A lazy, sloppy job, period!!!

Let’s just call it what it really is – a lazy, sloppy job it is, the production of the 59th Independence Brochure for our Republic called Ghana. World-stage embarrassment of our dear country seems to have been a penchant with our modern day politicians and public office holders. It was the same sloppiness and degenerate laziness that sent forth the General Secretary of the ruling NDC Government to Germany without the proper seasonal attire, the lack of which potentially had health consequences for the unprepared. Our lazy protocol officers couldn’t even get on the internet to check the weather conditions in Germany and advise the indomitable General Secretary of the proper dress requirements. Similarly, it was the same sloppiness and abject laziness which saw an NPP Minister of Finance sign a contractual document in German although he didn’t understand the language. What the hell is going on?

When such buffoonery is displayed on the world stage by our political and public office holders, what do we get in return? We suffer major ridicule, from everyone around the world. For starters, the Kenyan Press is having a field day with this supermax faux pas. In fact, some have suggested that we are so disgusted with our current President that we all but handed over the Republic to the Kenyan President, a man whose own shortcomings make our President’s transgressions look like venial sins. But a comparison of John Dramani Mahama and Uhuru Kenyatta is not the goal of this riposte. The fact is that there seem to be no serious consequences for any off these gargantuan gaffes by our public officials, and I am so disgusted it is time to say enough is enough.

When the error-ridden brochure came to light, the immediate recourse was for the Chairman of the Committee, Commodore Steve Obimpeh, (G.N. Rtd), to blame it on someone who seemed to be the next in line on the committee handling the assignment – Stan Dogbe; and only God knows who else Stan Dogbe is himself blaming this on, and who is that person also blaming? The finger-pointing is endless. Finally, all we get is a miserable apology, from the Information Services Department (ISD) – a department which had nothing to do with the production of the document in the first place, if what the staff of the ISD are saying is true; an institution which should rightly have handled the assignment, but which for all intents and purposes of political chicanery, has been bastardized to the “boys quarters” of providing reliable, credible, error-free information for this country across most governments under the Fourth Republic. Now, they have become the scapegoat for this national disgrace. In the instance in which Yaw Osafo Marfo signed the “German Contract” he didn’t understand, we didn’t even get an apology; he simply told us to suck it up and live it in a matter-of-no-consequences manner, and there was nothing we could do about it. As Ghanaians, it seems it is so difficult for us to say “sorry”, but when we do say it, it is considered fitting atonement for whatever omission or commission we have made. No, sorry means we regret the action or inaction; and then we must now atone for it – that is the consequence part. But we never get it. We commit errors of colossal proportions, and then say sorry, and continue as if nothing has happened. The clown show goes on, moving to the next item, looking for the next major error to commit, to our national disgrace. What a country! What a people!

Now dear reader, imagine in your place of work, if you typed a one page letter on a letterhead, with the name of the signatory of the letter, your boss, misspelt by one character, what do you think your boss’ reaction would be? Minor infractions within a vastly limited audience exact such severe consequences fit for capital crimes, and yet world-stage irreparable errors go unpunished? Perhaps, a little butt whipping would make the next brochure less error-ridden. Only God knows what kind of Government documents we send out to our international partners. I am sure they are the toast of stories at diplomatic cocktail parties.

Which brings me to a fundamental questioning of the presumptions we seem to make when we assign tasks/contracts or assignments. The Ghana Navy is one of the world’s finest institutions – I know that for a fact. Cdr. Steve Obimpeh worked with some of the finest Navy Commanders of his time, he himself having at some point stinted at commanding the elite institution. Whatever happened to that drive, excellence and distinction? And whatever happened to that high standard of morality in taking ultimate responsibility for errors? As Chairman of the Independence Committee, it was expected he would take ultimate responsibility, if not simply procedurally but because of the significance of the error. The U.S. bombed Médecin Sans Frontières in Afghanistan in error. When it came to light, U.S. Army Gen. John Campbell, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan publicly apologized for it, and most of the people closely associated with the event were suspended, pending further investigations. Cdr. Obimbeh just pointed his finger at someone else and “continued drinking his coffee”.

What about Stan Dogbe, isn’t he supposed to be a journalist of international experience and repute? On his Facebook page, he lists CNN and Event Management amongst some of his key interests. So how come he can’t even edit a brochure, having been apparently previously professionally trained to prepare information for public dissemination, while currently finding time off his “busy” schedule to watch CNN and do Event Management? At least he should have learnt something from those two? And this is a project he knew of in advance too. Haba, Massa!!! The answer is simple. Government operatives with no technical competence in a particular area, nonetheless award contracts to themselves and their cronies, who themselves are just loud bloviating buffoons. The result is the abysmal, disgraceful outputs we see on the world stage.

This phenomenon, the phenomenon of error-prone, sub-standard document production has become the hallmark of a burgeoning industry in overnight design and print businesses dotted across this country. Almost every street corner in this country is dotted with deceptively glossy-looking insignia and signboards, which to the untrained eye, seem well done. Take a look at the textbooks now being printed for our schools and you will find mind-boggling errors such as “The Respiratory System is responsible for breaking down food substances”, and “The Digestive System is responsible for breaking down food substances”. Haba!!! Both answers cannot be right, but that’s the bunch of copy typists and key-punching, cut-and-paste self-styled typists we have today. After all, a few years back, we were still the “slate, blackboard My-First-Copy-Book, Typewriter and Stencil” country. Today, we like to think of ourselves as the “iPad-Android” generation. The truth is, there is more to Print Production, Color Separation and Typesetting than meets the untrained eye. Color and print spaces have changed dramatically – technically and technologically, and for someone who knows and taught Production Typewriting “back in the day”, typesetting, manuscripts and proof-reading are still a professional skill set even if you are using a “Super Mainframe Computer”.

As Francis Dery, I am an individual, but as a citizen, I am part of the collective – a collective called Ghana and those who purport to act in the name of that collective better be made to clearly understand they cannot commit such a major “mess up” and make us all look bad. An independence day is supposed to be uplifting and invigorating, but this one is a major damper because of this brochure thing. To expect President Mahama to personally supervise the printing of an Independence brochure, is to collectively indict this country and its institutions; and unless and until we start giving jobs to real professionals to handle, we will forever be saddled with disgraceful, sub-standard, sloppy, lazy work, fit for the gutters.

Francis Dery

Email: dery.francis@yahoo.com