Our artisans- Weeding out the chaff

A private Ghanaian contractor once told me that he preferred to use carpenters, painters and other artisans from Togo on his projects. Naturally, I was taken aback and wondered why? His response was that, he wanted his work completed in good time and according to particular standards.

He said he was not the only one using artisans from other countries and that many others were following suit.

I asked myself why there were so many artisans complaining that they were unemployed when there was so much work going on in the construction and other sectors.

Then my mind drifted straight to my car, which I had taken for repairs and paid for fully .

After three days, I went for it only to find while driving back that the fault was still there.

I had to spend extra money to buy new spare parts to fix the same fault all over again at another shop.

Many of us have had unforgettable experiences with artisans and yet, they provide skills we cannot do without.

I heard of one experience of how an electrician fixed a washing machine, did not get the wiring right and almost electrocuted the owner when she attempted to use it.

Most of us employ artisans to work for us based on recommendation. Even though some of them provide near excellent services, same cannot be said of the majority.

Many artisans continue to cause pain and disappointment to their clients in varied ways.

These range from over estimates to wrong measurements. Sometimes, they will accompany you to buy materials and once you are back to site for the job to be executed, they tell you the items bought are the wrong ones or end up leaving several gallons of paint unused, for instance.

Attitude

Their attitude to work is not the best. After starting a job, they could refuse to turn up to get it completed and come up with a thousand and one excuses why they could not. That attitude leaves a job that could be done in a day dragging on for weeks.

Any attempt to reach them on phone is futile as they will never answer your call.

Most of them seem to have no regard for time, especially after they have collected the mandatory advance.

Apart from this, measurement seems to be a huge problem.
They end up making crooked window panes, for instance, and patch up things to make up for lost length leaving the finished job in an unacceptable state.

How does a dressmaker take a tape measure, turn you around in circles to get your measurement, only to present a dress that will require you to cut up before you are able to remove once you try fitting?

And to crown it all, there is no warranty or guarantee for the work they do. They never pay a dime for the losses they cause their clients to incur and take their full charges without blinking.

Is it surprising that people are gradually going for artisans from far away China? The reasons they assign are standards, value for money and prompt delivery among others.

Training

The critical question, therefore, is : Why are most of our artisans underperforming? I think the core issue has to do with their training.

Even though some of them learn as apprentices and may, therefore, imbibe whatever the master teaches, others acquire a more formal training.
But it seems some of them do not grasp the rudiments of their vocation in order to deliver satisfactorily and in good time.

For instance, KK, my mason friend, confided in me that he did some apprenticeship but life was so difficult he cut it short and became a master in one year, instead of the mandatory four years.

Master Joe, the master fitter at Odawna, has 15 apprentices but does not use any standardised module for their training.

The result is “ trial and error” and a cycle that keeps the client spending time and money on the same piece of work without achieving the expected results.

Moving forward, anybody professing to be a plumber, carpenter, mason, vulcaniser, seamstress or any other trade must not only have the basics of the trade and a certificate from his or her trainer but a mandatory training that gives them a license and an institutional body where complaints by clients could be addressed.
Without this, one should not be allowed to operate.

If not for anything at all, can’t we weed out the quacks and also rope in the genuine ones into the tax net?

There surely must be an end to this unprofessional way of doing things and I think the time is now!

Writer’s E-mail : doreen.hammond@graphic.com.gh/aamakai@rocketmail.com.