vice chairmen and other executive members; they are then installed for 4 years before they can be voted out. They help their members in weddings, deaths and sickness. At the moment the work is not so good but in the past they used to provide Christmas bonuses, they could do more but at the moment there is not enough work. In terms

of the loads they are responsible to check that the load is as they have said it would be, as such they need to write out a list of the goods carried so they are aware of every item that has gone into the truck. If you were to bring a load of rotten tomatoes then they would take the tomatoes, it is the concern of the person that brings the thing. However they have to arrive in the length of time that they have said they will take. If they have said that they will arrive in one day then they will have to arrive in that time or they will face financial problems. The owner that travels with the vehicle is generally the one that comes with the truck so they check the nature of the goods. ‘419’ is the name given to fraud and also that people will sometimes phone them to ask them to come and then they will not actually need anyone to come, they do it just to spoil the business. The chairman then describes going to the station and picking a guy who goes to a factory then says his money is short and that he will add the money to the transport money, he then goes into the factory and disappears.

28/04/20105.10 Meeting with the Ghana Haulage Transport Drivers Union, Takoradi/Sekondi, based at Port.Chairman: Godfrey Offeh

They are in the business of goods and services; this mostly includes the exporting goods via articulator to the hinterland. There are very few non-perishable goods that they take North however they will transport a few perishables such as mango’s and coco. They will go as far as Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Nigeria. The articulator union (GHTDU) was totally separate from the GPRTU prior 2003 when the two unions merged. He says of the GNCTA; they wanted to have their own union so the others said ok, they don’t run competing stations and where they have their own stations the other organisation respects their territory. The merging of the two local unions being the haulage and cargo workers happened because the two chairmen could see that they were in competition with one another and wanted to stop the conflict. Now the two chairmen have an office at their respective stations where they spend the morning, come the afternoon they go to a shared office at the port where they organise most of the loads. The porters also have merged from supplying the separate unions to working for the two. These mergers are agreed through the various elders or executive bodies of the organisations. The port has recently provided the unions with the right to allocate the vehicles for the port, previously there were trucks milling around and going wherever but nowadays they are only coming into the port once they’ve been given a particular job. This is recorded by a computer but also on paper, the

drivers are given a slip of paper that details the job while the union keeps a receipt of the job. The registration process requires that the drivers and owners provide information concerning their address, their phone numbers, legal documents and other information. In this way the union can be responsible for any goods they transport. They are in fairly regular contact with the other stations around the country, they have meetings during the year but besides that the chairmen have some more regular contact with the stations that are nearby. The private trucking companies are not very serious competition however they do transport most of the goods needed by the Ghana Coco Board. They still use boards in the offices to organise the order in that the drivers will leave. The porters in the port will alert the union to the jobs, as they will be made aware of a container being opened. And then send word to the union to ready a truck. They are also well organised and have their own unions and headmen that organise them and liaise with the trucking unions. The port is basically the only gig in town although there are some loads that are organised by traders at the market the vast majority of work is at the town. He denies the words of the market women that suggested that they were charging too much to head to the north and says that they are always cheating. He says that the fuel costs are the most serious problem faced by the drivers.

28/04/20105.11 Tyre Truck between Takoradi – KumasiDriver: Akobam

The time of the trucks departure is never made very clear, I sit for four or five hours and eventually there is a sudden phone call and I head to the port. The truck has been loaded with second-hand tyres from Germany to the point where it is flagrantly overweight the driver complains that the load is too much for his engine but he and the owners of the tyres are in no doubt that they will proceed anyway. The car is leaving Takoradi at about 5pm, the union men had been waiting to see if they would clear the port today they tell me that you can never be sure if they will actually make it out from the customs and the port authority. The two owners of the tyres are riding in the car also making it five of us with the mate. The journey between Takoradi and Kumasi requires driving back along the coast as far as Cape Coast before the truck is able to turn north and begin to make headway in the right direction. Along this route there are some police to bribe but only two barriers that offer little hindrance. The driver tells me that he drives an articulator because they are better than the small trucks. He says you can make more money and faster. This is only done I believe through operating the port

however as he admits that he doubts that he will find a load in Kumasi. The articulators cannot move to the smaller stations for the cargo and to fill an articulator requires a lot of goods that are not easily found outside of agricultural products that tend to be coming from the north. He will most likely return to Takoradi empty to begin looking for another load form the port. The tyre owners say that there are many such goods and container trucks moving to Kumasi because they don’t have a port there so cannot find easy access to second hand goods. The journey is broken around Cape Coast and from there it is a straight drive to Kumasi, there are some quite serious hills on the route and the truck struggles and makes unpleasant noises as we slowly grace the tops to then have to apply the break in hefty terms to avoid a mad scramble to the bottom. They tell me that although bandits where known to operate in the hills around here that has not been the case for some time. When we close in on Kumasi it turns out the truck will be delivering straight to the house if the tyre owner. This makes for a strange passage deep into suburbia at around 3am in our enormous articulated lorry. Upon arriving the driver strips naked in the road and washes from a bucket of water and so me and the mate join him before the mate and I retire to the cab while the driver sleeps under the truck on his comfy chair with mosquito net. We on the other hand spend the night attacking tiny high-pitched drones that hover around our ears. The next morning some people have arrived apparently known to the tyre owner and the unpacking begins. Once finished the driver will turn around and return.

29/04/2010 5.12 Meeting with the GPRTU regional branch KumasiHead of Industrial Relations: Rev. Ellis Owusu-Ansah

The branch is the regional head office of the GPRTU, in the region they have 20 branches and then around 120 locals, every village in Ashanti region has a station although all drivers will pass through Kumasi. In Kumasi there are 5 or 6 lorry parks that cater for the trucks. They are not all for cargo however they are also dealing with the passenger trucks. In Kumasi some of the markets are Asaf Market, Race Course Station, Bantama Station, New Tafo, Morrow Market, Asamwasi. There are some stations that only deal with passengers as some equally only deal with perishable goods. The constitution that they have is for the whole union they have a national and regional executive, they meet at the Ashanti branch to have the regional meetings however the branches are all permitted to make their own bylaws. The north of Race Course is where perishables and non-perishables can

be found they are also collecting things from the Northern part of the Ashanti region. As an industrial relations officer he has close dealing with the food, corn, tomato sellers as well as the wood-cutters. They also deal closely with the central market associations that buy much of the food items.

29/04/20105.13 Meeting with the GPRTU Cargo Station at Banda, Race CourseStation Master: Able

This station is only for cargo; all of the members of his station will come to him for loads it is only around Christmas that they are able to find private loads. If they are registered at this station they may still get loads from other stations however this will only be if the other station is short of trucks. Most of the year the trucks that leave here to the North will come back empty, the weight they carry depends of the load and the truck they are using. This affects the cost of fuel as well, to drive to Bolga empty will cost about 300 cedi for the fuel. To do it with a load will cost 1500 cedi to Bolga of this 150 cedi goes to the station, fuel costs around 600 to 700 cedi when the truck is loaded. In the end the driver is in possession of approximately 300 cedi if they have had to return empty. Every three trips it is necessary to change the oil or risk causing more serious problems. Maintenance besides this may also be required frequently. Able thinks that most trucks are probably only making a couple of trips a month. This station only runs between here and the North. Mostly this is to Bwaku, Wa or Bolgatanga. The difference between the weight of particular goods is important to the fuel consumption the weight of cattle is around 13 tonnes while yam will weigh in at around 35 tonnes. The months of June, July and August are slow months but overall he thinks that the amount of work has increased over the last five years. They sometimes supply to the companies but only if they’ve run out of trucks that are not too regular, the station on the whole is well run and they have access to plenty of trucks. They use waybills to record the journeys and to act as insurance against police harassment. They used radio adverts to promote their station and are also advertising to store owners in Adom to get better business. They feel that there is very little pressure from the companies. In the case of the load being incorrect then he tells me that the owner should pay two thirds of the cost of the good and then the station will pay one third of the cost. He says that they have no way of enforcing this however so it is up to the good will of the owner or his wish to retain good relations. Yam is the only good that can be sold on credit the others must all be paid for up front. Saying this it is possible that over long periods of time (he suggests 5 years) they may

begin to trust each other and allow one another to buy on credit.

30/04/20105.14 Tomato Queen, Kumasi Central MarketQueen: Serwa Badu

The market queens of the Kumasi area are able to come together very easily to discuss the nature of their business. The union of buyers that she is a part of includes the Accra markets, those of the Cape Coast, Takoradi and many of the smaller places in the area. All of the tomato trucks are assigned to the markets depending on the level of demand at the market. For Kumasi there are 8 trucks assigned, for Accra 10, but most markets will have only one, Takoradi has 5 as an example of a smaller city. This union meets perhaps four times a year to discuss some of these issues however they talk more regularly than that. They also meet with the truck drivers to discuss the work. For every market the truck works continuously going back and forth to bring the tomatoes. Who is necessarily paying for the tomatoes is not clear and it seems as if different collections of the women may go at any given trip. If 8 women in the Kumasi market are to come together to bring a batch of tomatoes then two will travel with the truck while the others stay at the market. All in all they have 40 trucks moving continuously to collect the tomatoes for the southern grouping of women. She herself is also in charge of all the tomatoes in Kumasi. She says that the trucks must be fast as the tomatoes spoil after little time. They don’t last beyond 5 – 6 days after which time they are rotten. They know the smaller cars that go to the various places but determine where each truck will go specifically individually each time they go. The trucks work all year round only changing the places that they go. If the drivers fail to deliver the tomatoes properly then they punish the drivers by taking them to the union (that’s is the GPRTU). The market women are alerted by agents in the north who tell them when the tomatoes are ready to be picked up. She decides the prices for all tomatoes in the Kumasi central market.

30/04/20105.15 Peanut seller, Kumasi Central MarketAfia Yeboah

She will usually buy between 10 or 20 bags at a time and this sort of quantity will mean that about 5 women will need to club together to fill the truck. Sometimes it is the case that people from the north bring peanuts to them in which case they will buy from them. They do not have the same system as the tomato sellers in the sense their market is more

open to outsiders. They use loans from the bank to increase the amount they can buy however these tend to be difficult to get and can be expensive. A bag of peanut costs about 140 cedi and you can get about 50 bags in a truck. She says that although she buys from the middle women and men at the small markets that this is because she does not know the farmers and is a stranger to them. She says that they do not speak twii and so she cannot communicate with them to buy the goods. She says that she knows that the price from the farmers for a bag is about 100 cedi and that rises to 120 in the markets she buys from, finally becoming 140 cedi by the time she sells it but this is the way. She is however interested when shown the esoko system and says that she wants to know how it works. She says the price she pays is mostly affected by the season rather than other factors.

30/04/20105.16 Meeting with Esoko/MOFA enumerator, Kumasi Central MarketPiianim Frimpong

Piianim was working for MOFA before coming over to work for esoko also the information that he provides for MOFA is the same as what he does for MOFA so it makes sense for him do provide it for both. He says of prices that the rainy season has been all over the place so they have had a difficult time keeping an eye on the prices. Last year the early rains produced a bumper harvest that means they are able to get a lot of foreign currency. The various associations in the market (Kumasi Central) decide the prices, for onions the Nigerians at the Race Course sell at the lowest prices but then they also control the onion business. At Central Market they cost 100 cedi a bag at the Race Course they cost 95 cedi. He says that the onion market is controlled not just by the Northerners monopoly but that if a truck operates outside of the monopoly then it will not reach the market “it will fall over”. Tomatoes are being brought in by the Akudama people who bring the tomatoes from Akobo, tomatoes are abundant at the moment however that does not mean there is any benefit for the farmers. A while ago the tomato queen was buying from whom ever would sell at the cheapest price. This was causing a lot of impoverishment to the communities so they had a meeting with the queen’s and got them to agree to rotate between villages. Buying all the tomatoes from one place when they have their harvest and then moving on to the next place to do the same there. At least in this way the farmers get a better deal for the tomatoes. The queens also provide money to the farmers to grow the tomatoes in the first place that can be very useful to the farmers. He says that he’s being doing business with esoko but its not been the other way

around, he complains that he was not paid until the 25th of the previous month I being due on the first, this he said did not happen under ‘Tradenet’ and complains that he doesn’t know the esoko people. He would like there to be a meeting so that they could know one another and also some training on the new system that he says he was able to work but that some of his colleagues have had trouble with using the new interface.

30/04/20105.17 Corn wholesaler, Kumasi Central MarketMohammad

Mohammad inherited his business from his father but says that he was the first to move outside the country in search of grain. He says that it was the increase in population but also the rising prices on the domestic market that encouraged him to do this. In order that he should be able trade with the peoples of Mali or Burkina he had to learn the language and so he speaks French and Hausa. He has built up his contacts over the last ten years and they are very important to him. Each trader has the particular people that they work with and contacts are vital to the success or failure of a business. He travels up to Mali by public transport and then will travel between the farms collecting the suitable amount of goods. Once he has found enough then he usually has to wait for a cargo car that has come up from Accra or Tema Ports to take the goods back to Kumasi. This sometimes takes as long as two weeks but not often. He can usually rely on being on the road within one.

03/05/2010 - 05/05/20105.18 Provisions Truck between Kumasi – BolgatangaDriver: Thomas, Mate: Karium, Car Boy: Kojo

This drive left me with a burning anger directed at the police, carrying provisions such as car parts, foodstuffs and other assorted items our driver, on the road for 19 hours straight worked a full day on both sides of the drive. He will be awake for 37 hours in all before resting until 5am and then making a few more drops in the Zebillia area. These drops he makes in the Zebilla area are jobs that he is contracted for privately or through the cargo station but without the specific knowledge of the owner. It is this money that allows the drivers to continue to eat despite the seemingly impossible mathematics of their pay. When on the road we experience approximately 8 or 9 unofficial police blocks, 8 official barriers, 6 custom stations, 5 tollbooths and two weighing stations. Over these stops the driver pays an average of two cedi except for the weighing stations that charge 40 cedi in the south and 20 in the north. In all they are stopped

30 times and the amount they pay in bribes is more than one hundred Ghana cedi. They refer to the police as dogs, bastards, bitches, thieves, criminals and gangsters among other expletives. The driver every time he re-enters the car is fuming. All the money lost will come ultimately from the owners’ pocket but will affect the amount of money that the owner will cut the driver in for. The issues with weighing are absurd, the driver when loading their trucks have no access to scales, the only scales are held by the weighing stations. If they enter a weighing station and are over weight then they will be taken to court and will stand to loose 300 cedi. Standing outside the station for 10 minutes we saw about four drivers or mates go running to the station. They explained to me that unless you feel that your load is particularly light they dare not risk to enter the weigh station, it is better to pay the 40 cedi than to risk the far higher fee. The only way around this circumstance is to install weighing machines at the station that would need to be paid from their own station dues. The drive is interrupted by an early issue with the clutch or brakes overheating, a 15-minute stop and some fast action with a spanner loosens the parts suitably for us to continue. We drive at night because the weather is cooler, setting off at 4 in the afternoon. We wait firstly for the money to be delivered by the banks so that the fuel can be brought. Much of this transport was organised on credit in the sense that money will be collected on delivery. Some of the items are paid for however so the buyers at least have a stake in the delivery. The forms are organised by Able the station agent, he runs one of the busiest stations in ‘Race Course’ organising somewhere between two and six trucks per day. This has made him and the drivers quite successful. He provides them with waybills that are provided to any police office or custom official that cares to request them. When sometimes they offer only a cedi to an officer the immediate call for “papers!” is heard. Sometimes they go as far as peeking into the back of the truck to see if we were foolish enough to leave all the cocaine in one, large, easily discernable pile. The Police carry out a necessary service despite their corruption, the armed gangs that ply these routes are active nightly and the driver was adamant that upon reaching Kintampo at 2am we would not leave until 2:40am the reason being that the gangs will generally melt back into the bush before day break. That night there had already been reports of an attack on the road coming into Techiman, we had passed earlier. The gangs are reported by the drivers by mobile to their station masters who in turn pass it around. Because there are only certain stations that deal with the trip going to the north and specifically the Upper East then they are able to do this. The station agent seemed to be nearly always available no matter

what time of the night. The drivers had previously mentioned that he was particularly good so whether this was behaviour beyond that of the common master I can’t say at this stage. When we left the station it turned out that getting to the fuelling station the driver had left his phone charging at the station. This meant that we could not leave as all of his drops will be either organised by having the phone numbers of those that he needs to deliver to or the place is so small that the name is enough (Walewale). At the station the fuel to the north cost 270 cedi however the driver said that the trip to Bolgatanga costs three hundred. They had about 4 inches in the tank when we arrived.The driver on the road knows many of the cars that we passed other drivers of trucks would wave and the same can be said of the buses and trotros. It seems that they are a relatively small group. The unpacking of the goods is the responsibility of the owners and they are assisted by other drivers and mates in the vicinity. They scramble all over the truck and throw the goods from person to pile. The Mate of the vehicle who is also the brother to the car owner told me that the other day they were stuck just outside Bolgatanga because the starter motor in the engine failed, they were unable to find enough people to push the truck because it was full of goods an therefore very heavy. They were able to find a mechanic the next day, who was able to fix the problem. When we were able to discuss the findings of the study so far he thought that the premise of the esoko system was good and agreed that more certainty over loads would certainly reduce the amount that he charges for a load. We also agreed that the SOS service could be improved by involving stations on the road. He said that the amounts that the drivers pay them is too small and that they are also sometimes very particular about where maintenance is done to the point that the drivers may be forced to drive the car despite the fact that its clearly spoilt. As it turned out later the small pay they receives also crates a situation where the driver is forced to look for his own personal work in order to make extra money. It seems that the practice of doing this is very common. It was actually in conversation with a police officer that I first heard that this might be the case.

06/05/20105.19 Meeting with the regional GPRTU branch Bolgatanga Regional Chairman: Godfred Abulbire

Godfred Abulbire has been the chairman since 2003, he was a trotro branch chaiman boss previous to this. The regional boss is incharge of all the vehicles that operate from the station. He says that dealing

with the different vehicles is not so easy. He has people over here to do business, perhaps he can fill three to four buses in a day however the cargo is harder to find the loads for. There are only the millet market and the groundnut market where a single buyer can buy a full truck, this is the same for the cattle and for onions also. He says that this is the only comparable business between the cargo and the buses. The onion and the cattle market is biggest in Garu and the onions are to be found in Zebilla. The loads come from inside the market is they are foodstuff otherwise provisions are found within the station itself. The cargo chairman operates form within the market and is responsible for all of the goods within the market. They may load a Kia truck if they are unable to find enough to fill a cargo car. Any truck from any station will be used for a load. There are people who act as agents or chairmen for the various commodities. Each is responsible for their particular area and will organise the trucks accordingly. They are able to use any of the trucks that are in the stations. There is one list for all of the trucks that is used by all of the trucks and compiled by the regional sectary. All the trucks park at the centeral station as there are no parking spaces in the other markets. The cargo station is the busiest of the markets. He says that the provisions market has not currently loaded for the last two days. He say that this is not the case for the cargo market where they have loading perhaps twice a day. September through to March experiences a busier period as there is first the Christmas rush and then later the selling of cattle and livestock. After March things become quiet again. When there are few cars in the station there are perhaps only 10 cars in the station. When busy there may be around 40 cars in the station, the cattle markets can load maybe 3 cars in a day, the sheep and goats can be another 4 cars in a day. The beans market can load perhaps 6-7 cars in a day. in the basket market they can load maybe 2 cars in a day. Overall they tend to send maybe 20+ in a day. At the moment after January there are more trucks coming from the south this is diminished or grows depending on the amounts of money that people have available to spend. The waybills offer one of the most obvious forms of information that is held on the driver. Each day those with loads need to come to collect a waybill. This waybill will declare the drivers name and the owners as well as the cargo that they are carrying. Every quarter they have a review meeting. These waybills will provide them the information in order that they can oversee the actions. The branches buy the waybills from the regional office. The regional office does not actually know where the goods are going. That the branch chairman holds information, the regional office might technically control them however they are only periodically coming to check-up on the work of the branch chairman. They collect a

development levy that is paid to the office. They expect that the money will be used to build office space as well as to deliver information to the drivers such as notice as to the rise in toll charges. Besides this they also have a welfare fund, but these funds are generally held by the branch chairman rather than at the regional level. Before he became the chairman there were about 95% of members that were illiterate. This made understanding the law, understanding waybills and other exercises a bit difficult. The old practice of working regardless of the law was still in the drivers. They held periodic meetings to try and change attitudes towards this as well as deciding that there should be at least 2 literates within the 5 executive members of the station. He says that the problem of weight was not a problem to do with the lack of scales. He says that previous to the introduction of the scales the drivers knew if they were in or under weight. He says the problem is attitude. He says that if a driver knows that he is supposed to load 400-500 bags in his truck then they will want to take 600, for the extra money from the bags. He says that this is the same for the Yutong buses that are supposed to be only taking 49 people and yet they continue to add more people. The chairman made an address to the local branches concerning the nature of overloading and that encouraging the drivers to obey the rules requires that they try to explain that the actions that they are taking may be having some very adverse effects such as destroying the road surface. He says that rather than blaming the politicians they should be aware that the road has a life span like anything and that if they are not careful they will destroy it. You need to demonstrate the reasons why they should follow the law; otherwise they move towards arresting the drivers that break the law. He says that this is necessary and that they have even advertised their numbers on the radio so that people can report them if they overload the bus. He says that they need the drivers to behave better as it improves their ability to negotiate with government. The amount of work has not necessarily increased or decreased, they have more trucks than they used to have and more cars as well, they used to have only three stations for Kumasi but now they have 12 all competing for the work. They have not thought it necessary for them to advertise on the radio he says that the GNCTA does this because they are a splinter group that defected from the GPRTU after the chairman made a gaffe on the radio and said that he was not responsible for the cargo trucks. They are however very small and only really exist in Accra. They will still work with the GPRTU however and they share trucks and resources. Of the system he said that he was interested and could see the potential of reducing the empty journeys that are made by the drivers.

06/05/20105.20 Meeting with the GPRTU Branch, Bolga Market Cargo StationChairman: Zack

Zack says that the prices of goods are heavily dependent on where they are supposed to be going. He says that a bag of goods going to Tema costs 8 cedi, to Accra 6 cedi and Kumasi 5 cedi. He says that they load no trucks going to the North as most of what is found in the Bolgatanga is also found further north. The trucks that go this way are mostly coming form the ports with goods that they are unable to get from their own regions. He says buyers of the goods that they sell in the market are always from the south, from Techiman, Kumasi and Accra general but that the producers are always from the north. In order to find the loads for the buyers Zack will either be selling goods that are delivered to the market otherwise he will rely on the producers phoning him to tell him that the goods are ready for collection. In this case he will provide the trucks and link them to the buyers. He has perhaps 30+ people that phone him ahead of time to tell him that they have goods ready for collection on the eve of a market day. This knowledge he will then use to organise the collection of loads from the villages. He thinks that across 30+ people phoning he will organise perhaps 6 or 7 loads. They are mostly in the business of transporting maize, groundnut, beans, rice and millet. They will calculate the loads that the producers have based on the figures that they are given however these are sometimes inaccurate leading to a vehicle travelling with less than a full load of cargo. The Chairman will often send a junior brother to accompany the car to the rural markets. These cars face a problem, as when the market people see the car they will be keen to bag a place in it. This often leads to them attesting to a quantity of bags that they don’t actually have as they then proceed to attempt to buy them from the market. These causes problems over the length of time needed to load the vehicle but also arguments between the traders concerning the right to load. The small cars are not enough at the market for the loads that they are needed to carry however there are more of them spread among the villages that service the smaller villages such as Walewale and Labasso. They spend most of their time organising trucks to go to Accra as the most popular destination at the moment; he says that they send nearly a truck every day. Now is the down season however and it’s much busy later on. With the seasons and the changing years work has always been up and down. The biggest problem they face is the customs and the police who often tax them heavier than is fair or even profitable to the cargo owners from whom the money is

ultimately sourced. The customs officials take more from the drivers moving south from Bolga because they say that it is a border town. There are also far more police checks on the Kumasi - Bolga road because, according to Zack, they have less ‘Big men’ driving along the road to scare off the police from making unofficial stops.

11/05/20105.21 Meeting with the GPRTU Branch Navrongo Chairman & Regional Vice Chairman of Vegetable Farmers Association: Hamad

Is a transporter but after the establishment of the Via dam he began to farm as well. He is able to help farmers to find trucks and is also working on the behalf of farmers and the agriculture of the country. People come to him as farmers to find transport as well as to find crates for them to send them to markets. The rehabilitation of the tomato factory at Pwalugu was unable to make use of enough of the tomatoes to help the farmers because of lack of crates. He says that if the factory were able to buy a number of vehicles then the farmers would have a better chance to get the tomatoes to the factory. Currently they had to bring the trucks from Kumasi however the time needed to travel to Bolga meant that they were unable to sometimes come in time. If they had enough crates then he believes that they might be able to make the situation better. Although its agreed that there are trucks standing empty in Bolga these trucks are often not equipped with the crates needed meaning that they need to be summoned from further afield. Many of the young would have come into farming had they believed that they would be able to sell. This year the tomato queen in Kumasi organised a linkage with the GPRTU that was called the Ghana National Tomato Traders and Transporters Association (GNTTTA) this was organised because of the problems they were facing in organising the trucks. They were also facing a lot of harassment from the police on the Burkina side of the border so they hope that through this arrangement they will be able to make better links with Organisation Des Transporters du Faso (OTRAF). This organisation really worked and they were able to visit the agricultural sector in Burknia about sharing ideas over how they may be able to move forward without harassment. The tomatoes are not cheaper in Burkina but unfortunately initially when the farmers begun farming however these varieties have changed as have the soil or the weather patterns. They recognise that these varieties are not so good, he says that he has planted 7 acres but has only produced 20 crates or so. He will have the support of the other work that he does for the transport union but for other farmers it has been potentially ruinous. He says that the tomato growers went to

the government to seek support but so far have received none. Without it he believes that the farmers will be unable to crop next year after defaulting on the loans that they took out for farming this season. He estimates that as many of a quarter of the farmers are likely to face this problem. In terms of the tomatoes they will come form all over the country, they are scheduled depending on the markets, for Kumasi they have between 3 and 4 markets and each market will require between 2 trucks per day to supply the sufficient number of tomatoes, if it looks busy then they may increase or decrease the number of trucks. The trucks that they use can be any truck so long as it is able. They have an agreement that there will be rotation of the sellers so they take turns to sell their produce to the buyers, if they sell on Thursday one week then they will not be able to return to sell until Thursday next. There is a control measure is so far as although they are required to have a particular number of trucks ready to move to the north they may also add or decrease the number of trucks. If the women send too many trucks a market then the people arriving there will be sure to make the drivers who are due to come aware that they should visit a different place. The buyers and vehicles then have to be very much aware of what is going on in order that they are successful. To ensure they are able to work in the local language they send members of the GPRTU that act as leaders, so known within the GPRTU. They lead the women to Burkina and translate for the women. They are very essential for the business to go on. A customer will come from Accra and then meet the person in Navrongo, they will have previously spoken with the farmers in Burkina. Once he knows there are sufficient tomatoes to buy then he will move from Navrongo to pick them. The buyers and sellers are sending him information all the time so he puts them together. They say however that they can’t organise to buy on another’s behalf. As he puts it would “I buy a fish from the water or a fish on the land” I reply that I would buy it on the land. He says that the people must come as otherwise they may buy bad tomatoes. I ask if a person would buy from someone that had provided bad tomatoes in the past and he replies not. But says that they must come with the person from the south as they need to choose the tomatoes. When the women come and buy the tomatoes they will choose the tomatoes. If you are a market queen in Accra then you have people that work under you, either your sisters or your relatives. You can then sit in Accra and delegate them to supervise that the correct tomatoes will be brought. I ask if there is there is the possibility that the trip that brings the crates and the tomatoes from the south to pick the tomatoes in the north could possibly be done away with. They agree that it is a waste that the trucks are driving up to the north empty but say that there

will need to be a lot of development before it can happen. As they say they are in the third world and have yet to get to this stage. They say that it is possible that a few people are able to perform that sort of action. The Chairman says that women will trust him with money to buy tomatoes on their behalf. He adds that there are no fixed prices and that they will need to negotiate on behalf of the market women. They add that any farmer will want to sell his tomatoes, he will not wish to throw away any even the bad ones, so if you ask him to bring the tomatoes from Burkina then he will still want to bring you the bad ones. Even if you are to go there yourself and then bring them without looking carefully they will still put in bad ones. So they say you have to be very careful with trust. They say that if you buy in Burkina then you must leave today, you will come as far as the border before you sleep and then the next day proceed to Accra or wherever they are due. They will survive in the truck for three days so the buyers also want the good trucks that are likely to be able to go fast and deliver the tomatoes on time. Buying from the farms is organised by making the journey to Burkina ahead of time, they will travel to the farm gates and then they distribute the crates to the farmers according to how many the farmers say that they can fill. They will then go ahead and fill the crates. When the tomatoes are plenty then two farmers could fill the truck, during scarce period it may be the case that trucks are returning with some of the crates still empty. If there are two acres of tomato then they should be able to fill a truck. The farmers will come personally come to the association to ask for a truck and then say that he will be able to harvest by a specific date. They know their crop well enough to be able to know tell him exactly how many crates they will need, and the buyers will visit this farmer over another because they trust the calculation that they make. In relation to the business the most important problem faced is the getting hold of crates, although the crates come with the car, so for a farmer getting hold of a car with crates is the most difficult issue. Without strong relations to ensure that the crates are delivered. The drivers loose money when they charge a trader a specific amount for the services that they provide for them and then are either unable to find the goods to link the trader to a market or the trader is unable to sell the goods at the market, perhaps due to quality or other factors such as oversupply. Accidents can also be responsible for making the product late. The agreement that the owner shall pay for the spoiling of goods that are delivered late are only known as gentleman agreements and are not binding. The SOS service that is offered is not always possible “Rome was not built in a day”. The sort of work that he does require information particularly about might be about the price of tomatoes in Accra, he would be phoning every week to discover the prices

of tomatoes in Accra to ensure that the prices the women offer are fair. They believe that staying in close contact with the other farmers and traders will be one day perhaps move towards a greater union influence that might allow the farmers to make a better deal and to organise themselves better.

14/05/20105.22 Meeting with the Yam Sellers Association Abobo Market, TamaleChairman: Alhaji Abukari Mohammad

Mr Mohammad is the chairman of the association; they are the largest yam market in the north and probably the largest market for yam in the country. He deals in quantities of approximately 5000 tubers weekly personally however over the whole market there are perhaps 20,000 being dealt with weekly. The cars are organised sometimes through him however they are predominantly organised by individuals. The association does not organise itself as a block trading partner but rather deals individually, he however often organises loads for traders in the south whether they come to him directly or contact him by phone remotely. Most of the yams come from Napoli, Zab Zurgo, Wokibu, Bimbilla and from Pabia. Most of the sales are organised on a market day when large numbers of sellers will come to the market, as will large numbers of buyers. The yams have no fixed price although variations will determine largely what people are willing to pay for them besides seasonal flux, the most popular variety and most expensive is the Laboco Quina yam that can be used for a whole range of dishes. The water yam is the biggest of the yams but is also known to have the poorest flavour requiring a particularly fine soup. He will bargain on behalf of the sellers that have brought they’re yams to market. They are not bound to deal through him although they will have to use someone from the association if they bring the yam to the Tamale markets. The association will help yam sellers in terms of welfare should they be in need and this is predominantly the only activity they carry out besides ensuring who is able to trade in yam within the market. They tend to hire the double axle truck to transport the goods. Usually at the moment it takes about 10 farmers to fill a truck that works out at about 8 to 10 thousand tubers. Some of the farmers might be big enough to fill a truck in one go. A truck will leave for the villages on perhaps a Friday to Sunday at which case they would return on a Tuesday having collected the load. They will take the yam north to Bolga or more frequently they will travel south to Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi. The people buying are often known to the traders through long association that helps for them to trust one another. It is also important to know

the farmers well as they will need to contact you either in the market or over the phone to organise transportation.

14/05/20105.23 Meeting with Small cargo station (Kia Station) Abobo Market, TamaleStation Sectary: Mussa Zackary Mbantmah

They load in town but will also go as far as Kumasi, they are often transporting yam tubers, groundnuts, maize and soya beans. In the case of the soya beans its often the soya bean companies that are contracting the trucks. They are a part of the GPRTU and rely on them for their license to operate. Sometimes they may carry one or two loads in a day as drivers and other days they may carry none and load no cars at all. The main station is behind the Karranda Barracks

15/05/20105.24 Meeting with Tamale GPRTU Heavy Trucks Branch Sectary: Abu Bakari

Concerning the driving of empty trucks Adu says that the cost is met by the owner rather than the customer. He says that the owner has a contract with the buyer in Accra that means he is unable to raise the cost of the transportation just because they may have to make an empty trip at the other side. The stationmaster deals directly with the buyer at Tamale market, if they want to get hold of 100 bags then they have agents within the market that would ensure the delivery of such items. These agents are in contact with traders within the market and also with the small farmers that bring the loads from the villages. They are kept aware through their systems of farmers of supply levels in the fields and will be told ahead of time as to when they might expect a delivery of goods. This allows them to plan in advance what levels of supply they are going to have ahead of time. One agent alone may be in contact with as many as 50 farmers. They will travel around the areas of Karga, Yendi, Busaru, Sakebugu and Bakana. They will travel around these places to discover the need for trucks and the potential for goods in the area. These agents will then be able to inform the sectary about the potential for loads that will then be relayed to the buyers. The stationmaster will also plan the potential route of trucks to visit the villages and collect the goods. He will be able to do this due to past experience of the land and knowledge of the state of roads which is past through the drivers to the master. Using this information he will commission a truck to pass a particular route collecting the goods on the way, he says that this doesn’t take him too ling as he knows the area very well. The ability of the

truck drivers to take the load will depend heavily on their knowledge of the area. If they don’t know the area that they will be picking from then they themselves are likely to refuse the load and the next driver will be asked to undertake it. Doing his job requires that he receives information about the loads in the area as well as information from buyers concerning the amounts that they wish to buy. Although the market does not have queens it uses associations to control the trading in the market. These associations will buy goods from anyone however in order to sell goods within the market it seems as though they should pass through the market association. The association will collect two yams from every 110 that are sold; these yams will be sold later by the association providing funds that are used for welfare and perhaps presents when Christmas time comes around. The GPRTU will also receive information about how the customs and MTTU members are acting, they will determine the rate that they are charging on the road and to what extent this is acceptable. When the officials are asking too much for the bribe then the GPRTU will feed the information up through its ranks until it reaches the regional or national heads, these organisations will then intercede beginning talks with the police in the highly delicate negotiation of the bribes being charged. The SOS service that they offer is unable to use trucks from stations further down the road towards Accra if a truck is to break down near Techiman then unfortunately the price difference between the two markets makes it impossible for the truck to be organised from the Techiman station. The price of corn is 4 cedi per bag from Tamale to Accra, moving from Techiman it is 6 cedi a bag so the driver will not have sufficient money for the driver from Techiman. He puts the price difference down to the fact that the station in Techiman is far busier and so demand for the trucks is higher. When the market is busy there are about 50 or 60 trucks in the station. They can send out as many as 40 in a day. At the moment though things are a bit slow and they will not do more than 20 on a market day.

19/05/20105.25 Meeting with MOFA/esoko re-numerator, Techiman Market. Mr Sampson Aiyedun

Says that it is not easy to include the market associations in the system. They are suspicious of it and they think that they will try to cut them out of the deal, they are suspicious generally of the motivations of the esoko group. It got so bad that at one point a number of the traders actually attacked the office. Only the maize society that is reasonably forward thinking and vibrant have anything to do with the esoko team. They are interested in the

system, as for the sorghum, millet, rice and all other societies have refused to participate, they believe that it is an attempt to wrest control of the market from them. The remunerators were supposed to be receiving a training session but so far this has not happened, they also used to receive an email service from esoko but that no longer seems to operate. They were hoping that esoko would have taken a more responsive role in organising the service however they feel like they have not had a chance to get to know the new team since the move from tradenet to esoko. (They also have a common belief that the people are different people from the previous group. He says the system has changed also and as yet they have not received training on the new functionalities of the system. Last week on ‘Classic FM’ there was a story about someone that had made some good money using the esoko system that caused some interest in the market. Sampson believes that they should be making better use of these marketing opportunities. The person it turns out had been using the system to buy wholesale from particularly well priced markets, this had done very well for them and allowed them to make a good quantity of money. In Techiman market there are associations for all the produce even the Nigerian onion men sell to a Ghanaian based association. The vibrancy of the market has been reduced in the last ten years, he puts this down to certain decision that are being made from those in control of the market as to where the traders are able to operate, this produces an unfortunate move of marketers to less frequented parts of the market but also disrupts the selling activities. The raising of prices within the market has had the affect of driving many of the stalls to other areas within the market. It is the new government that has apparently allowed this sort of behaviour to begin. Techiman market is the largest market in Ghana in terms of foodstuffs; the association of this market are particularly strong and resistant to influx from the esoko or MOFA. If the associations refuse to deal with you then there is little to be done. The maize union are very organised and hold a ledger of names and addresses for all the member s that sell within their association they each are provided with a card with photograph, if there are members that are behaving badly then they will send for them to be arrested, they will also take a picture of the wrongdoer that will be displayed on a wall in the office. If these people are seen again then they will be forcefully ejected from the market. The MOFA people are not sure whether they have used the FM stations to advertise they’re products to the market. In charge of the whole market there is a committee that acts as the supreme overseer this is made up from the associations, the municipal chief executive as well as the traditional authority. The chief is technically in charge of the whole market; both he and the district chief executive are able to

demand a meeting of the various stakeholders and opinion leaders within the market. There are also sub-queens that exist under the market queens and organise things for the queens. The MOFA staff had in the past provided statistics for the market however they were doing this without adequate money or funding so in the end ceased the activity particularly after the previous boss left, he had been carrying much of these exercises out under his own initiatives. To undertake the study they had to send people as far as Burkina to investigate where the trucks were going. The information that they collect is used largely for purposes of ensuring food security; with the knowledge about truck movement they are able to ascertain how the movement of goods affects the prices and the availability of goods. The market at Techiman sells everything in profusion, there is nothing that is not for sale here in profusion. Trading patterns tend in almost all cases to be relational and based in the ability of people to forge personal relationships with sellers or buyers that will allow them to act as middlemen or agents for particular parties.

20/05/20105.26 Meeting with Techiman cargo station number 1.Stationmaster: Aquasi Ajiman Duah

This cargo station will run anywhere in the country although it only deals with the single axle cargo trucks. There are 5 cargo stations in the market each dealing with different commodities areas or sizes of vehicle. When a car enters the market it will come to the station to receive information about where it is to go next, he may send it to on e of the stations within the market or keep it at the station number one. The station number two is inside the market and mostly sending foodstuffs. It is also one of the busiest stations with sometimes more than 50 cars leaving in a day. The station Number 1 mostly does between 6 and 10 cars on a market day. They are dealing generally with dried provisions however will take foodstuffs if the cars are short elsewhere. For this station the most popular destination is Accra, Takoradi and Kumasi, with Accra receiving more of the produce than the other two. The loads are all organised by the stationmaster who works out in each case where the loads will drop first and last. He will then organise that the load is packed in such a way as to allow it to offload in this order. To do this he must know which of the destinations is closest and then in what order they will occur after this. He says that in cases where the load is travelling to a destination that he doesn’t know then it is mostly outside the country in this case the waybill is supplied as far as the border after which they are given a new waybill buy the customs official that will provide for

them once they cross the border. This will allow the customs official that is better versed in the area to provide the information to the driver about where they should go next. Due to this issue of the car having to change waybill at the border a car going to Niger is only able to have one owner.

20/05/20105.27 Meeting with the Techiman Maize Buyers AssociationChairman: Adam Omar

Says the unit of the esoko system should be adjusted to bags as they don’t trade in kilos. However also says that the big exporters work in kilos so actually maybe they will have to change, as they want to gain better access to the foreign maize markets. They keep a record of all of the buyers that work in the market through them and this includes their address and phone numbers. They prosecute people that behave badly at the market and keep photographs of the offenders in the office to ensure that they can be recognised and ejected if they attempt to re-enter the market. They will also take a note of the buyer to ensure that the maize is delivered correctly. People that go around the maize association risk receiving a bad deal, within the union they have 212 master members each of the masters may have as many as 10 boys working for them, there are more than 1000 of them working in the market overall. They are very interested by the possibility of making greater use of the esoko system.

6.0

Map

of r

esea

rch

- inc

lude

s th

at u

nder

take

n fo

r the

intia

l brie

f.

7.0

Add

ition

al d

ata

on T

echi

man

- Th

anks

to M

r Dom

inic

of T

echi

man

MO

FA

7.1

Influ

x of

Yam

to T

echi

man

199

2 - 1

996

7.2

Influ

x of

Yam

to T

echi

man

199

6 - 1

999

7.3

Influ

x of

Gro

undn

uts

to T

echi

man

199

4 - 1

997

7.4

Influ

x of

Gro

undn

uts

to T

echi

man

199

8 - 2

004

7.5

Influ

x of

Cow

pea

to T

echi

man

199

2 - 1

995

7.6

Influ

x of

Cow

pea

to T

echi

man

199

6 - 1

999

7.7

Influ

x of

Cow

pea

to T

echi

man

200

0, In

flux

of S

orgh

um 1

996

- 199

7

7.8

Influ

x of

Sor

ghum

to T

echi

man

199

8 - 2

001

7.9

Inflo

w/o

utflo

w o

f Gro

undn

uts

to T

echi

man

mar

ket

7.10 Inflow/outflow

of Maize to Techim

an market

7.11 Inflow/outflow

of Rice to Techim

an market

information and design by tom nichollsmr.tom.n@gmail.com