Serious Discrimination Against Ghanain Experts

Special Expatriate Emolument A Serious Discrimination Against Ghanain Experts

I must first of all use this opportunity to commend the Hon. Member of Parliament for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu, for bringing to the attention of the Ghanaian Parliament the huge salary disparities between expatriate staff of Ghana Telecom and their Ghanaian counterparts. His call coincides with a recent and a similar one by the Hon. Member of Parliament for Obuasi, Edwin Ennin, who nitpick the recolonization of Ghanaian mines by expatriates and call on management of these mines to engage local expertise in the management of their activities.

In the current scenario according to joy news, the least paid expatriate earned 82.6 million cedis for the month of August alone as against 28 million cedis earned by the best paid Ghanaian manager. Although the numerical strength of the Ghanaian workforce was not disclosed, it is not surprising, especially with the huge disparities in their emoluments, that the salaries of only 22 expatriate staff of the company represent 40% of the entire workforces’ emolument.

Whilst the role of expatriates in the development of the Ghanaian economy cannot be underestimated, there is the need to take cognisance of the changing employable skill profile of Ghanaians both at home and abroad in order to effect the necessary changes in key positions where Ghanaians with similar expertise can contribute to the country’s development.

It is heart-rending that when Ghanaians and other African professionals travel abroad the classification of their job profiles is never based on the skills they have to offer their host countries which could invariably make it possible for them to secure descent and top notch jobs in those countries. Rather, ‘Immigrant’ and its demonic connotations (in the words of the Bolivian President) are the lots of these immigrants and most immigrant communities in terms of categorization. This, in fact, is in sharp contrast with the classification of the cognoscenti of professionals from Western, Asian, and South American countries who take up positions in Ghana and other African countries. Indeed, these individuals, apart from their huge remunerations, enjoy free accommodation, free fuel, and even tax exemption on their incomes in some instances.

Comparatively, in Britain and wider Europe, there are legal provisions that make it mandatory for organizations to conduct a wide search among local experts in their attempt to fill vacancies, and it is only when these processes are exhausted without finding a suitable local expertise before opportunities are opened to prospective job seekers outside the European Union. Even in cases where jobs are offered, there is absolutely nothing like special remunerations for any Ghanaian or any immigrant, as in the case of their counterparts in Ghana and across the continent. The inferences are that place of birth and race are very, very important considerations in the recruitment process in these countries. Those familiar with recruitment processes in these can attest to these provisions.

Historically, the practice of recruiting expatriate staff to fill positions or to provide skills where Ghanaians lacked the requisite skills to be in charge of their own resources is colonial and inconsistent with our present situation where we have many Ghanaians with even higher skills than some of these expatriate but who are either unemployed, redundant or abandoned.

According to the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr Gordon Wetherel, more than 2000 Ghanaians study in the UK alone yearly. The numbers may be staggering considering those who study in wider Europe, North America and elsewhere. The implication is that the skill profile of these individuals certainly would cover all fields of studies from Archaeology to Zoology and make it irrelevant for us to still be dependent on expatriate professionals whose annual salaries, in some cases, are equivalent to a lifetime cumulative salary of their local counterparts.

The boost in the Ghanaian skills bank is further reflected in a recent recruitment drive led by Professor Andam, the out-going vice-chancellor of KNUST at the Ghana universities’ office in London. It is fascinating the number of Ghanaians who showed interest by filling applications and flying from Europe and other continental destinations outside Africa to attend the interviews. The message from this is that there are many out there who are looking for opportunities to return home to contribute but whether their skills will be given the same treatment as compared to those classified as expatriates is a question that I seek answers for.

I am not by this commentary suggesting the wholesale rejection of anybody who is White, Western, America, and European or in that cognoscenti classification of ‘expatriate’. I will appreciate to see a situation where both the home grown Ghanaian professional and his foreign counterpart are offered equal opportunities based on meritocratic principles rather than skin colour and place of origin. Further to this, we must also consider the fact that by the emoluments of these individuals we are discriminating against our own people and underrating their competencies.

Don’t tell me that these expatriates hold the investment portfolios in our country and must, therefore, have special positions with special remunerations in our companies. Consider the fact that the Late Moshud Abiola is known to have huge shares in Natwest Bank in the UK, and find out if that gave Nigerians in that country any special concessions in the recruitment processes or any special salaries even if they managed to berth a place in this reputable banking institution.