MUSINGS FROM AFAR WHY NOT GHC 2M ON GOLD WATCHES FOR LOYALTY AND DISTINCTION?

  By Dominic Yooku deGraft Aidoo Email Dominic: [email protected]… “……. I’m just happy with a ball at my feet. My motivation comes from playing the game I love. If I wasn’t paid to be a professional footballer I would willingly play for nothing”. Lionel Messi (Argentine professional footballer who plays for Spanish club FC Barcelona […]

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By Dominic Yooku deGraft Aidoo
Email Dominic: [email protected]…
“……. I’m just happy with a ball at my feet. My motivation comes from playing the game I love. If I wasn’t paid to be a professional footballer I would willingly play for nothing”. Lionel Messi (Argentine professional footballer who plays for Spanish club FC Barcelona )

I have finally come to conclude that Ghanaian media love sensationalism. Not long ago this story was headline news: Bank of Ghana (BoG) was spending a whopping €450,000 (GH¢2 million) on 72 gold watches for retiring staff. The story blazed like wild fire and the pundits were at it as usual. Ill-fatedly, it was seized by some politicians who wanted to make political capital out of it. The lies and spins were simply unbelievable. Unfortunately, I am not able to respond immediately to issues as urgently as I would have loved to. This is because I live in England, I am on some occasions constrained by resources to adequately collate and interrogate facts to be able to inform my readership. Today I write on the €450,000 BoG expenditure on the Tissot Gold watches. As always I write from my perspective.

In my research to write this article I spoke to a number of people including staff working at the BoG. This was to give me an understanding and appreciation of the issues at hand. The following questions were bounced back rhetorically 1) How many people go on retirement in a year who have worked for over 30 year in the same bank 2) Do you hear of embezzlement at BoG. [Not that there are no avenues for people to steal. Everyone is working hard to get the ultimate. The incoming young ones go away just after six months or so, just because what they find at BoG is not what they expected] 3) Are jobs at the BoG best paid in the industry as some people think? 4) Do you know whether the gift of gold watches is one of the reasons why some are still at the BoG? One lady with a rather soft voice with whom I spoke concluded our conversation by saying. “I am working hard so I can get mine in six years’ time”.

The presentation of Gold watches to “Distinguished” and “Deserving” staff who have served a minimum of thirty years and are due for statutory retirement is a long standing tradition and policy at BoG. Interestingly, this policy existed before and during the time of both the vice presidential candidates of the NDC and NPP respectively, namely; Mr. Kwesi Bekoee Amissah-Arthur and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia. (Both worked as Governor and Deputy Governor respectively at the BoG). Let’s be blunt, to serve 30 years in any institution is remarkable. To be rewarded after thirty years of “DISTINQUISHED” service is befitting and right. Let me situate my article in its appropriate context by comparing public servants at BoG to other public servants.

The gratuity we pay and guarantee to the President and Members of Parliament after four years in parliament is more than the Tissot gold watch token of appreciation for 30 years “distinguished” service. We should remember that the money paid to parliamentarians is not dependent on the quality of service rendered. My understanding is that a substantial number of parliamentarians neither attend sessions nor contribute towards debates on the floor and yet they are guaranteed (to be paid by tax payers) a gratuity the very day they are elected. Is it then a big ask to reward those who have “loyally” and “distinguishably” served us for 30 years. We should equally not forget that we guarantee cars, houses, holiday packages, lifelong health packages, security etc. as retiring packages for the President of Ghana, irrespective of whether they distinguished themselves in office or not. They are guaranteed these “goodies” the very day they are elected into the high office.

Talent comes at a price. And sometimes in attracting and maintaining the best in the industry we sometimes go overboard and do the unusual. This is what happened in United Kingdom. When Sir Fred Goodwin, one of the best talents in banking industry in the UK at the time was being appointed Chief Executive Officer of The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). He negotiated a whooping eye watering £703,000 a year pension when he retired. He also negotiated the right to take an early retirement and an enhanced pension under an agreement which was approved by the previous RBS Board of Directors. RBS nearly collapsed during the financial crisis. They had to be bailed out by the UK government and yet Sir Goodwin was going to walk away with a whooping £703,000. To the people of the United Kingdom this was an insult in the face of common sense. Was It? At the time of the negotiation it was the right and proper thing to do to get him on board. Mr. Goodwin eventually settled for a £342,500 a year retirement package. It was reported that he had earlier on taken out a £2.8m lump sum and was allowed to keep the £2.6m bonus he was paid in his last year at the company as well. His departure saw the RBS announce a 9,000 jobs cuts and a £24.1bn reported loss, the biggest in UK’s corporate history. One will be forgiven to conclude that he was rewarded for failure, certainly not for a distinguished service. In any case is it not a misconception for people to think that the money being used to purchase the watches is tax payers’ money. Does the Central Bank not generate its own revenue by rendering services? Are those monies not generated by the same distinguished staff? These are questions that I put to those shouting “foul! foul!”, when the story broke.
Today’s banking sector is very competitive. It is perhaps one of the best paid sectors in Ghana. Staff mobility in the industry is among the highest in Ghana as Banks continue to shop for talent. Interestingly my research showed that the BoG is not among the leading paying Banks in the banking sector in Ghana. Sadly, some of the new recruits leave shortly after gaining a foothold in the industry. Thirty years of distinguished service and loyalty must not only be celebrated but those individuals who have excelled must be appreciated. The BoG should have defended this long existing tradition. It is right and apposite to defend what is right and proper. They should have stood up to defend this well thought out policy. If indeed the watches are for thirty years of distinguished service then the recipients so much deserve them and, even more.
We must practice responsible journalism or risk eroding the confidence vested in mainstream media. A thorough examination of the facts is the minimum we expect of any responsible journalist. We must resist the efforts by some tabloids and radio stations to push through their own, sometimes selfish agenda. This story from the onset was much about nothing. In my opinion it is nothing short of sensational noise under the guise of war against non- existent corruption with the objective of misinforming the public, and maligning individuals who have distinguished themselves in service to BoG and Ghana. To reward BoG staff with a Tissot Gold Watch that translates to the equivalent amount of 17 Euros a month should you care to work out the value per month for the thirty years of (distinguished, loyal and impeccable service) in my view, is right and honorable. A simple comparative cost of the value of a Tissot gold watch to the cost of losing a staff with twenty years’ experience would have shown that the token gift is nothing in comparative terms. Take a look at the national honors. You will discover a common thread and theme; politicians are the largest recipients and yet we read of scandals in parallel succession as though it is part of their job description.
I perceive that the founding fathers of Ghana will find it pleasing if I salute those who have so distinguishably served the country in BOG. They will equally agree with me when I say that those who distinguish themselves in their service to their country must be properly rewarded. In my opinion BoG should continue to spend GHC 2m on gold watches for staff on the proviso that the gold watches are for staff who have offered thirty years of distinguished and impeccable service and the procurement process is above board.
God Bless Ghana!

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