The woman who drove Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia during the pilot phase of Ghana’s electric bus programme was not a former head porter (kayayo), contrary to claims by Deputy Minister for Transport, Hassan Tampuli.
Hassan Tampuli, speaking on Citi FM’s Citi Breakfast Show on November 28, 2024, had lauded a government initiative that trained kayayei to operate electric buses, asserting that one of the beneficiaries drove the Vice President during the event. His comments, made between 32:04 and 32:31 minutes into the second hour of the show, sparked widespread reactions on social media.
“You made mention of the fact that we trained some specially selected kayayei. So, yesterday, for example, they were given their tools and certificates to commence driving. Yesterday, one of them drove us from Adenta to Kimbu,” Tampuli stated.
However, investigations reveal that the driver, identified as Mary Lalako Agboli, was neither a kayayo nor a participant in the government’s recently announced head porter training initiative.
Mary is a professional bus driver who trained under the Network of Women Growth (NEWIG Ghana), a non-profit organization focused on empowering women through vocational and entrepreneurial training. She graduated from NEWIG Ghana’s Professional Driving Initiative and has been employed with Aayalolo, a bus rapid transit system, for nearly six years.
A June 2024 article by NEWIG Ghana titled Mary Lalako Agboli: Breaking Stereotypes and Driving Towards Success documented her career progression, confirming that she was already an experienced bus driver at the time the government launched its kayayei training programme on May 30, 2024.
Further evidence includes a February 2020 news report by Channel One TV (formerly Citi TV), featuring footage of Mary driving an Aayalolo bus, and a September 2024 Instagram post showing her with the CEO of NEWIG Ghana.
Given her professional background, Mary could not have been a beneficiary of the kayayei training programme, as claimed by Hassan Tampuli. She was already an established bus driver with years of experience prior to the government’s initiative.