Shadow men: The third wheel of public transport in Ghana

ABSTRACT

The literature on urban transport in Ghana focus exclusively on the state of buses, drivers and transport unions, much to the neglect of a group of workers referred to as “shadow men.” Their function is to help fill these buses with passengers. This paper explores the activities of these shadow men, their origin, and their contributions to the growth of urban transport. The researchers selected a total of 47 respondents for the study. The researchers conducted interviews with the Head of Department of Urban Transport of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly and the Head of Ghana Private Road Transport Union, and then purposely selected 25 of these shadow men, 4 trotro drivers, 6 trotro mates, and 10 passengers in Kumasi, Ghana’s second largest city. In addition to these interviews, the researchers held two focus group discussions that involved drivers and drivers’ mates (conductors) in one group, and passengers in another group. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. The research found that there are two broad categories of shadow men: those engaged in it as a full-time business, and out-of-work drivers and drivers’ mates who rely on it for income until they have a new bus to work with. The findings also underscore the lucrative nature of the work and the city authorities’ indifference to the shadow men. Shadow men are essential to the urban transport sector in Ghana and should therefore be given considerable attention by academics, and included in the plans of city authorities.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban planning
• urbanization

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Vincent Aggrey

Vincent Aggrey holds a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Development studies from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. His current research interests include urban transportation, informal economic sector, and urban development.

Philipa Birago Akuoko

Philipa Birago Akuoko holds a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Development studies from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. Philipa’s research focuses on urbanism and informal economy through predominantly qualitative case studies and mixed method approaches. Her interest also covers gender studies and women’s welfare in global south cities. She has publications and conference papers on informality, gender and urban development in global south cities.

Anastasia Amoako-Arhen

Anastasia Amoako-Arhen holds a Master of Philosophy in Planning from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi. Anastasia is a trained development planner with special interest in Local Economic Development (LED), Rural-Urban Linkages (RUL), projects, development planning, business development training and capacity building, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.