Features
The golden experience
When gold and diamonds were first discovered in South Africa, many men lost interest in sex. The discovery, therefore, caused marital problems the world over. Wives thought their dear husbands had gotten impotent and perhaps needed herbal treatment – AK 47 bitters. In fact, they were mistaken. Their husbands were only preoccupied with dreaming about gold and just couldn’t get it up to fulfill their marital obligations.
When the gold and diamond sensation got blown out of proportion, happily-married men either divorced their wives or simply left them and headed for South Africa to “do galamsey.” It was also a boom for some wives.
Hot-headed, sexy, firm buttocks, slim waisted, shinny-lipped wives left their husbands gaping in wonder as they floated to the Rand to hawk their beautiful bodies for gold money. Some became strip-teasers and belly dancers to entertain tired gold diggers and made a fortune therefrom. Gold had brought a good measure of madness to the world
The global insanity became so infectious that gainfully employed folks vacated post and were last seen in dirty garb with shovels and pans digging gold. Some pastors and catechists were even infected with the virus of the golden madness.
They promptly told the Holy Spirit to hold on “small”. They threw off the cassock, shoved the Holy Bible aside and travelled thousands of miles to dig diamonds. Man shall not subsist only on the word of God. Moreover, when man is bellyful his chances of making it to heaven are high. The reason is that the distance between a man’s stomach and the gates of heaven is automatically reduced once his belly is well-filled with good food and wine.
The gold rush also brought ready employment to armed robbers. They quickly procured arms and ammo and danced joyfully to the land of the Afrikaners, not to dig for gold, but to rob successful miners of their fortune. It brought about violence and a security problem. The miners were compelled to arm themselves and people died through violence while others were maimed.
The situation was characterised by mayhem and some returned home wealthy, others poorer than they had been. It was a whole confusion of comedy and tragedy, successes and failures, joy and sorrow. That is what gold begets.
Go to Obuasi and witness what gold can do to a human being. Illegal gold diggers are prepared to die in defence of their notoriety and determination to prosper from minerals that do not belong to them. They are armed to the teeth and would readily cause harm if antagonised.
Some have died while digging for gold or through mercury or cyanide poisoning. When workers of Ashanti Goldfields blast surface rock and wait for the dust to settle, these galamsey men rush in there to scoop out earth which they are not supposed to be doing because of the health risks and because it is unlawful.
Galamsey operators have clashed with police and security men of the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation (AGC) more than once this year alone. In a recent offense, the operators were alleged to have destroyed AGC property, torched housing facilities, and stole 58,000 birds from the corporation’s poultry unit, among other things.
Surely, the rogues are selling some of the birds cheaply under half the price, and the rest are certainly being organised into light soup to clear malaria. Of course, some of the meat would end up roasted, fried or toasted and eaten with ground pepper and akpeteshie if not Extra ‘Hewale.’
This is the comedy of the palaver. The looming tragedy is that the galamsey men are said to be getting ready to avenge the death of three of their colleagues who were killed in the confrontation. Apparently, they are not content with the chicken festival and want to cause havoc.
The problem with those who mine gold is that they are die-hards – Yente gyae! Most of them have seen the bitterness of life, have suffered hunger, disease and deprivation. They find galamsey as the golden way out. It is their saviour, their messiah. If they would meet death in the course of finding a means to survive, they would welcome it. And if they could be killed, then they must also kill. That sums up the mentality of these operators.
I have a feeling that it would be better for the authorities to deal prudently with the matter while beefing up security in the area. In the first place, to deprive them completely of their operations without offering them any alternatives would mean turning them loose to become armed robbers since they are armed, anyway. We have enough armed robbers in the system. We don’t want new entrants.
What should be done is that their activities should be regulated rather than obliterated. A way should be found to meet their representatives to iron out the growing differences. And the following must be considered.
That they cannot operate without licence; they should be confined to specific areas of operation so as to save the environment from degradation; should renounce violence and the celebration of chicken festivals; should regulate the activities of their members; should not encroach upon AGC property and desist from lawlessness of all kinds, especially stealing and be prepared to be tried and jailed if they breach the peace or the law.
The aim is not to encourage galamsey but to regulate it so that it becomes legal and employment generating without it become a nuisance to society.
As one AGC official told me recently, the activities of the galamsey operators do not adversely affect the corporation except when the operators become lawless, encroach and steal. That is where they become undesirable.
It is unfortunate that AGC does not arm their security men well enough to deal with lawless operators. Anyhow, we hope the situation would be well-thought-out so that calm can return to the Obuasi area.
Already, the prostitutes in the area are feeling uneasy. When there is a stir, business goes down. Theirs is a matter of the heart and of the thigh. That’s a cool matter and they are praying hard that the matter should be resolved at a high level. Because the higher you go, the cooler it becomes!
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
