On my way
back home one morning from my regular jogging sessions, I noticed a ‘reduced-to-clear’ signpost hoisted on a
clothing shop and someway, somehow, it got me rather thinking about the dubious
but silly means employers exploit their employees. Reduced-to-clear is a jargon adopted and frequently used by
salesmen in the advertisement of products that have remained on the shelf for a
long period of time or products whose supply exceeds its demand. To get rid of
these products, the salesman declares the sale of these products as ‘reduced-to-clear’ (donkomi! donkomi!!) so they are purchased at cheaper prices (consider it as a 99% discount on sales).
This is
the situation majority of degree holders in Ghana have found themselves in and
it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. So you (a first or second degree
holder) dress up handsomely in your suit and tie for a job interview and the
recruitment officer offers you a basic pay of GH₵
600 per month for your
services. Just when you feel like giving the recruitment officer a slap so
dirty it will take a surgery to correct the damage the impact of the slap will
cause, he/she acknowledges the painful truth about your predicament as though he/she was
reading your mind and speaks “Gentleman/Lady,
majority of job seekers will be privileged to be in your position and will
gratefully accept this offer so you better take it or leave it!”.
With a
few seconds of deliberations and without any form of physical coercion you
settle for this scanty amount. Rather strangely, after breaking what you deem a
not-so-good news to your unemployed colleagues at home to solicit their empathy,
they give you a stern look of envy for being chosen to offer your services at
what they consider to a very good price (some jobs offer as low as GH₵ 400
per month). This is when you realise that the canker is severe so much so that
graduates themselves openly express their over satisfaction for underpayment. It
is as though the Single Spine Structure forgot to protect your rights as a
degree holder, and yet watches you begin your life of slavery, but with much enthusiasm
our forefathers never had when they were conveyed to work as slaves overseas.
A real
life scenario of a reduced-to-clear
situation is evident in the introduction of the new initiative of government
that is the so called National Service Extension that seeks to offer degree
holders the opportunity to offer their services at an amount of GH₵ 350
per month for a few additional months after exhausting their actual national service
period. I believe strongly that it is about time the government and employers come
to a realization that a degree holder’s service is worth more than four times
that flimsy amount and should consider revising this demeaning strategy.
On the
contrary, the reason some graduates find themselves in this mess and have not
caused themselves to come up with a change strategy can largely be attributed
to the fact that they lack the prerequisite skills (they neither reflect their
programme of study nor class inscribed on their certificate) to fit in jobs
that they are supposed to occupy.
Although it
has now become trendy for most graduates to go entrepreneurial, they are faced
with economic hardships coupled with minimal or absolutely no support from
financial institutions and the government.
Nonetheless,
I humbly recommend that degree holders begin to nurture a service or a business
idea no matter how small and despite the challenges. Ever heard of the Law of Cause and Effect? Or maybe the saying
that “you reap what you sow?” In a few
years you will enjoy the fruits of your labour almost invariably in larger
quantities.
Selling
your services cheap to an employer can only get worse in the long term because
no one ever treats a ‘reduced-to-clear’
or cheaply purchased commodity with respect or importance even if it
contributes largely to its well-being. So in spite of the current circumstances,
I urge you to sell your services at an equitable price and if no employer seems
to be interested in paying you that amount, save yourself the trouble and
employ your services yourself.
Never sell
your services cheap and always bear in mind that paid employment is ideal when
ones’ integrity is kept intact.
Congratulations
to all 2016 Graduates. I wish you well.
Best Regards
Atsu Dogbey
(thedogbeyleague)
#LetsAllWrite
