Day 84

Today I went back to work after Boxing Day and Christmas Day holidays.

Early in the morning (about 10.30am), an Emergency meeting was called at the education office. A case of child abuse? No. A roof come off a school? No. Bad exam results? No. No emergency meeting was called when any of these things happened last year; the emergency meeting was to discuss when the Christmas holidays should be and when the end of year get together. Baring in mind that this meeting was held on the 28^th of December…?

Eventually, we agreed that next week would be holiday – so we get new year week off – great – though would have been good to know before now, and perhaps have a few days off between Christmas and new year.

Then the end of year get together. The last two years we’ve had a get together at a restaurant but brought our own food in – people from the office buy and prepare chicken and veg and we buy two bottles of drink from the venue. It has cost Ghc10 and then Ghc12 (about £4-5).

We discussed what we should do this year – various discussions came up such as having half a chicken or a whole chicken would be better, whether we should have rice or not, and where it should be. The directorate told us that they were donating Ghc700 to the event (goodness knows where this money is coming from/should be being spent) and we also discussed collecting money for someone who has retired. The director asked about why some people hadn’t come to the get together; it was mentioned in passing that some people found it quite expensive, but that was brushed aside saying it wasn’t that much, people could afford it. The director suggested half a chicken per person but no-one seemed to want to commit to this.

Present at the meeting were education officers. No cleaners, only one driver, no labourers, no watchmen. I don’t know exactly how much these people earn, but certainly some watchmen would only get Ghc50-60 a month. Again, I don’t know how much the Assistant Directors etc earn, but I would imagine in the region of Ghc700-Ghc1000 a month – at the very least.

The people working at the GES are not stupid – but either are not thinking properly or are choosing not think things through fully. The people who would complain incessantly if watchmen or cleaners were going out to spots to drink and not paying their children’s school fees are the same people who say “ah, they can pay Ghc10” (with very little notice) to join a staff gathering. I didn’t speak up. I wish I had. When people get to an elevated status, they seem to (often) think that they deserve what good has come to them, not thinking about how they got to this place in the first place. The “professional staff” at the GES were probably never cleaners, labourers or watchmen themselves, but their parents or grandparents may well have been.

Now some money has been donated for the cleaners, labourers and watchmen… I just hope they get it and it doesn’t get “chopped” by someone else…