The paradox of the porters levy - Dr. Isaac Nortey Darko

The 2017 budget delivered by the minister of finance in the early days of this year generated lots of debate, interests, and discussions. While it witnessed jubilation in some sections of the population, others questioned the practicality of the policies outlined in the budget.

I am only going to focus on just one part of the budget that generated lots of applause and commendation for a long period of time after the budget was read.  I am talking about the removal of taxes or levies on monies made by head porters or ‘kayayei’ as they are popularly known. While I applaud the government for the bold initiative, this very act raises lots of questions about our priorities and aspirations as a country and people.

There is a popular Akan proverb that says “sε wo nunu wo ho na wo sere a, wo nnyεε hwee” literally translated to mean ‘if you tickle yourself and laugh, you haven’t done anything extraordinary’. Why should we jubilate and make noise when something that shouldn’t happen in the first place has become the norm of the day and has seen boast to continue its unacceptable existence? While girls of the same age as these kayayei’s in other countries are using their heads to think through social problems in schools and helping build their communities, we are happy and rejoicing over the fact that we have reduced taxes on head carrying goods?

What are we therefore telling others who are planning to leave their villages and towns to join this trade that in the first place shouldn’t have even existed? What are we telling these young people? Is it that we encourage them to use their heads to carry loads? Or what? While many countries have advanced and developed ways by which goods can easily be carried from one place to the other, we have rather reduced taxes and removed levies to allow these young women, who are gifted in many ways to continue to use their heads to carry goods. This is why I had a challenge and continue to question our priorities and thinking as a country.

I would have been a happy man if I read that the government was collaborating with a local manufacturing company to roll out a model system that shoppers can easily use to navigate the markets in Accra by themselves, so that these young girls will be encourage and assisted to be in the classrooms making better use of their heads. I would have wished to read that the government has put in measures to ensure that all these young girls living without shelter and sleeping in open spaces in Accra are being registered and assisted to leave the porters’ job for a vocation or training. Not only do I see this recent removal of taxes and subsequent jubilation as dehumanizing, but also as an encouragement of an unacceptable phenomenon that should not have happened in the first place. 

Why should we jubilate and make noise when something that shouldn’t happen in the first place has become the norm of the day and has seen boast to continue its unacceptable existence? While girls of the same age as these kayayei’s in other countries are using their heads to think through social problems in schools and helping build their communities, we are happy and rejoicing over the fact that we have reduced taxes on head carrying goods? What are we therefore telling others who are planning to leave their villages and towns to join this trade that in the first place shouldn’t have even existed? What are we telling these young people?

Is it that we encourage them to use their heads to carry loads? Or what? While many countries have advanced and developed ways by which goods can easily be carried from one place to the other, we have rather reduced taxes and removed levies to allow these young women, who are gifted in many ways to continue to use their heads to carry goods. This is why I had a challenge and continue to question our priorities and thinking as a country.

I would have been a happy man if I read that the government was collaborating with a local manufacturing company to roll out a model system that shoppers can easily use to navigate the markets in Accra by themselves, so that these young girls will be encouraged and assisted to be in the classrooms making better use of their heads. I would have wished to read that the government has put in measures to ensure that all these young girls living without shelter and sleeping in open spaces in Accra are being registered and assisted to leave the porters’ job for a vocation or training. Not only do I see this recent removal of taxes and subsequent jubilation as dehumanizing, but also as an encouragement of an unacceptable phenomenon that should not have happened in the first place. 

Is it that we encourage them to use their heads to carry loads? Or what? While many countries have advanced and developed ways by which goods can easily be carried from one place to the other, we have rather reduced taxes and removed levies to allow these young women, who are gifted in many ways to continue to use their heads to carry goods. This is why I had a challenge and continue to question our priorities and thinking as a country. I would have been a happy man if I read that the government was collaborating with a local manufacturing company to roll out a model system that shoppers can easily use to navigate the markets in Accra by themselves, so that these young girls will be encourage and assisted to be in the classrooms making better use of their heads. I would have wished to read that the government has put in measures to ensure that all these young girls living without shelter and sleeping in open spaces in Accra are being registered and assisted to leave the porters’ job for a vocation or training. Not only do I see this recent removal of taxes and subsequent jubilation as dehumanizing, but also as an encouragement of an unacceptable phenomenon that should not have happened in the first place. 

Why should we jubilate and make noise when something that shouldn’t happen in the first place has become the norm of the day and has seen boost to continue its unacceptable existence? While girls of the same age as these kayayei’s in other countries are using their heads to think through social problems in schools and helping build their communities, we are happy and rejoicing over the fact that we have reduced taxes on head carrying goods? What are we, therefore, telling others who are planning to leave their villages and towns to join this trade that in the first place shouldn’t have even existed? What are we telling these young people? Is it that we encourage them to use their heads to carry loads? Or what? While many countries have advanced and developed ways by which goods can easily be carried from one place to the other, we have rather reduced taxes and removed levies to allow these young women, who are gifted in many ways to continue to use their heads to carry goods. This is why I had a challenge and continue to question our priorities and thinking as a country.

I would have been a happy man if I read that the government was collaborating with a local manufacturing company to roll out a model system that shoppers can easily use to navigate the markets in Accra by themselves, so that these young girls will be encouraged and assisted to be in the classrooms making better use of their heads. I would have wished to read that the government has put in measures to ensure that all these young girls living without shelter and sleeping in open spaces in Accra are being registered and assisted to leave the porters’ job for a

This is why I had a challenge and continue to question our priorities and thinking as a country. I would have been a happy man if I read that the government was collaborating with a local manufacturing company to roll out a model system that shoppers can easily use to navigate the markets in Accra by themselves, so that these young girls will be encouraged and assisted to be in the classrooms making better use of their heads. I would have wished to read that the government has put in measures to ensure that all these young girls living without shelter and sleeping in open spaces in Accra are being registered and assisted to leave the porters’ job for a vocation or training. Not only do I see this recent removal of taxes and subsequent jubilation as dehumanizing, but also as an encouragement of an unacceptable phenomenon that should not have happened in the first place. 

While many countries have advanced and developed ways by which goods can easily be carried from one place to the other, we have rather reduced taxes and removed levies to allow these young women, who are gifted in many ways to continue to use their heads to carry goods. This is why I had a challenge and continue to question our priorities and thinking as a country. I would have been a happy man if I read that the government was collaborating with a local manufacturing company to roll out a model system that shoppers can easily use to navigate the markets in Accra by themselves, so that these young girls will be encouraged and assisted to be in the classrooms making better use of their heads.

I would have wished to read that the government has put in measures to ensure that all these young girls living without shelter and sleeping in open spaces in Accra are being registered and assisted to leave the porters’ job for a vocation or training. Not only do I see this recent removal of taxes and subsequent jubilation as dehumanizing, but also as an encouragement of an unacceptable phenomenon that should not have happened in the first place. 

I am only going to focus on just one part of the budget that generated lots of applause and commendation for a long period of time after the budget was read.  I am talking about the removal of taxes or levies on monies made by head porters or ‘kayayei’ as they are popularly known.

While I applaud the government for the bold initiative, this very act raises lots of questions about our priorities and aspirations as a country and people. There is a popular Akan proverb that says “sε wo nunu wo ho na wo sere a, wo nnyεε hwee” literally translated to mean ‘if you tickle yourself and laugh, you haven’t done anything extraordinary’.

Why should we jubilate and make noise when something that shouldn’t happen in the first place has become the norm of the day and has seen boast to continue its unacceptable existence? While girls of the same age as these kayayei’s in other countries are using their heads to think through social problems in schools and helping build their communities, we are happy and rejoicing over the fact that we have reduced taxes on head carrying goods? What are we therefore telling others who are planning to leave their villages and towns to join this trade that in the first place shouldn’t have even existed? What are we telling these young people? Is it that we encourage them to use their heads to carry loads? Or what? While many countries have advanced and developed ways by which goods can easily be carried from one place to the other, we have rather reduced taxes and removed levies to allow these young women, who are gifted in many ways to continue to use their heads to carry goods. This is why I had a challenge and continue to question our priorities and thinking as a country.

I would have been a happy man if I read that the government was collaborating with a local manufacturing company to roll out a model system that shoppers can easily use to navigate the markets in Accra by themselves, so that these young girls will be encouraged and assisted to be in the classrooms making better use of their heads. I would have wished to read that the government has put in measures to ensure that all these young girls living without shelter and sleeping in open spaces in Accra are being registered and assisted to leave the porters’ job for a vocation or training. Not only do I see this recent removal of taxes and subsequent jubilation as dehumanizing, but also as an encouragement of an unacceptable phenomenon that should not have happened in the first place. 

A personal experience I had with one of these young girls who would be around 8 or 9 years got me to conclude that the government needs to re-examine this ‘kayayei’ phenomenon and quickly eliminate it from the system to save the future of these girls and make them useful to mother Ghana. About a month ago as I walked through a principal street in Accra around the central police station, I happened to chance on a group of women chastising a young girl on how foolish she had been to have accepted 2 Cedis for a load worth 10 Cedis. I was saddened as I watched this little helpless girl who couldn’t defend herself as the client had already left. I asked what the problem was and was told a lady had cheated her.

I dag into my pocket and gave her 10 Cedis. The tears and excitement on her face made me realize that all that these young girls needed was to be able to survive. This got me thinking and asking several questions; how sustainable is this ‘kayayei’ phenomenon? Why should this little girl be here carrying goods for somebody old enough to be her mother or grandmother? Why should this girl be here in the first place? Is this all these girls could do? What if they get sick or injured on the job?  What posterity or legacy are they going to leave behind? 

This brings me back to my main argument and question as to why we should celebrate mediocracy and glorify something that in the first place should not have been in existence. Why should we be proud of ourselves if we cannot even care for the future by engaging all sections of the population in the right and better direction? Why should we celebrate when in actual facts we are opening the doors for more exploitation of these young girls? Why should we celebrate and commend ourselves over a reduction in taxes or removal of levies for head porters? I believe the country can do better than carousing ourselves with this as an achievement while in actual facts we have not done anything better for mother Ghana? I am not writing to incur the anger of politicians nor am I writing to cause confusion, but rather to get us to think as a nation, a call to get us to stop congratulating ourselves when we place square shapes in round boxes.

Not only will the abolishing of this ‘kayayei’ phenomenon benefit the girls, but also their clients or customers who will learn a great deal of time management, better planning, better budgeting and respect for human lives. It will encourage local industries to think of innovative ways to get goods and services from one place to the other. If a shopper desires to have a long list of shopping materials then he/she must be ready to exercise or walk in and around the business district with the shopped materials. It will even help a section of our population that is increasingly becoming obesed. I encourage the government to take bold measures to eliminate this ‘kayayei’ business and put in place measures to allow these young girls enrol in schools and other vocational institutions so they will become better citizens and useful to themselves and their families as well as Ghana.

Not only will the abolishing of this ‘kayayei’ phenomenon benefit the girls, but also their clients or customers who will learn a great deal of time management, better planning, better budgeting and respect for human lives. It will encourage local industries to think of innovative ways to get goods and services from one place to the other. If a shopper desires to have a long list of shopping materials then he/she must be ready to exercise or walk in and around the business district with the shopped materials. It will even help a section of our population that is increasingly becoming obesed. I encourage the government to take bold measures to eliminate this ‘kayayei’ business and put in place measures to allow these young girls enrol in schools and other vocational institutions so they will become better citizens and useful to themselves and their families as well as Ghana.

I am not writing to incur the anger of politicians nor am I writing to cause confusion, but rather to get us to think as a nation, a call to get us to stop congratulating ourselves when we place square shapes in round boxes. Not only will the abolishing of this ‘kayayei’ phenomenon benefit the girls, but also their clients or customers who will learn a great deal of time management, better planning, better budgeting and respect for human lives. It will encourage local industries to think of innovative ways to get goods and services from one place to the other.

If a shopper desires to have a long list of shopping materials then he/she must be ready to exercise or walk in and around the business district with the shopped materials. It will even help a section of our population that is increasingly becoming obesed. I encourage the government to take bold measures to eliminate this ‘kayayei’ business and put in place measures to allow these young girls enrol in schools and other vocational institutions so they will become better citizens and useful to themselves and their families as well as Ghana.

Author

Dr. Isaac Nortey Darko

Lecturer, College of education, University of Ghana