They Want A Slice of The Cake....Shall We Give Them?

News of the Ghana Medical Association’s (GMA) withdrawal of OPD services and subsequently, emergency services gained currency last week. Almost every media organization carried it in their various news bulletins, and it was impossible to miss it on social media idea as well. There was even a debate on it in my office the other day. I resolved not to share any musings to the public on this subject. But I still jotted down points as and when they flooded my mind, just in case I needed to invade the public space in the unlikely event I switched lanes. In fact, I did just that – switched lanes! So let’s go….

 It started with a threat to embark on a strike if they were not provided with conditions of service by a certain date. When I heard this, I asked myself if there existed an employee without one. Are these conditions of service not explicitly stated in their letters of appointments? The Free Dictionary defines it as “that part of an employment that sets out the duties, responsibilities, hours of work, salary, leave and other privileges to be enjoyed by persons employed”. I believe these are stated in every appointment letter. In his response to a question posed by Kwesi Pratt Jnr on his Saturday show, Hot Issues, Mr George Smith Graham, the CEO of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission confirmed the existence of conditions of service for health workers, with the Ghana Health Service having several policies on privileges to be enjoyed by health workers. In fact, it was him who made it clear on the show that what GMA wanted was a compilation of these policies into one single document, and of course with an upgrade.

Then there was a leakage of the details of the ‘upgrade’ in these conditions of service in the media, and hell broke loose. Eyebrows were raised about the contents and when a government communicator did same, Dr Frank Serebour ‘descended into the gutters’ with him, and made some unprintable remarks. Amongst them is this: “If you are intelligent, you would have been a doctor”. Initially, I thought the voice note I received via whatsapp was ‘doctored’, but when I read in the news that he wasn’t sorry for making those remarks, I shuddered. Is he saying that only the best students in school make doctors? What kind of myopic reasoning is that? The best students in my JHS class are now engineers, accountants, bankers etc… The doctors amongst us weren’t necessarily the best students in my batch. Inasmuch as he is absolutely right in claiming provocation, I believe being a general secretary of an association of noble professionals requires a high level of tolerance and restraint. It is interesting how a loose remark, even in response to a provocation can soil one’s hard earned reputation. [Click here to read my thoughts on this subject in an earlier piece.] 

    

 When I heard the justification of their demands, I was taken aback. The reason wasn’t the argument that they deserved it due to the risks involved in their profession, but the comparison to politicians’. My goodness! Arguments must be made on their strengths and not by comparing two different jobs with equally different risks. In any case, no law bars doctors from becoming politicians to enjoy the ‘benefits’ thereof. Indeed, Drs. Kwame Addo Kufuor, Edward Omane Boamah, Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Richard Anane, Victor Bampoe and a host of others left their consulting rooms to serve us as politicians. And they are enjoying the benefits that come with it.

The quantum of the upgrade in the conditions of service being sought made me quiver. I have heard ‘experts’ aver that it is ‘normal’ in such negotiations, and that it is up to the employer to make a lower counter-offer. Let me pose this question: Suppose one pays GHS 8.00 for cab services from Mataheko to Asylum Down, what happens when on a bright Monday morning, a cab driver quotes GHS 20.00 as the fare because of traffic jam? I’ll tell you what I do – I express shock by raising my eyebrows and step away from the cab – I don’t negotiate. But suppose he mentions say GHS 12.00 then we can negotiate to about GHS GHS 10.00 if I can afford it. So for me, it was a non-starter at all.

When President Mahama whiles addressing The Midwives Association last week, served notice that unbudgeted payments in respect of salaries will not be paid, leaders of the GMA responded by saying that the President misunderstood their demands and that what they are currently fighting for is in respect of 2016. So what is the point in withdrawing OPD and emergency services, and threatening to resign en masse in 2015?  

The point has been made by many people that the leaking of the demands by the doctors to the media was an exercise of bad faith. The accusations are flying in both directions. The TUC has even called for an investigation into this. Indeed Mr. Smith-Graham averred on the show that non-disclosure agreements are usually signed by parties involved in negotiations not to divulge any information until such a time when negotiations are concluded. But I tend to see through a different spectacle in certain instances. I think in cases like this, governance of a nation can be likened to that of a principal-agent relationship, where the citizenry are the principals who have empowered the managers of the nation (agents) to act on its behalf. If this analogy holds water, why shouldn’t the principal who pays the salary of the agents, be made aware of every detail as the negotiations progress? The other cases are instances where very sensitive issues like marshalling our troops in the sub-region to march straight to the camp of Boko Haram, and squeezing their balls till they hurt, are discussed. The issue of the striking doctors, in my opinion does not fall into this category.

But government over the weekend made some overtures in its bid to get the striking doctors back in their consulting rooms and theatres, and I hear talks have broken down. Hmmm…Let’s see how it pans out in the coming days.  

         

P.S: Before you accuse me of being harsh on the doctors and soft on government, wait for the sequel to this piece.