PRESIDENT UHURU KENYATTA THROUGH THE EYES OF A SCIENTIST

                                                                                                         COLUMNIST: Nii Adjei

 

PRESIDENT UHURU KENYATTA

      A lot of articles have been written, odes, pieces, satires, jokes and fun have been out of our 59^th Independence Day celebration. Senior state men and women have commented and expressed their opinions on how our nation had its day of shame besides her annual doses of cholera, floods and begging for crumbs from our benefactors. I was at work that day, so couldn’t have the luxury of time to follow through with all the news and sound bytes which came along with it. 6^th of March every year represented a joyous occasion for school children and adults alike, when we were younger, we used to wait anxiously to wear our white socks and black shoes on this day, our teachers would teach us to march in a proper fashion, sweat swarmed on our smooth faces as we laughed and joyously marched.   I won’t befuddle the essence of this celebration by boring you any further. This year’s Independence Day celebration would go down as a bitter sweet pill.  We saw a gallant and brilliant display from our security forces and school children, with our comedians and other artistes setting the pace. The nemesis of the program was the so called brochure that has gained a notoriety by been tagged a brouhaha.

        What is this brouhaha about? Just for those who may not have heard about it, this was a series of mistakes, grammatical errors, typographical errors, misinformation and you name it that saw President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya spontaneously metamorphosing to become the president of Ghana.  This magic left in its wake a lot of mess in both the print and electronic media. Ghana was ridiculed in international news circles as Kenyans laughed at the debacle. Most international news outlets made fun of our good selves , as if we hadn’t produced the  Efua Sutherland’s and the Kofi Awoonor’s  whose grammatical prowess left an avalanche of admirers in those same establishments ,  not to talk of our own Akrasi Sarpong of the BBC who dazzled those folks with his brofo. Ghana has a lot of talent and we’re reputed to be one of the few nations in Africa with a proper grasp , command and control of the queen’s tongue . Follow our news portals and outlets and you’ll see one denominator, impeccable grammar, on point presentation of facts and the proper mix of grammatical imperatives.   What went wrong with this particular brochure, why did it have to become a brouhaha considering that we’ve celebrated our independence day as long as I can remember? The mandated body which is the Information Services Department came out to deny their involvement in the printing and made further revelations about how they’ve been sidelined from carrying out their mandate. It became clear during this period that , to use the words of Bernard Avle of Citifm , the OGA at the top was actually pulling strings to ensure that a few cedis are made out of this event, eei did I say a few cedis , perhaps some cedis rather . The call for further enquiry couldn’t have come anytime sooner. What then was the cause of this national embarrassment and disgrace? simply put corruption and wanton recklessness.

       As a Scientist, my brains can’t fail to look at issues through a particular lens and I don’t think I can be blamed for my skewed perspective of events. The scientist’s code is that of evidence and hard core fact. It involves a little bit of guess or hypothetical foundation which would have to be proved anyway. Listening to one of the radio stations during the week, I got to know that a similar phenomenon had occurred in the past, where the flag of Ghana was turned upside down. What the heck is wrong with us? In standard laboratory practice there’s something called non – conformance which means going against the laid down Standard Operating Procedures (S.O.P).   Non conformances could be major or minor depending on the impact it has on patient results, its consequence on organizational brand amongst a host of others. Where I work now, a major non –conformance could lead to loss of job, possible suspension or a protracted litigation. Either way, a non conformance sends shocks down the spines of many professional workers. When a non-conformance occurs, an audit is done to determine its cause and proffer a remedy which would be documented and filed to act as a future reference. This is done to prevent any future occurrence of such an issue. The question that begs answering is whether the government of Ghana operates by any set of principles or guidelines? does the government have the authority to do as it pleases with no oversight responsibility from anyone ?. Does the government exist only for political expedience and satiation?

       The disgrace plastered over us  demands immediate remedy and I believe we could go about that by taking a cue from what a standard laboratory would have done when confronted with such a situation . The basis for judgment of anything being right or wrong is dependent on the rules which govern its existence. As an example, killing by firing squad is permitted in certain jurisdictions while it’s not permissible in others.  This in itself doesn’t mean capital punishment isn’t permissible in both jurisdictions. Therefore, a government can only determine what is correct or incorrect by measuring it against a standard. What is the standard of the government of Ghana? is it mediocrity and and international humiliation ?, is it political bravado in silence or proper projection of Ghanaian values and pedagogy. These few questions can help the government decide whether it has to probe further into what resulted in the country’s day of shame. That notwithstanding, sacking an acting head could be said to be a first step but does it answer the questions above? When a non conformance occurs, there’s an open confrontation of parties to determine what could possibly have resulted in it. Was it due to low worker motivation? was it due to clear negligence , was it due to tiredness or maybe a random error?. These are a few questions that are asked in a bid to solve such problems. In answering these questions that old devil of prejudice must be confined to the bottomless pit. The main aim should be towards preventing such an activity from occurring again. Government’s sack as an initial measure is appreciated but there must be a proper inquisition into the spate of events that marred our independence day.        

       After the inquest has been made, an analysis of the facts as presented is done and the professional is accordingly advised or trained according to the report. If this brouhaha resulted from mere typos, how do we prevent that from happening again, if it occurred due to someone’s negligence, how we prevent that from happening again.  The ultimate aim of a non – conformance remedy is to prevent it’s occurrence in the future. President Uhuru Kenyatta could possibly learn a few lessons from my humble laboratory which is less than a quarter the size of the flagstaff house.

      The writer is a champion of preventive healthcare, and has a passion for stemming the ills in society through constructive pieces and articles. He’s a Scientist and takes key interest in prevalent public health issues. This he does as his contribution to knowledge advancement and a cure to the ills of society. He can be reached on emmanueladjei21200@gmail.com.