(Uncontrolled hawking on Accra streets amazing)

HAWKING has been an age-old trading practice in the major cities of the country but the rapid manner it has grown on the streets of Accra is so amazing.
At every traffic light intersection in Accra, boys and girls as little as six years, young men and women, and even old men and women, struggle for space on the streets for the attention of motorists to patronise their wares.
They sell almost everything, from cosmetics, soft drinks, iced cream, fruits, pastries and iced water to electrical gadgets, toys, clothes and every imaginable thing. But of all the items,one that strikes the attention of many motorists is yam.
That is so because it is very strange to find foodstuffs being sold on the streets like toffees, much less yam. Normally, foodstuffs are restricted to the markets and in the case of yam, there are even designated markets for their sale. That is why there are quite a number of Yam Markets in the country.
But what is more fascinating about the sale of yam on the streets is the manner they are hawked. On the Graphic Road, for instance, it is common to find young men, on a daily basis, except Sundays, criss-crossing the vehicular traffic, to sell their yam. And they do so in a style that is most confounding.
Instead of the normal practice of putting the foodstuff in a pan or container for easy carriage, these chaps pack about five yams in their stretched arms, making it difficult to use the hand for any other thing. Only God knows how they manage to cope in times of body-itching and sweat.
But to them, scratching the body or wiping sweat is the least of their worries. They must sell the yam to make ends meet, period! Once that is achieved, they can survive for the day and get back to the streets the following day.
"The reason why we do not carry the yams in head pans is because customers complain that they cannot see what we are selling and also they claim it is more attractive when we carry them in our arms", one of the yam hawkers, Fuseini, explains.
You may call it a marketing innovation, an innovation that may never be found in any literature on marketing or may be far from the grasp of many marketing students at any level.
Of course, as the adage dictates, "Nothing comes cheap", and so hawking yams in arms has its own occupational hazards, such as the infliction of bruises on the arms of the hawkers. But Fuseini still believes it is worth having those bruises.
"Although we get bruises on our arms after the day’s work, it is easier and faster carrying the yams and running after cars than using head pans", he insists.
Many of the yam hawkers used to sell yam in the north. But they later migrated to Accra in search of greener pastures, which they seem to have found in the introduction of the new yam selling technique.
While in the north, they had learnt that there are better business prospects in Accra and so they made a journey down south in groups of friends, without having the slightest idea of what the future holds for them in Accra. No relatives, no accommodation, but they were not perturbed.
"Our relatives know we are in Accra so they are not worried. We seldom visit them. We only visit when we have made enough money from the sale of yams", Abas indicates.
For these young men, Sundays are the only resting days, which they use for other social activities like visiting friends and spending sometime alone. Some of them would have wished to sell on Sundays but business is not brisk on the day because the Graphic Road is mostly empty of workers.
One thing that works in favour of the hawkers is that unlike other businesses, yam selling does not seem to have any lean season.
"We always have yam to sell. There is no particular season for the cultivation of yam in Tamale so we are never short of yam", Abas explains.
Selling yam in Accra is not an easy job though but to those chaps, it is much better in terms of profit than doing that business in Tamale. From sunrise to sunset, and as the days roll by, they are just optimistic that life will get better so long as they continue to work hard.
Although they are sometimes disturbed by the rains they believe that man must survive as long as their yams are safe from the rains.
For Najid the cool weather that quickly surfaces after the rains makes hawking fun and exciting
"Although I get disturbed when it is about to rain, I always become excited when the rain stops because the weather becomes so cool, making hawking exciting", he beams with smiles.
Abuja, a suburb of Accra, is the home of most hawkers on the Graphic road. The name Abuja might sound funny in ones ears. But this is Abuja in Ghana, precisely Accra.
Abuja certainly does not look pleasant to most people due to the haphazard arrangement of the wooden structures the residents have put up as houses. But who cares how haphazardly these structures have been put up. The only thing that matters to them is that they have a home, a place to lay their heads after a hard day’s work.
One thing which is of great concern to most motorists plying the Graphic Road is the display of yam on and near the railway during lean traffic periods.
Are these hawkers in their right senses? One might ask with his or her mouth widely opened, I suppose.
Telling these hawkers about the risks involved in selling on the railway is nothing but a folktale until what seems to be reality and not a horror movie occurs.
My question then is what is the AMA doing about this phenomenon. What is the government doing, and what is the Ghana Police Service waiting for?
Not only are these hawkers criss-crossing motorists with their disorganised movements but also the intense vehicular traffic they cause on our small but busy roads.
Our lorry parks have turned to active sales points by aggressive traders who would insult and yell at you if you mistakenly push their wares to the ground. These traders do not care about how their hugely mounted wares have been put in the middle of the road but are ready to sharpen their lips and give you a good bath of heartbreaking insults if you cause any of their wares to fall from their tables.
Why can’t a foot bridge be built for pedestrians whose walkways have been engulfed with filth and have been paraded by traders. The foot bridge would help pedestrians cross the roads without interrupting traffic flow.