The Dictatorship Of Pampered Labour

Kwesi Biney

Labour's role in any society is so paramount in the development or retrogression of that society. In the primitive society where labour was not formally organized, individuals engaged in their personal activities of diverse nature which in total benefitted each and everyone in the community. In the primitive society, some people opted to farm and produce food; others were hunters while still others specialized in the provision of local materials for the construction of shelters, no matter how mediocre they might be. Unorganized as the specialized individual labour was, their individual actions helped to build their societies no matter how primitive they were. The contributions of 'primitive' labour in the years of yore and organized labour of today are not substantially different in terms of their goals and achievements. They all contribute towards the general good of society except that at one point, one group of labour had to be 'paid' not by a stated or organized employer but on what they can offer and who was ready to pay for what they can offer in whatever kind.

It is an undisputed fact that there cannot be any progress in any society without the predominant role of labour. A first year Economics student in the Senior High School knows that the major components in the factors of production among others are capital, land and labour. Capital cannot do anything without labour just as a bare land is unproductive if labour does not turn it around. However, the history of this country, built on the philosophy of socialism, gave so much power to organized labour that they could take the whole country for a ride.  I remember as a child growing up in Takoradi, one of the notorious State Corporations that took the nation and government to ransom was the then Ghana Railways and Ports, which was the amalgamation of both the Railways and the Ports.

The slightest disagreement between this state institution and the government saw a 'gon gon' being beaten to summon the workers to 'Bottom Tree' where decisions were taken based on emotions and not on reality of business operations. Where government was unable to meet those demands, the workers embarked upon STRIKE action. Unfortunately, they did same to Kutu Acheampong's NRC but he did not tolerate that labour indiscipline. He separated the Railways from the Ports, the new Ghana Railways Corporation never survived until today. The reality is that the vociferous Railway workers were not making money for the state standing on their own.  The sister company, Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority today is one of the flagships of State business entities. The collapse of Railways significantly tells us that even as the workers were taking us hostage, they were not giving us any monies. Many such state corporations took this country down that lane and that accounts for where we are today.

There are times in this country when State Corporations which had made losses at the end of the year and government had borrowed monies to pay their salaries, had gone on strike because they were not paid bonuses at the end of the year. Yes, bonuses for making losses. That is crazy. These attitudes coupled with governmental inertia and management inefficiencies, collapsed many state established business entities. I have no problem when employees pester Government for what had been collectively agreed upon as conditions of service on the basis of having delivered their portion of the bargain. My worry is when labour becomes overly dictatorial in how State Corporations should be run on our collective behalf.

Just a few days back, it became public that the Government intends leasing the Tema Dry Docks facility to Tullow Oil Company for a three-year period and the workers are resisting that decision by government. Tullow, I understand, wants to build a new FPSO to enhance the burgeoning oil production industry in this country. We all know that the first FPSO for the Jubilee Fields was built in far away Singapore. This time around, they want to build the facility here in Ghana and that the only facility which, when rehabilitated can do the job, is the Dry Dock facility in Tema. And the workers are opposing Government's decision?

For Christ's sake, over the years what has the Dry Dock given this country? All they do is to collect their salaries?  Any refurbishment by Tullow will re-equip the facility to improve the working conditions as well as the technical knowhow of the workers there. I understand that not less than USD20million would be the initial investment Tullow would make in rehabilitating the place as part of its efforts to build the FPSO locally. Apart from the benefits of improving the Dry Dock, the technical expertise that Ghanaians would benefit from the construction of the FPSO would be immense, not only for today but for the future as well. If Tullow successfully builds an FPSO here in Ghana, don't we stand the chance of receiving future construction of similar facilities by other countries within the sub-region here which would create more jobs for Ghanaians? Why should a handful of workers resist what has the potential of changing this country substantially? Please!

The government must go ahead but just ensure transparency in the agreement such that the nation would not lose out in the medium and long term. Sometimes it is the fear of the introduction of very disciplined work ethics by foreign investors that attract the resistance to some of these government policies. Tema Dry Dock must not be allowed to die the way other such State entities have died. Both workers and government were responsible for the collapse of those entities.

Justice Must Precede Peace
Last Wednesday, August 21, 2013, the front pages of almost all the dailies captured the sentencing of five young men, alleged to be NPP faithful to death by hanging and long sentences by a Tamale High Court for the murder of an alleged NDC faithful in February 2009. Long though the trial was, in the end justice for the murdered has been secured through the Courts. I have always maintained that the Courts, on their own, cannot take up cases from the streets and adjudicate on them unless the agencies empowered by law have done their duties. Nobody has the right to wilfully take the life of another and therefore it is the duty of the Court to punish people who deprive others of their lives.

Strangely enough, in the same early hours of 2009, a young man by name Kwame Nyame, allegedly an NPP man was supposedly murdered by Kofi Adu and Kwabena Noah, all of them purportedly members of the NDC at Sankore in the Brong Ahafo Region. Nothing has happened to them. In fact, one of them ran away and took shelter in the home of the then Deputy Minister for Brong Ahafo at Sakumono. It took a hell of time for the Police to arrest this suspect. The man who harboured this suspect still remains a free man and has been promoted as the Ashanti Regional Minister. There is peace in Sankore, but justice cries for justice.

In the same year and around the same time at Agbogbloshie in Accra, three men allegedly NPP members were said to have been mowed down in the presence of the Police by alleged NDC activists in broad daylight without provocation. The Police saw the action that led to the death of the three. No arrests have been effected as I write, instead Nana Ohene Ntow, the then General Secretary of the NPP was invited by the Police Queen and specialist in Fire outbreaks, Rose Atinga the Bio, the then Greater Accra Police Commander to answer questions. We are in 2013, five years down the line these gentlemen, the sons of some people, fathers of other children and brothers of others as well have died without anybody being punished for their death.

In the face of this, everybody is preaching peace, why and how? We live in a country where equality, freedom and justice are supposed to be abundant to all, what do we see? Rashid Mohammed has had justice. What about Kwame Nyame of Sankore and the other three people in Agbogbloshie? Is anybody listening? We need a National Justice Council and not a national council for peace. If peace can only be attained when others have suffered injustice, then I hate peace. My brother, give me four tots to cool my temperature. On the day of the Supreme Court ruling, I will take full bottle and forcibly fall into a coma for five days. I will see no evil, hear no evil and do no evil.

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