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Wrong recruitment a danger to the Ghanaian society
Agatha is a beautiful young lady who had a dream of becoming a Medical Doctor. However, things became financially difficult for her due to the passing away of her Dad at Senior High School (SHS) 2 since there was no Free SHS Policy in place at the time.
In her final year, she realised that her dream of going to pursue medicine at the university had to be modified.
She decided to pursue nursing after SHS contrary to her original plan since there was policy of payment of allowance, which would greatly help her to overcome her financial challenges, which involved supporting her mom to assist her younger siblings who were in SHS.
Agatha qualified as a nurse and was employed by the Ghana Health Service and posted to one of the hospitals in the country. Although qualified as a nurse, her passion for the job was not strong enough and, therefore, her attitude in providing care left much to be desired.
There are a lot of Agathas’ in our health facilities. An effective recruitment programme into the nursing fraternity would have easily identified that Agatha was not cut out for the job.
Joe was a SHS leaver but his character was nothing to write home about at school and at home. Everybody in the community knew that he was a wee smoker.
He was involved in a lot of disciplinary issues at school but because his uncle was an influential politician, he managed to intervene on the several instances that Joe fell foul of the school regulations.
Within a year after leaving school, he was drafted into the police service without any proper background check. Joe went through the recruits training and some months later he passed out as full-fledged policeman whose moral upbringing was not cut out for the work he found himself in.
Joe is now officially clothed with the authority to use “reasonable” force where necessary and are you surprised when a journalist gets brutalised for taking a picture of a policeman who is apparently breaking the law? Are you surprised when hard drugs kept in police custody suddenly turns into a harmless substance? Are you surprised when armed robbers are arrested and some of them are identified as policemen? There are Joes’ in the security forces.
When we were growing up in the late 60s and early 70s, teachers were the embodiment of discipline. They were our role models and commanded such a huge respect in both the schools and among the general public. They were at the top of the list of opinion leaders and seldom would you hear of a teacher involved in some scandal.
What is happening now in the educational sector concerning teachers, has tarnished the enviable reputation they used to enjoy during our days. It has been scandal upon scandal. A case was reported recently, of a teacher who had impregnated a Junior High School (JHS) student at Amasaman in the Greater Accra Region and an attempt to abort the pregnancy, resulted in the destruction of the womb of the girl.
Again, the reasons behind such behaviours are not hard to find. Some people are now in the teaching field not because they have passion for the teaching profession but largely due to economic pressure.
The stories we hear of that boggles the mind, especially those of us who have been around for a long time in this country, can be attributed to the recruitment systems in place. There is a popular phrase in computer industry known as “gigo” that is garbage in-garbage out.
The outcome of the ineffective recruitment in the various civil and public services is the manifestation of decadent behaviour we are witnessing. As the saying goes, “a leopard can never change its spots”.
The character formed in a person is very difficult to change and this must guide people in authority in fashioning out a policy for recruitment into the various government institutions.
There must be a holistic approach towards the way people are recruited. There has to be a total review of how interviews are conducted for selection into the various institutions.
There should be a psychological review aspect of the process where people are tested or examined to determine their character in terms of morality. There should be a process which applicants must go through for the determination of their real intention, in applying for the job. This would help in determining suitability of applicants so that those who really love the particular profession they are applying for are selected.
It is not only the government institutions that as a society we should worry about. The profession of men in clerical must also engage our attention. It is a fact that the pastors are not employees of government institutions but they play a very vital role in shaping the mindset of people and, therefore, the society.
They serve as a moral compass for the society and their actions must be brought under close scrutiny given the negative reports emanating from their ranks. There is a clamour for their actions to be regulated by the state.
A Moderator of one of the leading religious denominations was on TV last Sunday disagreeing to this call for regulating the activities of pastors but rather calling for pastors to be treated as individuals, and that those who fell foul of the law be dealt with according to the law.
Taking into account the number of incidents involving pastors who are not under any structured religious denomination, it must be of concern to any right thinking member of the society. These one-man church pastors are not accountable to anyone.
They allocate titles to themselves and whether they actually received a call from God or it was just a “flash”, you and I were not there so we cannot tell. A lot of them are what I call ‘spiritual entrepreneurs’; they are in for just money. It is a business enterprise to them and not any desire to win souls for God, so morality is thrown to the dogs.
A national dialogue can be initiated by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), the Christian Council, The Muslim Council, The Peace Council, The Civil Service, Civil Society Organisations and other relevant stakeholders to fashion out a policy for recruitment into various government organisations and screening of potential pastors and even non-governmental organisations and businesses.
This is one of the surest ways to eliminate or reduce corruption, because if someone pays a bribe to be given a job, it is an investment which he or she would find means to recover. It would also ensure that the right people in terms of real passion for the particular job are recruited. The so called protocol selection must cease, otherwise the inequality in our society would never end.
A first step would be the consideration of the use of IT which would eliminate human interference as much as possible, so that the selection would be done by computers, based on defined selection criteria just like the one for selection into the universities and senior high schools.
The Average Citizen
THE typical itinerant salesman in Sikaman is a herbalist. He is normally a slim macho with the capacity to perambulate the expanse of area covering the triangle of Accra-Tema-Ashiaman. In short, he can walk a total of 60 miles a day, marketing a product that cures every disease, including poverty. 
The door-to-door herbal pharmacist advertises his product by word of mouth. He has nothing to do with the Food and Drugs Board (FDB). After all, his concoctions do not feature on FM stations.
Those herbalists who cannot walk to propagate the herbal gospel, liaise with drivers of mass transportation and their mates. They are, therefore, given the chance to sell their products on Benz buses that ply the routes.
Normally, the herbalist starts his sales message with a prayer and Bible study. He asks the passengers to bow down their heads in supplication to God the father, the son, the Holy Spirit.
When a herbalist asks the passengers to close their eyes and bow their heads, Moslems on board naturally feel offended. They feel that the herbalist has no right to assume that every passenger is a Christian. They think such an assumption is an affront to Islam.
So a Moslem on board will raise the hand for a point of order. He’ll remind the herbalist that it would be in his own interest to mind his language.
“Be careful the way you address people in a public place. Not every person here is a Christian,” he’d state assertively.
Of course, the herbalist will promptly ignore him, but would all the same “watch” his tongue. Who knows whether or not the Moslem brother is inspired by Quoranic zeal to defend the tenets of Islam to the hilt?
When he starts saying, “Wallahi!” and “Inshallah!” it could be the beginning of proclaiming Islam as supreme, a point which must be driven home with talibanic precision.
So the herbalist must tread carefully lest he steps on fire.
The herbalist could even add a measure of mirth to it all, by announcing that Christians on board today have very interesting company on the journey, but that should not detract from the business of the day.
The Moslem brother will weigh the words carefully and offer a wry smile.
He must be careful the occasion does not degenerate into the use of semantics and proverbial oration to deride his conviction that public utterances must be mindful of religious sensibilities. He has made his point very clear and expects that it is taken in good faith in the interest of a peaceful journey.
The herbalist will now open the New Testament and preach salvation, stating clearly that salvation can come only through Jesus Christ and NOBODY else.
The Moslem brother will now start twitching his moustache. The visible and almost revolutionary reflexes of his upper lip can be an indication that sentiments have begun superseding reason, and the outcome could well be tragic now shift uneasily in his seat.
The time has come for him to also express his right to the religion of his fore-bears. He’ll put his hand into his pocket and rise to his feet. The time has indeed come!
This article was first published on Saturday, September 9, 2006
When the cause of a particular problem like sickness, disease, sudden illness, a social issue etc. are not known, it stands to reason that resolving it becomes a huge challenge.
Citizens would understand the government when public announcements are made to the effect that government is trying to find a solution to the issue, even though it is taking a while for it to be resolved because citizens are rational beings.
On the other hand, if the solution to a particular issue is known to everybody but the government for whatever reason, is dragging its feet in resolving it, citizens become frustrated and begin to lose trust in their leaders.
One such issue is the heavy traffic along a section of the Kasoa – Odokor road. A short stretch of bad road between the traffic light at the Weija Government Hospital and the entrance to the entrance of the overhead that leads to the N1, is the cause of the problem but nothing is being done about it, day after day, week after week, month after month. Thus is clearly unacceptable.
Another issue that requires urgent attention is the lack of pavements along a lot of streets in parts of the various Municipal Assemblies. Exercise is a prerequisite for long life and healthy living and for those of us who it has become a way of life, this issue of people putting up structures right to the edge of the drains beside the roads, are making life difficult for us.
We are compelled to walk along the roads, putting our lives at serious risk. Pedestrians should never be compelled to compete with vehicles on our streets and roads. Roads and streets are made for vehicles and pavements are made for pedestrians. That is the norm. Any attempt to normalise a situation where pedestrians are mingling with vehicles is insanity.
It is the road regulations that makes it so and therefore district or municipal assemblies are to take responsibility and ensure that spaces for pavements are not encroached upon. Citizens have rights that must be protected by their leaders and making pavements available to pedestrians, is one of them.
When we hear of teachers having sex with students, it appears it is something recent. It is not a new phenomenon. It has been there since Adam. Perhaps this issue is getting much attention due to the proliferation of social media. It was an open secret in times past when Teachers were in relationships with female students and some married them immediately after completion of school.
Some teachers were also known to be having unholy interactions with female pupils but due to the times that these acts occurred, human rights issues and the awareness around it, allowed such unscrupulous teachers to get away with their crimes.
Now we are in a different era and so a Headmaster is now in hot waters. He is alleged to have raped about 19 female students and as usual, some officials tried to cover it up and are also in hot waters and their actions or inactions in the matter are under investigation.
Why the man has been allowed to roam freely without being arrested is simply mind boggling. It appears that the law applies differently, depending on who you are. This issue came to public attention sometime in August this year, yet the police had not arrested or invited this man for question regarding the rape allegation.
It has come out that he is a Constituency Secretary of the ruling party and the question in the public domain is that, is it because he is a political figure that is why he is still walking around without questioning? I believe in the rule of law so let us hold our breadth and let the proper thing be done.
The police must however be seen to be active in this matter. God bless.
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