Opinions of Tuesday, 29 November 2011

Columnist: Quaye, Stephen A.

Ghanaians Should Start Wearing Their Clash Helmet

From: Stephen A. Quaye, Toronto-Canada.

Have you travelled on an aeroplane that seems to be having a rough ride before?
If you have had a rough ride on an aeroplane before, you will realize that constantly the captain or the pilot keep on reminding passengers of the rough ride and the need to remain seated and tighten their seat belts.
In a worst situation where the pilot can not prevent a plane clash, they advice passengers to wear their crush helmets since there will be no measure to safe life more than wearing their crush helmet, tighten their seat belt and pray for the good lord to save them when the crush happens.
What am I trying to draw here is that the situation right on the ground as far as leading the country Ghana is concern, calls for nothing to safe it and make things better except that the good people start wearing their crush helmet and wait for the incident to happen or probably hope that a saviour somewhere comes to safe them.
No but can’t you feel the heat as someone will ask if you can not see can’t you hear as well the noise being made out of complaints of civil servants who are not being paid for several months and in some instances years?
Currently strikes have been adopted by public servants who could not withstand the cheating by government for non payment of salaries, poor conditions of service and falling standard of living in the country.
Teachers went on strike demanding for pay increase as the government played politics with their salaries claiming it cares for them by putting them on the poor resulted SSSS. What came out of it was thrashing of demonstrating teachers at the Osu castle right?
Nurses, doctors, pharmacists followed suit and even students from institutes of higher learning also followed suit in demonstrating against high cost of living calling on the tax professor to really do something to better Ghana, an agenda he has promised to carry out.
Here is one thing, accompanying the president in his recent visit to Ottawa- Canada, the foreign affairs minister Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, tried to paint a different picture to Ghanaians that life under president Mills is far better of than that of former president John Agyekum Kufuor.
Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, praised the president for his better Ghana agenda which has seen improvement in public workers salary payment system by implementing the Single Spine Salary Structure which former president Kufuor failed to do fearing it could backfire on his head.
According to him, President Mills mustered courage and implemented it without fear and it has paid of very well and soon all workers are going to be migrated onto the adopted SSSS PAYMENT STRUCTURE.
That was a nice talk to receive a round of applause from his party hawks who gathered and especially from government aid such as Koku Anyidoho and Nii Lamtey Vanderpuye who were spotted clapping at every pause of the minister’s speech.
But is that the situation on the ground today that workers are happy about the mode of public sector workers salary payment I mean the SSSS?
A Daily Guide news report on November 24, 2011 filed by Charles Takyi Boadu about National Youth Employment Programme [NYEP] workers lining up at a residence of the Greater Accra regional minister Nii Armah Ashitey, to collect their salaries through a table top payment system is laughable.
Why not funny? The NDC party accused the NPP of not running the programme to achieve its aim and that under better Ghana Agenda it will be run such a way to create employment for the youth as well as comfortable standard of living for them.
Today, salaries that were being paid into workers bank account are now being paid through table top systems and worse of all workers lining up under a scorching sun at a regional ministers residence sound like a sketch being acted upon at an amphitheatre.
Since the visit of the president to Ottawa and back to Ghana, some Ghanaians have started to wonder whether what someone said sounding too NDC that in about few years to come Ghana will be the most sound place to live is true as the news of NYEP WORKERS SALARY FINDS IT WAY IN REGIONAL MINISTERS RESIDENCE hit them with a big bang.
End.