Most professionals only talk when it concerns their salaries – Sam Jonah

Ghanaian businessman, Sam Jonah, has urged professionals to eschew apathy and speak out concerning matters that pertain to national development.

He said the trend he has noticed with professionals is they only speak up when an issue involves their careers or salaries.

He cited the recent outburst of the Minister for Foreign Affairs who raised concerns over bribery and corruption ongoing at the passport office.

Addressing the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, he charged them to take a keen interest in issues that border on national development.

“Recently, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchway stormed the passport office to chase out overstayed officers. Of an agency under her ministry she asked how passport services of 100 and 200 Ghana cedis were being charged illegally at 2000 and 3 000 Ghana cedis respectively. The goro boys are outside the passport office, she said, but they need somebody inside to work with; they cannot do it on their own.”

“There are many instances of senior public officials in charge of affairs speaking of corruption. Just yesterday, the Attorney-General Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame bemoaned how public officials responsible for procurement activities in public institutions continue to engage in insider trading, an action he says is having a significant negative impact on the economy, and the development of society,” he said on September 6, 2023.

Sam Jonah said the inability of these professional bodies to speak and join national discourses that bring change is because they lack the zeal for such.

He said: "Today, despite all that is happening, one hardly hears from professional bodies regarding the welfare of the nation. Most associations will only be heard when it concerns their salaries or businesses. Teachers’ associations, journalists, nurses, doctors, surveyors, lawyers, accountants, architects, planners, social workers, psychologists, etc. are all present in this country. What is lacking is the ability of these bodies to assert themselves with the requisite patriotic zeal in matters of national concern.”

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