Former President John Mahama delivered a candid critique of workforce ethics during his keynote address at the Kwahu Business Forum, recounting a personal experience he described as his “most regrettable” professional lesson.
Speaking to an audience of local and international entrepreneurs on April 19, the former leader highlighted how employee misconduct can undermine business growth, framing it as a systemic challenge requiring collective action.
Mahama illustrated his point with a revealing anecdote about a relative entrusted with managing a passenger bus he purchased to support his extended family. “The driver exploited the vehicle by overloading its carrier, ultimately destroying the axle,” he recounted.
“Every repair demand defeated the bus’s purpose, costing me more than direct cash support would have.” The driver’s concurrent construction of a personal house abandoned at lintel level after the bus’s eventual sale served as a metaphor for short-term exploitation at the expense of sustainable growth.
The incident, occurring over a decade ago during Mahama’s parliamentary tenure, informed his broader concern about Ghana’s human resource landscape. “Many industrialists now import foreign managers because local staff view businesses as personal piggybanks rather than collective enterprises,” he observed. This trend, he argued, constitutes a severe indictment on national workforce values, stifling industrial development and youth employment opportunities.
Mahama called for a paradigm shift in employee-employer relations, urging business leaders to cultivate dedicated management teams. “When workers understand that business growth translates to better remuneration for all, we’ll see transformative change,” he asserted. His remarks resonated with forum attendees grappling with similar challenges under the event’s theme, “The Future of Business: The Role of the Financial Sector.”
The former president’s critique arrives as Ghana seeks to bolster private sector growth amid economic headwinds. His cautionary tale underscores a critical but often overlooked dimension of business development the cultural mindset toward shared success which may require targeted workforce education alongside financial sector reforms to address comprehensively.
Mahama’s frank disclosure reveals deeper structural issues in Ghana’s labor ecosystem beyond capital constraints. While financial access dominates development discourse, his experience spotlights how cultural attitudes toward resource stewardship can make or break enterprises.
This workforce trust deficit manifested in everything from petty pilfering to systemic mismanagement demands innovative solutions blending incentive structures with ethical vocational training. As Ghana positions itself as an African business hub, aligning employee aspirations with organizational goals may prove just as vital as securing loans or infrastructure. The Kwahu Forum’s financial focus would do well to incorporate this human capital dimension into its roadmap for industrial transformation.
