“Why Are Ghanaians So Different From….?” - Uncle Ebo Whyte
Ghana’s foremost playwright James Ebo Whyte, aka Uncle Ebo features on Monday and Thursday mornings on his programme “Food for Thought" on Joy FM.
On Monday 9th October 2023, he concluded his piece with a quote of a question asked by a Dutch hotelier in Amsterdam. Before the question, he told two related stories.
GIZ
He started with the story of a young lady (“Joana”) who soon after leaving the university landed a good job with the German organization GIZ. GIZ (German Agency for International Cooperation) is an international enterprise owned by the German government, operating in many fields in over 130 countries.
However, “Joana’s” honeymoon apprenticeship as an assistant Human Resource (HR) Manager was short-lived as her boss left the organization before she could settle down. She therefore found herself virtually thrown into the deep end of the pool, with her required to make major decisions.
Sooner than later, Joan’s first test/task was to organize a meeting in Accra. One of the topics to be spoken on, was on a course she had taken in the university. She therefore asked her employers if she could have her lecturer as a resource person/facilitator for the programme. Following a positive response, she happily told her lecturer about the offer. He was elated as the opportunity among others, would oil his pocket with a healthy remuneration!
Advice
When it came to his turn to make a contribution during the programme, the lecturer decided to advise Joana. He started by stating how lucky she was to have gotten such a good job soon after leaving the university, considering the high graduate unemployment rate in Ghana. He advised her to work hard and not behave like the typical Ghanaian with a half-hearted approach to work. He continued by asking her to be mindful of punctuality and not be late for functions as most Ghanaians do. Under the guise of advising her, the lecturer rambled on saying all the negative things about the Ghanaian attitude and asking Joana to desist from them. One could hear a pin drop in the silence that engulfed the hall as the audience cast a wistful glance of disapproval among themselves!
When the lecturer’s lecture came to an end, there were murmurs of disapproval of his rather lackluster performance. Indeed, the Chairman did not mince words of his disapproval when he asked, “so what did you teach your student(s) in the university?”
The next meeting Joana had to organize was at Elmina. This time, she decided to replace her male lecturer with a female lecturer who had taught her.
Elmina Lecture
For lunch at the lecture at Elmina, Joana innovatively decided to add fufu and goat-meat light soup, aka “aponkye-nkrakra” to the menu. When she saw the heavy patronage of the fufu, especially the goat meat, she quickly went to her madame lecturer who was busy chatting with a friend, to go serve herself before the goat meat got finished. Madame simply said “okay” and continued chatting. Joana then left the dining hall for the lecture hall to prepare for the next lecture after lunch.
Meanwhile, as Joana had anticipated, the heavy patronage of the fufu and light soup had resulted in the total demolition of the goat meat!
Before the next lecture started, and angry Madame Lecturer in the full glare of organisers/participants confronted Joana and reprimanded her asking what HR person she was if she could not organize ordinary fufu and light soup with enough goat meat for everybody!
Again, there was disapproval from the audience at what they considered an unwarranted attack on Joana!
Uncle Ebo’s last story happened in Amsterdam, Holland.
Hotelier
A Ghanaian hotelier in Amsterdam (Kwadwo) went out of his way to host Ghanaian guests anytime they came around with excellent service in the hotel. Incidentally, his assistant was a Nigerian (Tunde) who extended similar courtesies to Nigerians.
One day, the Dutch manager asked Kwadwo a question, which took him by surprise. He asked,
“Why are you Ghanaians so different from Nigerians?”
Asked why such a question, the Dutch manager explained that he had observed over time that, while the Ghanaians praised Kwadwo for his exceptional service when they were with him, behind his back, they asked the Dutch manager to sack Kwadwo for inefficiency! On the other hand, the Nigerian clients constantly asked for promotion for Tunde, hence his question!
Discussion
Some people I have chatted with on the lines of Uncle Ebo’s story are initially dismissive of it, because it is negative! However, after a few personal examples by others in support of Uncle Ebo’s story recounting their own experiences both in and outside Ghana, the initial nationalistic enthusiasm fades away quickly, giving way to reality.
If we are not happy about the Dutch manager’s comparison between Ghanaians and Nigerians because it casts us in bad light, why do we continue with the bad things we do? A recent video clip of the famous waterfalls at Kintampo saddened me. For a country which prides itself with a monopoly of “first-ever” to do many things, the Kintampo waterfalls could be the “first ever” waterfall to have cascading brown clay water, the result of “galamsey!”
Again, this has been officially denied, just as was done about Rivers Ankobrah, Birim, Offin, and Pra initially. Perhaps Ghana may boast to be the “first-ever” country to convert its rivers into poisonous sludges of mercury, lead arsenic, and cyanide.
In a scathing attack while defending his countrymen as contributing to galamsey in Ghana, the Chinese Ambassador asked why there is no galamsey in South Africa, which has more gold than Ghana. He told Ghanaians in the face to blame ourselves, a modern-day rendition of “remove the plank from your eyes, before removing the speck in your neighbor’s eye!” (Matthew 7:12)
In the 1965 summer graduation of cadets at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, UK, Queen Elizabeth told the cadets, “remember always that, the best and purest form of leadership, is by EXAMPLE!”
Can our leaders tell God when/if they pray that, they are leading by example?
Leadership, lead! Fellow Ghanaians, WAKE UP!
Brig Gen Dan Frimpong (Rtd)
Former CEO, African Peace Support Trainers Association
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