Ghana: Tears and Lessons of life: Sow & Reap, Cause & Effect

The recent helicopter accident that took the lives of 8 people including top Ministers and officials, must be studied as a lesson! Never again! Ghana is in the global news but for accident that could have been avoided!

Accidents and Life cannot be at random! Life works according to rules and Laws of nature whether we see them or have written them down or not. At the academic level we call this Science.

In Ghana it seems most of the people who have entered our Politics in the past 70-80 years do not believe much in Science at all!

At best many believe in their religion and believe that Faith can cure all

And by Science please don’t get me wrong! I mean the simple rules and laws of Nature that,,

• there is action and reaction in nature, and
• ⁠there are consequences of human effort or actions. You reap what you sow.
• ⁠that materials can rust and machines need maintenance, and
• ⁠if we throw things in the air they come back down!

As a society sometimes we seem lost between Faith And Science! Everybody in Ghana (and Nigeria) seems to think they can cheat another and get away with it especially if the person is overseas or is a relative. Many men used to, and still would have children and walk away and leave the child on the mother to raise! When the man dies, they call in the children to go find money to bury their father! What kind of societal culture is this?

The only “Science” we seem to believe in is association with the Winners in the right political Party that efforts during campaign brings their rewards in terms of Contracts and/or positions in Government with vehicles and benefits!

Please don’t deny this since I have gotten involved enough since the 1980s to know how our socially active University graduates seek jobs!

In Politics it is true the measure of worth is the ability to convince others! Today some people on public payroll are being paid 127,000 per month while others are paid 1,500-2,000 per month because of their affiliation with Power or ordinary public Jobs!

Is that our standards? No! Not good! Please I am not blaming anybody! I like Sammy Gyamfi, but have been wondering how the powers that be gave him a position as Chairman of GOLDBOD and how his salary and benefits were determined! I was looking for the rationale, the science, the rules of the game and who authorized that!

In Capitalist countries like my own America, one can understand somebody starting their own company and making millions in profit and hence taking home as much as they like! Fine!

But a payroll system contributed by all our natural resources collectively must provide better pay distribution!

Example the man appointed as Chairman of GOLDBOD did not create the company and hence should never compare his salary to that of a Bill Gates or Marc Zuckerberg! No! In the U.S. the President’s salary is not that much higher than an Engineering Manager, but sure he is given a lot more protection and free rent at the White House and free car and petrol. Fine!

But an appointed Minister should not be making similar range as CEO of a major American company. No!!

The wealth gap for PUBLIC SERVICE employees in Ghana is simply too much. And yet nobody ever gets a job accomplished on time! No!

• Nobody gets punished for not completing their job!
• hospital buildings never get completed
• ⁠roads and highways take 10 years instead of 1 year and
• ⁠moneys allocated for projects never get audited and accounted for and worst of all
• ⁠Nobody gets PUNISHED for project goals not completed or targets not met! No!!

As a man who went into the Science and Engineering areas making computer chips we could analyze only under a microscope, and later an entrepreneur in the Finance business before my PhD in Business & Technology specializing in Organization & Management/Leadership, sometimes I can’t help but analyze some issues in my motherland and try to find the rules and laws, and the science by which our society is moving on.

Something flashed in my mind as to what could have caused the helicopter to crash and hope the Flight Data Recorder has been found and being analyzed! In science and engineering mistakes have consequences and so is life!

May the Souls of the colleagues and dear ones who lost their lives rest in peace, and condolences to the families and relatives of the departed.

May the people of Ghana learn to love their country, give their best, and obey the rules and laws of nature and science!

Dr. Kwaku A. Danso,
Turlock, California, USA