Sonnie Badu’s hit song ; the laughably tragic Coincidence of the Rain

It was one of the busiest days, working as a Service personnel in one of the country's renowned advertising, PR and Media Agency, Ogilvy Ghana. Just when I was preparing to kiss the day a bye, I heard an in-harmonious humming of different renditions from the company's bar. I didn't need to be informed that once again, a September born was celebrating a date of birth. 

As consistent with the company's ritual, members of the different departments spanning -CREATIVE, PR, MEDIA AND CLIENT SERVICE- were expected to converge so they can join to congratulate their colleague by way of partaking in the cutting and eating of a customized cake. I wanted to skip the ceremony as I am not a fun of cake. Mindful, however, of the fact that my colleagues had joined me in commemorating mine, I felt I was morally and ethically bound to reciprocate their gesture with my presence. I ended up shelving any thoughts of abstaining from the occasion, finally. 

Before I could climb downwards to the bar, I realized that the usual cake aroma that greeted one on its way to the bar on birthday ceremonies had changed. This time around, it was an assortment of drinks, grills and other chops, competing against each other for the aromatic space. I needed not to be told that this was a different occasion, all together. In fact my guess was so accurate. On getting down, I realized that it a sendoff ceremony for two indefatigable colleagues who had joined the Creative Service department from Ogilvy Kenya, some months ago. 

As i had not eaten for the whole day, I begun to impress upon my mind to heed to the pleas of my stomach, which was urging me to stay over. In fact, on this occasion, the two organs demonstrated how well they could collaborate for a common purpose.

 After the usual farewell speeches,(which I wasn't so attentive to),the time for dining and winning presented itself. In my usual collected manner, I approached the table to get some drinks and grills. Without any palpable signs of an imminent rain, i decided to overindulge myself as it was a friday. Sooner than I had decided to stay, the thought of going home came hunting. I capitulated to this call by heading back to my office to prepare for home. On my way to circle station, signs of an imminent rain became so glaring to ignore .Not only was the weather pluvial, more so, the rambling of the clouds was so menacing to ignore. 

 As I reached Circle, I was overwhelmed by human traffic which had resulted from people running helter-skelter with the view to escaping the scrounging effect of rain. As I join the race through the overhead, I saw the haste with which buyers and sellers were battling against time to pack their goods and ultimately escape any banter with the rain. Nobody had advised me to run. The urge to run in escape against the rain was so instinctive and necessary to ignore. 

At this time, the expectation of getting a bus on getting to the station, was the only source of solace, as I couldn't get any safer and secure place to escape an imminent rain thrashing. At this time, the clouds had given in. The drizzles was gradually degenerating into a full-fledged drops of rain. In a spontaneous respond, I doubled the sprint and steps of my running to the station, my only hope of a possible escape. All along, i was so absolved in listening to some selected songs on my mobile phone as consistent with my stress releasing ritual/therapy. Not even the rantings of the rain could prevent me from missing a lyric from the songs. In fact, I had configured the device to repeat all the songs after a first round play.

 On getting to the Dansoman station at Circle, I had a shock of my life. I realized to my utmost despair that my hopes of meeting a bus at the station was completely Utopian. On the contrary, I run into a huge spiraling queue. In fact, I wasn’t the only one who possible felt disappointed since many passengers who were billed for other destinations were also in long queues waiting for a bus to avail itself.

 It was in the despair and disappointment of meeting a long queue of a buss-less station, that I experienced what I term as a laughably-tragic coincidence. While I was waiting in the rain for a bus, my mobile devise, my only companion which was serenading with my selected songs had gotten to Sonnie Badu's hit track,' Open the Flood gate of Heaven and let it rain.' In the midst of my desperation coupling with this laughable but telling coincidence, I decided to put off the song so I don’t attract more rain thrashing from the flood gate as the song was urging me to pray for. Almost an hour into my waiting for a bus, one finally arrived to our rescue. As stranded and desperate as I was, I couldn’t but join the fray in getting into the bus as many had muscled their way through the long queue. 

 My attempt, though successful, I couldn't stop the pangs of my conscience from pricking me. The thought of being unfair to many who couldn't endure the hurly burly of struggling for a space in the bus kept hunting. This got me thinking as deeply as our bus maneuvered through the other long queues that had sprung the muddy and raining station. 

 As I had questioned in my earlier article dated 22 September 2014 and titled, Ghana; the queuing republic, I begun to broach over the thought of whether the government and those at the helms of affairs were aware of the stress and the quantitative value of the time wasted in queuing. Through the tales of people who have lived abroad, I have gleaned that public transport is preferred to Private ones because of the comfort, reliability and availability of this transport mode. In fact, there are stories to the effect that some government officials, elsewhere, prefer using one mode of public transport to their own private cars. 

This practice runs in sharp contrast with what we are experiencing in this part of the world. As resource constrained as we are, our leaders find monies to buy luxurious fleet of cars for state officials. As they do not experience the vagaries and discomfort of waiting for buses, these officials are not able to appreciate the frustrations and discomfort therein in transporting oneself to warrant a more sustainable approach in devising mechanisms and systems that could nib the discomfort in transportation in the bud. Not only is it financially expensive using the kind of public transport system that we have in this country. More so, the dangers one is exposed to in waiting for buses cannot be over emphasized. 

 I have always shudder to ask why the 'Kufuor Buses' ends its operations at 6:00 pm, a time many passengers may be struggling for buses to their destinations after a long working day. It is time real thinking is done. The lip services of most of our state institutions are becoming unbecoming. I am not sure most Ghanaians are happy with kind of transport system that we have here in Ghana. It is on this note that I recommend that a more sustainable path is chartered in addressing the perennial transport ‘palaver’ which ends up in long queuing. Samuel Osarfo Boateng, Ogilvy Ghana. samuelcreasta@gmail.com(233541842198)

Dumso no As) biosss-Ghana abr3

I am amazed sometimes at the excuses that a usually advanced to justify the shameful erratic power supply that the country is currently experiencing.The worse of these explanations is the argument that the power shortage is being experienced in view of the imbalance in the demand and supply margin.

To this extent, there has been a whole campaign geared towards encouraging conversation of electricity as a way of curtailing the demand and supply imbalance.While this may make sense to many, i do not think i will have the patience to hold brief or accept this retrograde solution.

In the first place, power is not given to us as a gift.To that extent no one can be compelled to use it other than how their discretion suggests. In any case,if we are buying electricity for which reason demand has increased, what is the smartest thing to do,wouldnt it be wise that attempts at increasing supply to match up with the rising demand is invested into?Imagine how ridiculous it would be for MTN or any of the telco companies to argue that because Ghanaians are over subscribing to their network, they can no longer match up. How can our governments takes us for granted with such impunity?

The adjustments of prices has been a ritual that the PURC always perform, but as per its mandate of regulating and ensuring that the welfare of users are advanced,it has woefully failed to ensure. Yesterday i read with disgust news to the effect that Electricity and Water prices have been adjusted.Following this, i have heard, the spokes person for PURC,defend the adjustments on various news outlets.

In a usual blame shifting tactics, she sought to exonerate her organization from the perenial erratic power supply,even though she still defends the adjustments. While i am not inclined to bore my readers with details of her usual explanations, i summise that her explanations were highly incensitive to the plight of Ghanaians whose salaries have neither been adjusted to cushion them against the vagaries thereof in having to pay more for electricity and water which is obviously in sorry state.

After a stressful day at work and a long daily ritual of queuing for bus, i reached home hoping to bath out some of the accumulated stress but to my greatest dismay and disgust my tabs was not flowing. To add more salt to an injury, my lights went off on getting to my room.

The question that begs is how i can muster the requisite patient to accept any explanations of adjustments when electricity and water supply cannot be guranteed by a body which is set to regulate these providers?

While i wait for answers,these recommendations are mooted: As laws cannot be made to sanction people on the basis of indiscretion regarding the use `of electricity,it becomes more responsible that efforts aimed at improving supply and boosting confidence in the electricity sector be pursued Again, Institutions must own up to their responsibility if they seek the support of Ghanaians in prosecuting their mandate. 

Civil society groups and Consumer Protection organizations should be supported to incite mass actions against the indignity and injustice of power price adjustment without corresponding improvement in the quality of services. We cannot continue to condone mediocrity and excuses of these nature......‪#‎THESPEAKS

Ghana:the queing republic

GHANA: THE QUEUING REPUBLIC I have observed with utmost disgust another unproductive and needless culture that gradually creeping its way into the Ghanaian social fabric.The culture of queuing, as needless and avoidable as it is, has also registered itself into the social psyche of Ghanians, adding on to the many cultural and social nemesis that continues to impede the developmental efforts of the country. Barely does one receive a service without having to join one long queue or the other. Whiles some are able to muscle their positions through, others pay themselves out of this needless stress therein, making it extremely difficult for people who have neither of these to escape the pangs of spending productive time for a service to be rendered. Somewhere last week the story of an alleged manhandling of two journalist of Multimedia became rife.This story had gained currency in view of the fact that another reporter of Daily Graphic was still nursing the injuries he had sustained after similar attack on him. Whereas many have tendered to render these cases as an attack on journalist,I shudder to advert reader’s mind to another uncharted perspective to the whole story. The story of an alleged assault on a female editor and her reporter is a clear case of the psychological effect of queuing.Suspicion and hostility which usually manifests among people in a queue are but symptoms of despondence and anger that are accumulated over the long period of waiting. Although, as characteristic of the Ghanaian media, different accounts has been rendered as being the cause of the attack on the said journalist, I am inclined to believe the account as narrated by the editor to the effect that some people in the queue had become aggrieved with the journalists for conniving with the Service providers and leaving them to their own fate. She also suggested that some of those who were queuing had thought that their presence had destabilized the queue to the extent that others were taking advantage of the rancor. Whiles investigations regarding the perpetrators of the attack are still not conclusive, I am inclined to believe on hindsight that an attack from frustrated and suspicious persons in the queue who might have thought that the presence of these journalists as disruptive and disadvantageous to them, is of a high probability. In fact I will not discount the logic that an attack on these journalists was the only panacea to any attempt at destabilizing the queue. Whiles I condemn the attack in no mean terms, I shudder to aver that bureaucratic processes and systems that culminate in long queues is fundamental to the physical and emotional desperation that manifests itself into physical brawl and attacks. The ordeal of these journalists is only a tip of the numerous emotional and physical abuses that are meted out to people who queue for one service or the other both by service providers and some other persons in the queues. In our part of the world no service is rendered except one has to queue over a long period of time. I am yet to witness a single service that people do not queue for. In fact, queues mounts and abounds in churches, funeral grounds, hospitals, registration centers, banking halls, popular food joints many but to mention a few. Let me admit here, however, that for some services, one cannot but accept a reasonable queue. Indeed my problem is not with queuing per se, but the fact that no proactive measure are being taken to address the alarming proportion and the attendant effects of queing.ThisI find unacceptably problematic. Knowing the essence of providing customer-centric and stress free services, the private sector has over the years worked to spare its numerous stakeholders from queuing for simple services.For this end, many innovative and streamlined measures have been put in place to avert the indignity of queuing in services that the private sectors diligently provides. I would have catalogued some of these queue containing measures if not for the risk of digression. This has unfortunately not been the case in the public sector. A cursory analysis of operations of private and public banks in Ghana paints a clear picture of wide difference in respect of this.Whiles people have are made to join long queues in securing public related services,such is not evident in services that are spearheaded by private companies. It seems to me that queuing best serve the ends of some public sector workers. Obviously I will not doubt that long queues are sometimes used as measures against which hardworking is gauged. Perhaps, by attending to many people in a long queue, workers in the public sector can make a case for promotion and salary increment. It is another Service year. Scores of young graduates are equally not spared their share of the sour pill of queuing for registration. Many stand with despondency written all over their faces as I walk pass them to join the spiraling queue. In the queue are people whose health are not tolerant to such an endless endurance. I can see those who equally look pale out of hunger and thirst. Surrounded by all these witness, I couldn’t but get into my thinking realm. The first thought to creep into my skull was why the service secretariat, after long years of operations, is still unable to curtail and reduce, to the barest minimum, the long queuing of national service personnel.What is nerve racking about this whole episode is the fact that most of these personnel have had to travel over a long journey only to be treated to another health threatening experience of long queuing. While contemplating over a possible reason for this endless cycle of long queuing of service personnel, reality dawn on me that the practice was not only characteristic with the National service registration as there are many public service providers who cannot equally absolve themselves of culpable in this regard. In view of this, I shudder to ask these questions:  Whyis that services, especially those as rendered by the public sector comes with so much avoidable stress?  Are there not adverse social implications in a system that sees people compete with others old enough to be their parents in their quest to similar services?  Are there not economic and health implications to long queuing?  What then, considering the socio-economic and health effects of this menace, is being done to revert the trend? While I wait painstakingly for answers to these questions, I would like to suggest that public sector service providers must move to digitize,instead of personalizing their processes and practices.Doing this, in my estimation, will go a long way to reducing the stress and avoidable economic, social and health ramifications that are comes with queuing. Samuel Osarfo Boateng Ogilvy, Ghana.(19/09/2014) samuelcreasta@gmail.com

Corporate Social Responsibility in the midst of dwindling economic fortunes

In an increasingly competitive marketing terrain, Companies have become increasingly  burdened to remain relevant and comopetitive in order not to be clouded by the myriad of marketing efforts that flood the various media outlets.

In pursuit of competiveness and relevance many Companies engages in Socially responsible interventions with the view to courting good will and Community support for their companies.

It is against this background that this article attempts to explore the opportunities therein for organizations who defy economic and profit challenges in order to satisfy social need.

read the article from the link below:

 i need your feed back

http://www.cometdocs.com/download/1735723-05629.pdf