My dear Brothers and Sisters,
One of the key election promises that featured prominently in Ghana’s recent electioneering campaign was the promise to create jobs for the army of unemployed throughout the country. All the presidential hopefuls found ingenious ways to put that message across because the need for jobs was obvious, requiring no scientific data or statistics for confirmation.
The absence of jobs in any economy is caused principally by lack of investments whether local or foreign, by governments or the private sector. For a country to have investments, certain factors are required including the general economic environment as indicated by the strength of its macro economic indicators, investment laws, infrastructure such as electricity, water, roads, and communication, the level of independence of the judiciary, the general security situation, the level of discipline of political leadership and the type, quality, and attitude of its labour force. Looking at these factors in the context of emerging economic giants like India and China, there is no doubt that the human factor is the strongest incentive for investments in any economy.
In my continuing reflection on the Pauline Ministry in this year of St Paul, I wish in this month’s letter to address the role of the Christian and by extension the Marshallan employee in the creation of jobs with reference to St Paul’s teachings. My interest in the subject stems from the fact that there are in our various countries today, many young and qualified people above the age of 25 who are who are still sheltered, fed and clothed by their parents because they have no jobs. In thinking about this and observing especially the attitude of Ghanaian employees at all levels, I have often wondered if the attitude of those of us with jobs today, including those in managerial positions, may not be contributing in some way to the lack of investments in our economies and therefore the lack of jobs for the jobless in our countries.
Most people in our poverty stricken countries need jobs to free themselves from want of food, shelter and clothing. St Paul in 2 Thess 3:6-12 urged Christians to imitate him as someone who does not depend on others for food but works for it himself. He adds in that passage, “anyone who does not work must not eat”. St Paul also taught us about what our attitude to work must be. For example he wrote in Eph 6:5 that “slaves obey your earthly masters with deep respect and sincere loyalty just as you would obey Christ” In Col 3:23 he wrote, “Whatever your work, do it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not men”. And finally in 1 Cor 10:31, he said “whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God”. What I believe St. Paul sought to teach was that Christians must work to improve their living conditions but not at the expense of their employers. Rather they should work as if they were working for Jesus for the glory of God. To St. Paul therefore, our workplaces must become places of our ministry, temples of devotion, lamp stands for authentic witnessing and places of service to Jesus. They must become places where we reflect the love and glory of God in our relationships with our employers, working colleagues and customers.
This is the Christian attitude to work as taught by St. Paul, but what do we see? It is common these days to find that whether it is a product or service that is being offered, poor workmanship seem to be epidemic in most of our workplaces. Our commitment to quality and excellence is almost absent while our productivity is relatively low. We care little about cost, having lost our sense of urgency and appearing to work only when the boss is around. We have become clock-watchers wanting to do as little as possible for maximum pay, forgetting that not giving a full day’s work for the agreed wage amounts to stealing from our employer and being dishonest. These attitudes surely, would not attract investors to our economies for our jobless to have jobs. To be fair, St. Paul also advises employers in 1 Tim5:18. “You must not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the corn” and again “the worker deserves his wages”. In other words let employers respect their employees, treat them well and give them their due. I urge you my Brothers and Sisters to examine your conscience, heed the advice of St. Paul and be the exemplary Christian worker, working for Christ! Thank you and God bless you.
Yours fraternally,
SIR KT BRO EDDIE PRAH
(SUPREME KNIGHT)