ALHAJI NDAJIA SHARDOW

                                    (ALHAJI KUDUS/MAI BUS)                               

     He was born in 1909 and was the eldest son of Chief Suleiman Shardow and Hajia Hadiza.    On completing his elementary education at the Accra Government School, he worked briefly as a Pharmacist's Assisstant before gaining employment  with the Accra City Bus Service in 1928 as a bus conductor, a position that earned him the nick-name Mai Bus.  

After successfully  completing professional courses in Book-keeping and Accountancy, he transferred his service to the Accra City Engineer's Department where he remained until his retirement in 1964 after attaining the rank of Accountant.  He then joined the Japan Motors Ltd where he worked for several years before becoming a private Hajj agent.

     Alhaji Mai Bus had for many years been very active in Moslem affairs, applying a lot of his personal resources and time in the service of Islam. He became the Chairman of the organization called the Ghana Moslem Community in 1968 and the first head of the Ghana Moslem Representative Council in 1973.  This was a body set-up to bring together the several feuding moslem organizations under one umbrella.  He led Ghana's first Moslem delegation to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States and represented Ghana at the annual meeting of the World Moslem League in Mecca in 1974, the  very first time Ghana was participating.  

       His most enduring legacy however is the central role he played in the construction of Accra's largest mosque to date - the Abossey Okai Central Mosque.  His invaluable contributions have been brilliantly documented in a book authored by Dr. Alhassan Mohammed titled 'Determination and Conflict in a Moslem Society' published in 2010.

Alhaji Mai Bus died on the 12th of December 1976.

 

 

*Details researched and submitted by grandson of Alhaji Mai Bus, Mahama Kudus (Alhaji).