A Graduate’s romantic letter to President Mahama

Dear President Mahama,

This letter is not from one of your “detractors” or the opposition and neither is it from one of your praise singers. It’s from a fresh graduate of Ghana; an apolitical graduate of our beloved country Ghana. And pardon me Sir, the title of this letter seems to suggest some sweet talks but this letter has nothing to do with the usual romantic talks you get from your party apparatchiks. I’m one of those who believe that, perhaps, you are just not aware or being made aware of the REAL situations in Ghana presently. So please permit me to write you this letter.

As our president, I think it is important to draw your attention to some of the questions I’m struggling to find answers to in a non-partisan manner. I hope you remove your political glasses and also bar your praise singers from clouding your judgement on this letter (I hope you understand).

Mr. President, I recently finished my Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Ghana’s number one business school, University of Ghana Business School. Prior to that, I’ve been running my own business. I’m less than 30 years old. I have always strived to keep my hands busy since my undergraduate days in Legon.

While doing my National Service under Prof. Chris Gordon at Legon, I enrolled for the Joy FM’s My Business (2011) entrepreneurial mentorship programme. By the Grace of God, my business was part of the ten finalist.

Roland Agambire (your SADA and GYEEDA right-hand man) was my mentor for the programme. I managed to meet him once and he gave me one piece of advice: “never think that the world or anyone owes you anything”. And yes, Mr. President, I have never thought Ghana owes me anything. That’s why I’ve always tried to do something to help myself and to help fellow Ghanaians (where possible).

But while trying to achieve this, I’ve been severely handicapped especially for some months now. For a number of days now, my gas (for cooking) has run out. My electricity supply has become so erratic and unpredictable. In fact, it goes off by 8-9am and comes on about 7-8pm. Meanwhile, my businesses are Internet-Based. I have purchased extra batteries for my laptop but it can’t last me long enough. For my office, there’s a shared generator (not a plant) but it’s so expensive to run. My secretary now has very little to do these days. Meanwhile, I have to pay salaries in full each month.

I need to also mention that due to the economic challenges we currently experience, my job has been affected. I get fewer clients on the average yet my bills keep going up. To reduce cost Mr. President, I’ve instituted all kinds of measures. For instance, I now work more from home and go to the office only when I have to meet a client or interview some candidates for a client. I’ve also reduced my phone calls per month. I no longer eat out unless it is totally unavoidable. Even my electricity consumption (despite the increases in the rates) has been reduced by 30 per cent. I’m doing literally everything to stay afloat. Yet, I’m still struggling.

So here are my questions Mr. President:

*As a fresh graduate in today’s Ghana, what should I do?

*As a fresh graduate who refuses to add to the number of unemployed graduates list, what should I do?

*As a youth who has been very entrepreneurial since my SHS days through to the university, but still no enabling environment, what should I do?

*You and some of your ministers had the opportunity to school abroad and you know that regular electricity supply is so fundamental to every economy. So why are we still in “Dumsor”?

*I remember you promising (on tape) that “Dumsor” will be a thing of the past. That was in 2012. You also said, electricity power supply was going to be one of your fundamentals for propelling the economy. So why are we still here?

*As a regular Ghanaian graduate, with no political godfather, do you think the prevailing conditions can help my efforts to succeed right here in Ghana?

*And finally, do you sincerely think Ghana Graduates are “Unemployable” or do you think if provided the “enabling” environment (not handouts though), graduates in Ghana can succeed?

Mr. President, my questions are really many and I’m not sure I could list all here. But I want to keep it short so your party foot soldiers will not brand me as being “sent by the opposition”. It is very sad but that has become the trend lately. Any time a Ghanaian speaks his mind (regardless of which party is in power), you the political class brand the person as opposition. And this game has really helped you all these while. It has cleverly removed the masses from ever making any public statements about how you handle the affairs of our country. It’s now NDC or NPP. For me, I’m apolitical but I’m not non-political. Your political actions and inactions greatly affect my life and despite all the odds, I still need to write you this “romantic” letter.

I beseech you to resist the temptation of dismissing this letter and saying to yourself “as a graduate, you are supposed to create jobs and stop complaining”. But here’s my answer to that: if you try to judge a fish by how high it can climb a tree, that fish will forever be a failure. Likewise, people can lambast Ghana graduates for being failures. But how conducive has the environment been for the average Ghanaian graduate (apart from the Nkrumah days)?

Thank you for taking the time to read. And I sincerely hope your political glasses are off still off.

[Originally published at Articles Directory: http://articles.jobhouse.org/ghana-graduates-romantic-letter-prez-mahama/]

By Richard Dogbe