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