Features
‘Possible’ coup looms in Ghana?
According to Wikipedia, a coup d’etat (French), often shortened to ‘a coup’ in English or ‘overthrow’, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers.
www.britannica.com also says; a coup d’etat is a sudden, often violent overthrow of an existing government by a small group.
Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, rebel group, military or by a dictator.
According to experts, coups d’etat usually seek only to replace key government personnel rather than forcing sweeping changes to a country’s fundamental social and political ideology.
As a key to success, groups attempting coups, typically seek to gain support of all or parts of a country’s armed forces, police and other military elements.
In his book; Political Order in Changing Societies (published in 1968), Samuel P. Huntington says, there are three generally recognised types of coups. And they are (a) “The breakthrough coup” (b) “The guardian coup” and (c) “The veto coup”.
Samuel Huntington, also a political scientist, says with “The breakthrough coup”, opposing civilian or military organisers overthrow the seated government and install themselves as a nation’s new leaders.
Huntington explains that with “The guardian coup”, typically described as ‘justified’ as being for the “broader good of the nation”, occurs when one elite group seizes power from another elite group.
According to Huntington, in “The veto coup”, a nation’s military steps in to prevent radical political changes.
Of late, readers, the fact of the matter is that, ‘coup-mongering voices’ seem to be spreading from the ‘stock’ of the Opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), thus, ‘snowballing’ into a national conversation.
For instance, Brigadier-General (Rtd) Joseph Nunoo-Mensah, a former National Security Adviser and an NDC ‘high-fly-employee’, claims all his efforts to meet President Akufo-Addo to discuss a possibility of a coup in Ghana have proved futile.
Recently speaking on Rainbow Radio (87.5 FM) , Brigadier Nunoo-Mensah said, he and a colleague retired army officer had sought audience to dialogue with President Akufo Addo on the coup in Mali and Burkina Faso and “a possible one in Ghana” but that opportunity has not been possible.
He said, he and his colleague had seen some indicators that could trigger a coup in Ghana, stressing that “the nation must prepare because the signs of coups are clear on the streets.”
The former Chief of Defence Staff said:”Ghana is in danger but our leaders have refused to be on guard to address the hardship Ghanaians are facing.
“Just last year, myself and a former military officer, General Selasi (rtd) tried to see the President so as to bring these to his hearing but we never got the chance to meet the President.
“Up till now, we’ve not had the opportunity to meet him. If we don’t take care, what we fear will happen.”
Some critics of Brigadier Nunoo-Mensah are, however, asking:”Apart from his anxiety to meet the President in person, what useful advice has he got to give the Akufo-Addo led Government?
“If Brigadier Nunoo-Mensah is genuine with his ‘intentions’, can’t he give whatever information at his disposal to the relevant security agencies, looking at his ‘pedigree’ as a high-notch military officer?”
The Dean of the University of Ghana School of Law, Professor Raymond Atuguba also says,”the current economic situation in the country could trigger a coup”.
He is quoted as saying: “My current assessment that Ghana may be ripe for a coup partly springs from the knowledge I gained from accompanying my friend, through part of his doctoral research on this topic.”
Speaking at a forum organised by Solidare Ghana, on the nation’s economy, last Monday, February 28, 2022, Professor Atuguba said: “We do not want a coup in this country, yet I fear that if we do not act quickly, we may have one on our hands very soon.”
However, some critics of Professor Atuguba are also asking: “When President John Mahama was mismanaging Ghana’s economy, culminating in ‘dumsor-dumsor’ and destroying all businesses in the country; did it trigger a coup or the NDC was expecting the ‘rotten-Mahama economy’ to trigger a coup that never happened?
“To the extent that the Mahama regime of which Professor Atuguba was a king-pin , had to run to the International Monetary Fund, to seek ‘policy credibility’ because the economy was rendered hopeless; and even that did not trigger a coup?”
Professor Atuguba’s critics further ask: “Why are the coup mongers ’emerging’ from the ‘stock ‘of the NDC?
“Are they in haste to be ‘drafted’ into ‘coup-government’ to do more damage to the economy in this pandemic era?”
And currently, Mawuse Oliver Barker-Vormawor, an NDC apologist, is being prosecuted on a charge of treason felony.
Barker-Vormawor’s arrest and prosecution is in relation to a social media post in which he threatened to stage a coup if the E-levy Bill which is currently under consideration in Parliament is passed into law.
According to the police, Barker-Vormawor’s social media post, “contained a clear statement of intent with a possible will to execute a coup in his declaration of intent to subvert the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana.”
And without any provocation from the Ghana Armed Forces, Barker-Vormawor described the Ghana Army as “useless” in his social media post.
Readers, from the foregoing, can anyone of you fathom why the ‘coup-mongering gas’ is gradually but steadily ‘leaking’ from the ‘kitchens’ of the NDC?
Contact email/ WhatsApp of the author:
asmahfrankg@gmail.com (0505556179)
BY G. FRANK ASMAH
Features
Fix It Fast or Lose Them Forever: The Ever-Rising Importance of Service Recovery in Competitive Industries
Yes, in literature and in practice, differences exist regarding customer service, service failures, and service recovery.
But have you ever considered the latter (service recovery) and its potential impact on service experience, brand building, and sustainable growth?
Well, in today’s fiercely competitive service economy, customer experience has become one of the most powerful determinants of business survival and long-term success.
Across industries, from aviation and banking to telecommunications, hospitality, healthcare, retail, and digital platforms, customers now expect fast, seamless, and reliable service delivery at every touchpoint.
Yet despite technological advancements and operational improvements, service failures remain inevitable.
Systems experience downtime, deliveries are delayed, reservations are misplaced, payments fail, customer inquiries go unanswered, employees mishandle interactions, and digital platforms experience disruptions.
In the midst of these, what increasingly separates successful organisations from struggling ones is not whether failures occur, but how quickly and effectively they recover when they do.
Service Recovery
Simply put, it is the process of fixing a service problem and restoring customer confidence after a failure has occurred.
Examples of service recoveries are; an airline offering compensation after a flight delay, a telecom company restoring interrupted service and providing bonus data, a restaurant replacing a wrongly prepared meal at no extra cost, a hotel upgrading a guest’s room after a booking problem, and finally a bank reversing an erroneous transaction and apologising promptly.
As competition intensifies and customer expectations continue to rise, service recovery is rapidly evolving from a routine customer service function into a critical strategic capability.
Businesses are discovering a hard truth of the modern marketplace: fix customer problems quickly, or risk losing them permanently.
Customers are More Powerful Now Than Ever
Customers now possess more power than at any other time in business history. Digital technology, social media, online reviews, and mobile connectivity have fundamentally changed customer behaviour.
Consumers now easily compare competitors instantly, publicly share negative experiences, switch providers with ease, and influence the purchasing decisions of thousands of others online.
This evolution has made customer loyalty increasingly fragile. A single poor experience can quickly damage years of brand-building effort.
In highly competitive sectors where products and pricing are often similar, customer experience has emerged as one of the few sustainable competitive advantages.
Modern customers no longer evaluate organisations solely by product quality or pricing. Increasingly, they judge businesses by their responsiveness, reliability, transparency, empathy, and effectiveness in resolving problems.
Why Service Recovery Matters More Than Ever
Failures are no longer viewed as isolated operational incidents, especially in competitive service sectors. They are moments that directly influence customer trust, brand perception, and future purchasing behaviour.
Research across service industries consistently demonstrates that customers are often willing to forgive mistakes when organisations respond quickly, communicate honestly, show empathy, and resolve issues effectively.
Conversely, poor recovery experiences frequently create stronger dissatisfaction than the original service failure itself.
For many businesses, the greatest reputational damage does not arise from operational errors, but from delayed responses, poor communication, lack of accountability, and unresolved customer frustrations.
This has elevated service recovery into a central component of customer relationship management and competitive strategy.
Speed, a Competitive Weapon
In the modern service economy, speed is no longer merely operational efficiency; it is a basic customer expectation.
Consumers increasingly expect: immediate responses, real-time updates, fast complaint resolution, and proactive communication. Delays are often interpreted as incompetence, indifference, or organisational inefficiency.
Consequently, organisations are redesigning their service recovery frameworks to prioritize rapid intervention and customer reassurance.
A cursory assessment revealed that some businesses now operate dedicated customer experience teams, 24/7 support systems, AI-powered service platforms, automated escalation systems, and real-time issue monitoring dashboards.
The ability to resolve customer problems quickly is now a major source of competitive differentiation.
Technology Is Transforming Recovery Strategies
Technology is fundamentally reshaping how organisations manage service recovery. Across industries, companies are leveraging artificial intelligence, customer analytics, chatbots, predictive monitoring systems, and integrated digital support platforms.
These tools allow organisations to identify service failures earlier, monitor customer dissatisfaction, automate responses, personalize engagement, and accelerate resolution timelines.
Some organisations now proactively contact customers before complaints are formally lodged, using analytics to identify service disruptions in real time.
This means that the future of service recovery is increasingly preventive rather than purely reactive.
Service Recovery as a Brand Strategy
Forward-looking organisations are now treating service recovery as part of brand management strategy rather than operational damage control.
The logic is straightforward because, acquiring new customers is expensive, dissatisfied customers influence others, and loyalty is increasingly experience-driven.
Businesses are therefore measuring customer satisfaction, response times, complaint resolution rates, customer retention, and net promoter scores more aggressively than before.
In many industries, service recovery performance is now discussed at executive and board levels because of its direct relationship with profitability, reputation, and long-term growth.
A call to action
As industries become more digital, interconnected and customer-driven, service recovery will likely become even more important.
Therefore, organisations that succeed in the future will likely be those that respond rapidly, communicate transparently, empower employees, leverage technology intelligently, treat customers fairly, and place their (customers’) trust at the centre of recovery strategies.
Remember, customers now have more choices, less patience, and greater influence than ever before, a clear message to forward-looking organisations that when service breaks down, recovery is everything. Fix it fast or risk losing customers forever.
Writer: Mohammed Ali
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.
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Fix It Fast or Lose Them Forever: The Ever-Rising Importance of Service Recovery in Competitive Industries
