The Ghana High Commission In Ottawa Saga: A Rejoinder & Cutting It With “Talc2-Drops”!!

Fiifi Bannerman (Ghanaweb, 29 Dec 07) came back at Anthony Obuor-Mensah swinging, for the latter’s 3-part expose of what he (Anthony Obuor-Mensah) suspects are infringements of rules, procedures, and the law at the Ghana Commissions in Canada. (Obuor-Mensah, 24 Nov 07; 7/26 Dec 07). The 3-part series actually began with, “A story posted on the “Rumour Mill” section of Ghanaweb of ….had a screaming bold headline: Maltreatment At The Ghana High Commission In Ottawa.” Anthony Obuor-Mensah then invited responsible Ghanaian officials to investigate, noting that he could confirm that the story about “the cook.” Many serious charges were made in that original piece and in the two that followed and the author even volunteered to assist with any investigation.

ANECDOTAL INFORMATION ABOUT GHANA EMBASSIES:

Now, I have never been to any Ghanaian Commission or Embassy in Canada. But, I have been close, and so have an opinion on that one. In the first place, many people in other places have written to complain about the performance and attitude to service of Ghanaian Embassy and Commission employees. I was in the Ghana Embassy in Washington, several times during 2006. The Ghanaian workers there did not particularly strike me as service oriented, friendly, or knowledgeable about what they were supposed to be doing at an Embassy in the world’s mot important political capital.

First, the room where Customers waited for the travel documents looked, smelled, and felt like a mail room. The map issue was a bigger disappointment - there was only one ‘tourist” map, poorly made, of the entire country of Ghana. But the reader will probably agree that there are easily more aspects to Ghana than just one side that would be of interest to potential tourists, business visitors, and even local students visiting Embassies and walking Embassy Row from one side to the other, unannounced. Three weeks after my last trip in 2006, I concluded that I was not going to receive a Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSS). You see, a CSS is more than just a complaint form, in particularly if you deal with hundreds of Diasporans and you know what Ghana truly ought to be doing at the Embassy/Commission.

THE OBUOR-MENSAH REPORT/COMPLAINTS:

But the complaints and charges by Anthony Obuor-Mensah are more serious and ought to have elicited some response from someone before the Fiifi Bannerman piece, even if only from Information Minister. Or are we to conclude at this time that Anthony Obuor-Mensah must also file a “’formal’ complaint” at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as part of the same kind of the Chief Justice Wood delusions of grandeur, self-importance, and legal invention/fiction outside Constitutional parameters. But I digress.

Point is, we now have here a Fiifi Bannerman saying that Anthony Obuor-Mensah has circulated rumors, that everything reported is false, and that Obuor-Mensah is not “kind” to Commission employees. Strangely, Fiifi Bannerman does not refute any of the allegations and unfounded complaints which all point, potentially, to serious abuses administrative rules and procedure, rule of law, and ethics, at Ghana’s Embassies and Commissions, with the Commissions in Canada as potential test cases.

More depressing, Fiifi Bannerman did not stridently ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, High Commissioners, and the Government of Ghana to fully investigate, or at least to issue a statement in response to those charges. Fiifi Bannerman didn’t even to ask Ghanaian officials to refer the charges to CHRAJ, SFO, Police CID, or even to acknowledge that they are aware of these “Rumors,” and that they are doing so-and-so about them. Makes one wonder where Fiifi Bannerman’s “Shito is spiced,” really!! Is that not the responsible thing to do? Is that not in part what they (people working for the government at those positions) are paid to do – to protect the interests and reputation of Ghana and its citizens, including its officials. Now, remember that many others on Ghanaweb in many places other than Canada expressed similar sentiments with each positing from Mr. Anthony Obuor-Mensah. And practically, comments on the last Obour-Mensah posting were 100% unsupportive of the Fiifi Bannerman position.

In the retort, Fiifi Bannerman wants us and Anthony Obuor-Mensah to “know that (Anthony Obuor-Mensah) is dealing with human beings… (fine ladies and gentlemen)… who might have spent a lifetime to cultivate the good reputation that they enjoy now.” But my position is, that is all well and good. But, it seems to me that Fiifi Bannerman is asking for sympathy from the wrong person, particularly when Fiifi Bannerman is not interested in asking for action from responsible officials who can truly get to the bottom of everything!

ITEM: Fact is, it is about public entities that owe an accounting and transparency to the people, and more. What is preventing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the President of Ghana, etc., to set the record straight for the sake of these “fine ladies and gentlemen”? What is there that is holding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from setting the record straight - that at least one auditor sent to audit the accounts in Canada did not “ROOM” or “Board” with at least one person they were auditing, for instance?

“THINK” DOES NOT CUT IT FOR GHANA:

Fiifi Bannerman gave us a mnemonic, “THINK,” to chew on, to reckon with, actually. Say it isn’t so, Fiifi Bannerman!!

Sorry, but your didactic devise, “THINK,” is of little use here half of the time. In fact, half of that is not taught in schools of public policy, administration, and law. That is what is important, if you ask Prof Lungu. In Prof Lungu’s mind, “THINK” is for elementary school students and Bible/Koran thumpers in their private homes, churches, and mosques. “THINK” has little potential or capacity to inspire and empower those public employees and imbue them with professional, imagination, and competence. “THINK” cannot inspire or empower officials to “Learn” and “Practice” the art and science of “Governance” and “Administration,” and inform them that at core are adherence to Standard Operating Procedures, the Rule of Law, and Equal Opportunity for all, plus. (This is applicable to all the High Commissioners, the Embassies, and all top-level officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in all public bureaus inside Ghana and overseas).

CUT IT WITH “TALC2-DROPS” - IT IS BETTER FOR THE PUBLIC’S BUSINESS:

A “reform” of Fiifi Bannerman’s “THINK” was proposed by Yaa Nkosuo, via “LINK.” Yaa Nkosuo got to the core when she said “Forget about KINDNESS at the moment, ACCOUNTABILITY and PRODUCTIVITY is the word.” Nicely articulated, I say!! And here, we can even go further. On that score, we could continue with something like the 10-letter mnemonic, TALC2 – DROPS, pronounced “TALC C-squared DROPS.” Yes, TALC2-DROPS. We are talking about public organizations in Ghana, after all. TALC2 DROPS stands for:

1. Transparency -Transparency is a first order business principle; nothing is hidden if it is not a bona fide state secret, personal information, or inimical to organizational goals

2. Accountability – Accountability principles is first order business principle – all resources must be accounted for in a timely, full, accurate manner

3. Learn - Learning to serve customers and the nation is also job one. Learning objective lessons allow bureaus to be meaningful to the people

4. Communicate – Communication is a key to organizational and individual performance, bar none. All bureaus must have the right communication technology and techniques

5. Coordinate - Coordinate all major decisions and plans with all stakeholders. Nobody like surprises, including the PEOPLE! Coordination leads to better decision-making because one person does not have all the answers and “chips” in a modern organization. Coordination is hard work, but it is very useful work!

6. Direct - Direct staff to be responsive to all, including those who may critique your agency; have them do the right things, including obeying public laws, rules of professional ethics, and going by Standard Operation Procedures (SOP) as a rule.

7. Responsiveness – Responsiveness is job one. All employees must be customer-focused. But all employees and customers must understand that the Government’s business is a “PUBLIC” business. Government business is not synonymous with private business.

8. Organize - Organize with reliable knowledge of the needs of all your stakeholders. Be informed by rationality, with science and human-centered technology as foundation that is acutely true to objective local conditions

9. Plan – plan with all the people, not for the people. Start everything with a plan, with truly measurable objectives, but start PLAN with a Community (Ghana)-centered Vision

10. Staff - Staff agency with qualified professionals and train them in the latest communications technologies and professional practices. Get the best from all places so employees can think outside the box – they will know where the “BUS” ought to go. Above all, recognize that people from Oxford, Legon, and Harvard, etc., do not have even 25% of the answers and technical/professional competencies that Ghana needs, and that your village/town and parochial families and friends have even less to contribute, compared to the global talent pool. Recognize that it is the people who have the answers, and pay public employees well. But get non-performers off the “BUS,” at the right time!!

Yes, those are the 10 Prof Lungu principles for getting started. Check it out! The 10 “principles” captured by TALC2-DROPS are all taught, or ought to be taught in Ghana’s schools of policy, administration, and law, in one fashion or the other. That is the difference – and it is a serious and fundamental one. More helpful!!

(HABA!) SAY YOU ARE NOT ANONYMOUS:

The other item from Fiifi Bannerman, a side bar, although positioned at the heard of the Fiifi Bannerman piece, made interesting reading. According to Fiifi Bannerman, “…Technology has given breed to another form of faceless rumor mongering; perpetuated mostly by otherwise spineless entities using pseudo-names to advance their diabolical deeds…”

Really, I say? First thought is, it sure beats shouting across oceans or running with a message tied to your neck or waste. But don’t all on Ghanaweb use the same technology to communicate (even though we are all not at the same place)? Where is the down side? Is it not the case that Fiifi Bannerman is also using Ghanaweb as a faceless entity? And is Fiifi Bannerman not making claims with fewer facts? More important, how is anyone reading “Fiifi Bannerman” supposed to know that it is truly Fiifi Bannerman? Is the person in China, the Philippines, Turkey, Jamaica, Canada, etc, reading Fiifi Bannerman’s piece on Ghanaweb, one who has never met or spoken to Fiifi Bannerman, supposed to believe everything Fiifi Bannerman has written or said just because Fiifi Bannerman is Fiifi Bannerman? Where is the Ghana-centeredness in even 50% of the “information” in the Fiifi Banerman piece? Sure, it is “person-centered,” but is that where it ought to end, as Fiifi Bannerman seems to be implying?

What a crappy life that some people must defend, some times!!

CONCLUSION: The Government of Ghana and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs need to act, one way or the other. But, even at this stage, we all know that they Government of Ghana and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are “Acting” by default. (THINK is of no help here). They are choosing to do nothing and to say nothing in defense of “the good names of those fine ladies and gentlemen at our numerous missions abroad whose only crime might be that they have devoted their lives to serve their motherland.” Now, that is an even more crappier life for all concerned - forsaken by your own government - precisely one of the many important points Mr. Anthony Obuor-Mensah raised in the 3-part expose!!

NOTES:

1. *TALC2-DROPS for Public Organizations, Prof Lungu, Dec 2007.

2. Prof Lungu does not know, personally or professionally, either Anthony Obuor-Mensah or Fiifi Bannerman. Prof Lungu has absolutely no interest in maligning or discrediting anyone, including persons in Ghana’s Embassies, High Commissions, or any person. But Prof Lungu stands for Ghana-centeredness and responsible public administration, all the time!!