Punish lazy workers to deter others from being unproductive - Prof. Boateng

A lecturer at the Kings University College and International Relations expert, Prof. Kwame Agyenim Boateng has commended President Akufo-Addo for admonishing workers to change their lazy attitude towards work.

President Akufo-Addo in his address at the May Day parade said if we are going to make changes we all want, we have to start in change of attitude to work.

Government he posited is ready to do its part and went on to call on the labour front to launch a campaign against negative attitudes towards work.

The president in his speech said “I have said it at another forum, but I think it bears repeating: we arrive at work late and then spend the first hour in prayer; we are clock watchers and leave in the middle of critical work, because it is the official closing time. Everything comes to a stop when it rains and we seem to expect the rest of the world also to stop,” the President said.

He continued, “We have no respect for the hours set aside for work… we pray, we eat, we visit during working hours. We spend hours chatting on the telephone when customers are waiting to be served, thereby increasing our labour costs. We take a week off for every funeral. And then we wonder why we are not competitive.”

‘’There is the petty stealing of paper, envelopes, tea, milk and other equipment. There is the reckless use of office vehicles. Employees show no inclination to protecting the things that are in the offices and factories and extreme reluctance to stand up for what we know to be right in our workplaces in general,” Nana Addo added.

Reacting to the comments, Prof. Boateng said, Nana Addo was spot on with what he said.

The attitude towards work in Ghana cannot be compared to what I have witnessed abroad. Workers dedicate and do what is expected of them abroad.

There is strong monitoring and evaluation and so you have no room for any lackadaisical attitudes.

Ghana will still lack behind if we do not work hard, he stated. He also decried the lack of enforcement of our laws adding, if we enforce our laws and punish people who violate them, it will deter our people from doing that.