Features
Corruption and hypocrisy (Part 2)
Hypocrisy is what is destroying this country. Most Ghanaians, accuse other people for the problems of this country except themselves. If we cast our minds to the early days and weeks of the Covid-19 era, we recall the general hikes in prices of items.
The increase in prices of items that are produced outside the country can be justified due to freight charges that had increased astronomically within a short period. What is ridiculous and can never be justified are the prices of food items like gari and beans which are produced in Ghana. The price of an ‘Olonka’of gari doubled all of a sudden and even tripled at some market places.
A story is told of a lady who had gone to buy a few bags of rice from a distributor shop with a budget of GH¢300 per bag. The owner of the shop, informed her that one of his customers had just bought the last batch from him so she should go there since it was not very far from his shop.
Not long afterwards, the woman returned to the distributor’s shop complaining to him as to why he had increased the prices so much that the lady was selling to her at GH¢700 per bag.
The distributor became angry and informed her that he was going to get back his rice because the woman who came for the last batch was very greedy and that he gave them to her at GH¢300 per bag on credit. Is such price hikes the fault of the President?
I am very sure that this lady is either a Christian or a Muslim, since these two groups form the majority of the population in Ghana. We make Christianity unattractive to unbelievers.
The Bible speaks against greediness and although I am not very familiar with the Quran, I am sure it says the same and therefore this makes the behaviour of this greedy woman despicable.
Should this woman be caught in a traffic offence and an unpatriotic policeman extort money from her, I can imagine her hypocritically ranting about the level of corruption in the Ghana police service, conveniently ignoring her spiritual corruption regarding her greediness.
Most Ghanaians who are public and civil servants can be said to be magicians. If you look at the salaries they receive and their expenditure, that is the conclusion you will arrive at. If you ask them how they manage to survive, they claim hypocritically, “it is by the grace of God.”
Meanwhile, they know very well that it is by their own scheming. There are those who take money before they fast-track processing of documents, those who are involved in taking bribes to help importers cheat the government, policemen on our roads on a routine daily ritual of extortion, market women reducing the volume of various measuring containers used in selling food items like gari, rice through various disingenuous ways; the list is endless.
We are all eager to see our country develop to the status of countries like South Korea and Singapore who were our co-equals in the late 50’s to early 60’s but are way out of our league now.
A characteristic which are absent in those countries are corruption and hypocrisy.
These are unhealthy attitudes that using computer terminology, must be deleted from our lives in every sphere of endeavour as a nation to ensure our growth and therefore development to move from Ghana begging for aid to a Ghana beyond aid.
Hypocrisy makes us erroneously believe that we are not the problem but it is the other person.
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
Conflict at work is more common than you might think. According to 2022 research by The Myers-Briggs Company, more than a third of the workforce reports dealing with conflict often, very often, or all the time in the workplace.
Addressing a dispute might feel tense or awkward, but resolving the conflict is typically well worth it in the long run. Whether you are trying to mediate conflict between colleagues or are directly involved. Last week we looked at three and this week is the remaining four steps you can take to manage workplace conflict.
4. Find common ground
The best way to handle workplace conflict is to start with what you can agree on. Find common ground between the people engaging in conflict. If you are directly involved in the conflict, slow down and focus on results instead of who’s right.
If you are the mediator for conflict resolution between coworkers, observe the discussion and help point out the common ground others may not see.
5. Collectively brainstorm solutions
When deciding how to handle workplace conflict, it can be tempting to problem-solve on your own. Sometimes, it feels easier to work independently rather than collaboratively. However, if you want to achieve a lasting resolution, you will need to motivate your team to get involved.
Brainstorm possible solutions together, and solicit input from everyone involved on the pros and cons of each option until you settle on a solution that feels comfortable to everyone. This will help all team members feel a sense of ownership that can help prevent future conflicts.
6. Create an action plan
Once you have created an open dialogue around workplace conflicts, it is time to resolve them. Just like any other work goal, this requires creating a concrete plan and following through.
Create an action plan and then act on it. It does not matter what the plan is, as long as you commit to it and resolve the conflict as a result.
7. Reflect on what you learned
All conflicts offer an opportunity to grow and become a better communicator. Identify what went well and what did not.
Work with your whole team to gather learnings from the conflict so you can avoid similar situations in the future.
Today, I continue with my narration of personalities and their accomplishments as members of the Ghanaian Diaspora in Finland, with a focus on Mr Joseph Osei Amoah.
Mr Amoah is one of the senior members of the Ghanaian community in Finland and a top member of the Ghana Union Finland, an association of the Ghanaian migrant community in Finland.
He is an active and a well-respected person in the Ghanaian community in Finland. Mr Osei Amoah moved to Finland in the mid-1990s, and he has lived in Helsinki all this time.
Accomplishments and honours
It is important to recount accomplishments as part of the success stories of the personalities of Ghanaian descent in Finland in order to highlight their exploits both within the Ghanaian migrant community and in the wider Finnish society.
Mr Amoah holds a Master’s degree in Demography from the University of Helsinki. At the time he came to Finland in 1994, he had majored in Economics at the Bachelor’s level at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
Sometimes affectionately called “Chairman” in the Ghanaian migrant community, Mr Osei is a former Chairman of the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) branch in Finland, assuming office around 2015, a few months after the branch was formed, until 2019 when he did not run again for the elections. He helped to bring vibrancy into the NPP Finland branch.
Religious life
Mr Amoah is a prominent member of the Global Methodist Church in Finland. In spite of his busy working life and other responsibilities, he remains a committed member of the Global Methodist Church in Finland.
He plays a key leadership role in the church, which is attended by many Ghanaian migrants and other African migrants, Finns, and those of other nationalities.
His position in Asanteman Finland
Mr Osei Amoah is an outstanding member of the Asanteman Finland, where he is the Gyasehene, a prominent position as a sub-chief in the Asante (and Akan) royal hierarchy, in the functioning of the traditional authority systemgenerally in Ghana.
The Asanteman Finland is an association formed purposely with the aim of supporting each other as well as to ensure unity among its members and others outside of the group.
One of its top priorities of Asanteman Finland is to display the Asante culture in Finland. Mr Osei Amoah finds this as very important since by upholding the traditional culture and heritage, the association enables its members and especially the young ones to get the chance to learn and appreciate Asante and Ghanaian cultural values. They do this through rites such as marriage, the naming ceremony, and death and funeral rites, which makes the people to learn more of their provenance and not forget their origins.
“My point is that, by displaying the traditional heritage it helps people to learn more about their provenance. For, I think it will be embarrassing to go home and see that even the young ones have much knowledge about how to perform certain rites whilst those of us in the diaspora may be deficient in understanding those practices”, he argued. It is also very important for the young ones who are born in Finland to learn what the culture of their original society is, he continued.
The Finnish educational system
Mr Osei has a lot to say about the Finnish educational system, which he sees as very good. “When we came to Finland, education was free. There were library books and manuscripts readily available in the library, and one could print or make as many photocopies as possible for your studies. There was more flexibility. One could read books and write exams on them for the necessary grades in order to complete your studies”. In his opinion, Ghana could learn much from the Finnish system, which is one of the best in the world.
He said the only initial challenge he found in Finland was how to master the Finnish language, without which it was difficult to get a job befitting one’s status after the studies. But things have changed today and there are many English courses so it is easy to study and get a job that matches your studies, especially in the area of ICT, he said.
His role in the Ghanaian community
Mr Osei Amoah has been very active in the Ghanaian community, as I have indicated earlier. He is still very active in the Ghana Union Finland, and has played a leadership in many functions organised by the Union, as a non-governmental organisation for the Ghanaian migrant community in Finland.
Mr Amoah has been a counsellor and mentor who has guided many young Ghanaian migrants on their career paths and has also been part in settling various kinds of conflicts between opposing parties or persons. In conclusion, I would say Mr Osei Amoah has succeeded in embossing his name in the golden pages of visionary Ghanaians in both Sweden and Finland.
With Dr Perpetual Crentsil
