The president’s men
It was a bad day at the ministerial vetting as some deputy minister designates found themselves struggling to answer certain basic questions. But the one that made the headlines was Mr Kwabena Mintah-Akandoh who included being a dinning hall prefect as part of his work experience.
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The event has generated lots of ridicule. But it is no “laughing matter.” In public life, you rarely get the opportunity to make a second impression.
The first impression is all that people care about so when a deputy minister designate appears before the law making body and says that his experience as a dinning hall prefect can help him perform at the natural resource ministry, it certainly calls for some head scratching and scrutiny.
The natural resource portfolio is serious business. Why would anyone then decide to link a position at a high school to a sector which generates lots of revenue; and whose exploitation impacts upon the lives of many in significant respects.
May be it was all a joke. He might have thought to himself “Let me just include it in my CV just for the fun of it. It might liven a mood or two.” Or he must have been dead serious about it.
The bright spot was that at the end of it all, clarity was brought to bear on what is work experience and what is not. I remember one of the few times that I had to serve at a school event. It was an informal event. There were lots to drink. There was loud music in the background. But there weren’t enough to eat. There would be the need to ration the available supplies to meet the minimal needs of everyone.
I remember having to put on a stern and stony face as I paced gingerly through the crowd with some plates of kebab just to make sure that everyone had a fair share.
I recall someone accusing me of discrimination and favouring one group over another. I still had to maintain a stone cold face to achieve my objective. Yet, I don’t think this passes as work experience.
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We may go back to the dinning hall for a moment. This is the place where everything can go wrong from so many places and angles. I shared a room with a dinning hall prefect so I had a close knowledge of the challenges.
Food from the pantry might not be ready on time. When it is ready, there might be some protest with regards to the quality. Where the quality is appreciable, there would always be that senior having more than he deserved; and a junior having less than he deserved.
There have been times when bowls for a whole table have gone missing. Then there are challenges associated with health and hygiene. It takes a tough hand therefore to introduce some sanity and order in the dinning hall.
There were regulatory challenges on top of all these. Most schools, mine not excluded have a policy of no food out of the dinning hall.
The enforcement of this particular regulation was herculean, considering the category of persons who fell foul of the law - the seniors. To be successful, one has to be fair and firm, and most of the time stern. But once again, this does not qualify as work experience.
The fact of the matter is that being a dinning hall prefect is not simply a breeze through the park. There are certainly some lessons that can be learnt from such a position.
Theoretically, both positions involve the distribution of resources. But whatever lessons it is has to be kept within appropriate confine. The rules of engagement are different.
But as I have said, if the deputy minister designated included the position of the dinning hall prefect as part of his work experience as a measure to trigger some humour, then we can brush that off and consider it as a failed attempt.
If he meant business from the outset, then it does nothing but put the image of public office and more specifically the government he is about to serve in a negative light.
Governance is serious business. No one does anyone a favour by being humorous or by attempting to do so. Indeed, no one is required to be jolly all over the place.
Remember it is serious business. It requires all the best brains and skills that could be garnered. It requires solid and concrete results. And in the determination of whether one has the requisite skills and expertise, perceptions count very much.
Imagine the deputy minister designate, if he is eventually confirmed, walking through the reception of the ministry and all that people can ever think of is a dinning hall prefect with a bell in hand pacing back and forth.
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I think the President’s men should do the President and themselves a favour - they should stop courting unnecessary controversies.
politics_today@yahoo.com