It is barely four months ago (January 2020) that we all heard of such invisible, but invasive and assailant disease called COVID-19, which appeared to have made itself prominent in Wuhan, China and bringing forth lockdowns as well as causing deaths in some thousands.

Since this time and event, there have been many school of thoughts; for and against, and some with suggestions to combat the epidermic before it becomes worse.

Indeed, those who were prepared to take steps to pro-actively curb the disease have had a lesser impact in human lives but with some still trying to lift their feet from the mud.

It is in the same pro-active spirit that will lead to combating economic and financial disorders, in manufacturing, service and even not for profit Organisations. Consequently, business leaders must think ahead of time to ensure sustainability and potential growth for their businesses.

Unarguably, Organisations and other Institutions across the globe have had to wrestle with possible solutions to sustain or otherwise of their businesses and employees.

At Morgan International Community School at Gomoa Manso, Ghana, we have met with some of our employees (e.g. teachers) in middle of March 2020, where management expressed their profound gratitude for the excellent work being done by them in their various homes to help improve on the academic performances of our students through online learning.

We also thanked them for their cooperation and supports as a results of delays in some staffs’ previous month salaries.

Thankfully, we have fulfilled all our financial obligations and have ensured adherence to health and safety at work in line with Government directives and the World Health Organisations prescribed health protocols. And we continue not to relax on our back side, but to ensure that we will all work together, and even harder than we have ever done to live a worthy life, at post- COVID-19, by keeping healthy and living reasonably comfortable lifestyle.

The board of Directors also continue to appreciate their enormous hard work.
And particularly to those who have gone beyond their remit to think outside the box and work extra hard to bring the business thus far. We say, welcome; Ayeekoo.

Indeed, no one ever anticipated such difficult times; to separate a wife from a husband, a father from a daughter, mother from a son, and a teacher from a students and so forth.

Oh COVID-19, why are you doing this to God’s people ? And why are you washing away innocents people ; poor, rich, sinners, righteous, professionals, security personnel, old, young, black Caucasians, white Caucasians, Africans, Asians, Chinese and in fact, so many away from this earth ?

When one listens to news from T.V’s, Radio, or reading from social media, one cannot imagine otherwise thank to think COVID-19 is indeed an indiscriminate enemy. For she care less, and gives no hoot to anyone . And we also know that anxiety and mental health issues are rising vastly and at rapid rate, thereby making it very difficult to cope with.

Therefore, in such times, we should not expect our leaders to be in the same mindset as before. To some, it is containable but to others, it may be too overwhelming and the side effect is mind blowing, although their disposition may not be very visible but decisions and policies will give credence to the state of mind our leaders find themselves.

So in view of this calamity that is affecting many people, some actions are definitely needed. Some are in search of vaccination, and other forms of cure to curb the extent of the devastation. Whereas others are advancing the course of a psychological approach to solving issues so that the impact on mental health at the corporate and governmental level is minimised. On the part of Charles Spurgeon, “mental illness is spiritual” because the Devil has taken something out of the soul of the person.

But we also know, largely, that mental health is as a result of anxiety, disappointments, emotions, fear and panic, and other forms of psychological disorders to the human mind. Therefore, those of us whose faith are in God uses all other dimensions of actions; religion and science, which are all created by God to seek for His face to heal the world by all means.

Now, be it science or data, research or prayer, a time will come that we shall all look back to ourselves, perhaps not to everyone we know of, but anyone who happens to be part of the new world, and we shall say, hey, we have made it this far, and our response will be, ‘not by our effort or power’, but by the Grace of God.

And also, not all those who will live post-COVID-19, would probably live life the same way they had lived due to severe changes in health and living conditions.

In the United Kingdom, the National Health Service (NHS) is finding it extremely difficult to admit patients with chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, kidney, liver, cancer, and so forth because the hospital beds have largely been occupied by COVID-19 patients, and these patients are also dying exponentially, with the UK now having over 21,000 deaths as at today. Europe is in fact having a very terrible times in their life time; again with UK, Italy and Spain bearing the greatest brunt.

Also in the United States of America, a count of over 53,000 is becoming so disheartening that it is going beyond the rate of worrisome.

And what more, the economic and social impact vis-a -vis financial situation is becoming fearful, so to speak.

In my personal view, just as most of you, more and more Organisations are going to be faced- out and while some may be able to rise again, many may fail to resurrect, hence the quest for pro-active thinking and teamwork approach to mitigate any unforeseen circumstances.

As at now, if you contact a family member abroad, you will note that more than half of those you know are either out of job already or seriously fearing for redundancy, dismissal or a pay-cut.

In the United States, there is now over twenty six million people who are formally declared unemployed and with more in the pipeline to fill out the online unemployment forms. But guess what ?Very few have been able to receive a redundancy pay cheques, and those who have received theirs, seems inadequate to fill their financial and social needs.

In fact, this experience or trend is unheard-of in decades. So I may ask, how much help at all can any government give to her people to survive, as compared to businesses running on their own freely to pay its employees and pay taxes to manage an economy and to provide for the physically challenged people ?

How much, and how long, can any government sustain its people this way? Even the socialist economy have redefined the means by which government take all upon herself to run business of the nation.

Herein Africa, there is little or no unemployment package to the unemployed, although we all observe social welfare system to some extent. But the reason why such welfare system is not working here in Africa, among other things is that, ‘ the there is not there’, simple and short.

To those of us who are in education, I wish to say that, education is our life, nothing more and nothing less.

So, to borrow Malcom X quote, “education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.” We can not afford to leave out planning in our daily lives or live them at the doorway and simply walk into the rooms to cry a poor man’s cry, baseless or hopeless cry, that to me will be silly of any leader. Therefore, we must plan together with our employees today to meet our needs tomorrow.

I recently read many articles about Ghana labour law and what I came across typifies my ‘good old’ business inclination. The articles were written to protect the employers over their legal rights to declare redundancy, dismiss or undertake to do a pay-cuts.

It became obvious that the phrase “ force marjure”, which is literally translated to mean, “unexpected circumstances” like; tsunami, earthquake, floods, fire etc which affects businesses to halt operations either perpetually or over many years is the principal defence being used to protect employers during this period of COVID-19.

Employees Expectations:

So, my question is this, what expectation does the employees have in Africa, where there is literally no guarantee for government financial package for the unemployed? And in fact, no housing for the un-housed, no food for the hunger, and no money for the poor. It is God Who remains their Helper.

My dear colleagues, you may not be aware but many Organisations herein Ghana, which includes but not limited to Schools have began to cut salaries by some 50%, 40%, 30% etc and that is when you are blessed enough, otherwise you are fired to go home.

And there are still some institutions threatening to reduce salaries even much further down in August should the COVID-19 impact continue negatively against the economy and the institutions own financial structures and systems.

My Confusion:

I wonder if the theorists of motivation, productivity, Organisational culture, and teamwork etc still exist in the world today ? And where are my fellow Ministers of Churches to pray and publicly advocate for employee safety across the globe. Are they only praying for the end of COVID-19, to resume church services as usual, or they wish to seek the welfare of humanity; the unemployed, physically challenged people and mental health people who are growing at faster rate among us? I encourage every fearful person of God to sacrifice and exhibit the love that Christ unreservedly proclaimed and acted upon to which we are to emulate?

To us as Africans, many of us are only waiting for the West to come up with yet another theory or innovative idea ‘about, and, or for the care of the employee’, before we would hurriedly learn and become ‘second expert’ in someone else’s theories.

It is because, some of us feel that innovation is typically physical like coming up with a computer main frame idea, softwares, social media platforms and so forth. But to me, innovation is a process of undertaken to making something anew, as a consequence that some needs have been occasioned and which must be in the interest of the society to which you belong, in both tangible and intangible aspects. Therefore, COVID-19, must call for innovative ideas across the globe and Africa must not feel exempted from being innovative.

I ask again, where are our professional holders with many professional qualifications? And for how long is it going to take African academic scholars to think ahead of time against their Western counterpart so that they can also lead the West with innovative ideas that answers peculiar human resource management issues under COVID-19.

My dear colleagues here at Morgan International Community School, my interest is most especially in cohabitation.
I feel that in times like this, entrepreneurs must draw their workers closer to the business and make them buy into their vision in the Organisation.

The reason is that, during this time the dismissed or unemployed has very little places to go to look for work ! So when they are asked to go home, it is as though you are helping some to end their lives. Or let me ask, Mr. Employer, do you belong to the school of thought that says, “ who cares “? If so, do you still count yourself to be a faithful follower of God ? What negligence or other forms of damage has your employees committed under the COVID-19?

So while you as an employer, is fortunate to hide under the carpet of structured legal system and defence, ‘force marjure’, can your employees seek the same redress knowing that the law at this time is in defence of the employer if actions are taken well under structured negotiations, timing and some token of compensation?

And since they are not the causers of COVID-19, why don’t you find means to retain them and enjoy productive work from them ?

To me, I call this time, “ let’s do it together, and let’s share it together”. Because it promotes trust for both employees and employers and the results will inadvertently translate into productivity and profitability.

And as Martin Luther King jr. emphasised, “ we are not makers of history. We are made by history”. Therefore, we are to work together as a team to transform our businesses and not to make a new history in the life of employees that may negatively affect their livelihoods perpetually.

Perhaps Charles Spurgeon foreknew this time would come, and the traits of every man would be exposed hence his saying that, “A man’s contentment is in his mind, not in the extent of his possessions.” To give is to receive even in abundance, not unto yourself but unto all your descendants. In this period, sharing is no more a caring philosophy; instead, sharing is mandatory in accordance to human needs and once faith in God.

Now, let me ask my fellow business leaders, ‘ what are you doing for your employees in this pandemic period under COVID-19’?

Employees Contributions:

Here is what Morgan International Community School is doing: employees and employer are to fight a good fight against the insurgents of COVID-19, and they are; global, economic and financial turmoil at post- COVID-19.

We shall do this by being additionally open with our employees, in the area of finances and to pay them as much as possible.And any outstanding from their salaries will be carried forward to be paid in the following month or any immediate time that funds may be available.

We shall seek their extra supports and cooperation to ensure that operational costs are reduced and properties of the school are managed well to avert wastage.

We hope to encourage them to work assiduously to ensure that productivity is at its highest peak and that profitability will be something encouraging to reckon with. In times like this, “hope” is all we can count on and we believe that faith in God surpasses every effort of mankind.

And let’s share a quote from our Founder, Reverend Obed Danquah that says, “we must work together as wise men and women to sustain the business or we perish together as fools”. The wise goat eat and preserve some in his or her cheek but the foolish sheep eats everything at once and go hungry the next day. Looking ahead of the future is prime in everyone’s life. And the future is you, and I. No one can envisage future and make it successful all by himself or herself. But to survive the future by prevailing over this unexplained event, it will require all hands on deck at work places, transparency, openness and a promising future for both employees and employers.

Our Employment conditions:

Consequently, there will not be redundancy, no mass dismissal, and no salary cuts. Instead, we are working together to transform MICS as one ‘big family’ to support one another and to support our country Ghana, so that all other social vices will be reduced because in doing so, not many people with this consideration will be out of work unemployed.

Hunger and Starvation:

African governments must make efforts to motivate their farmers ( funding and logistics, as well as other agricultural inputs, technical advice etc.) so that their farmers may grow as much food as possible because in about a year or two, getting food to import from the West or say Asia, will be more challenging and extremely costly that will make it difficult to afford by poor people in our communities.

The ripple effect of COVID-19, is not only about health or in its worse cases, deaths, but even after finding solution to curtail it, hunger and starvation are likely to emerge, particularly in Africa. The World heath Organisation predicts some 265 million people will go severely hungry in some few years to come . And since African countries depend largely on importation of food from the West, fear for starvation, resulting from scarcity and potential hyper inflation is imminent.

Equally, economic downturn will make things worse for Africans to trade with other developed nations, if they do not have enough foreign reserves and trade surpluses.

Conclusion:

COVID-19 is no mean disease that has come to affect human lives; death, loss of businesses, the rapid growth of mental health disease, social relationship being affected as well as social disorders, technological harm such as cyber invaders and so forth. Governments and individuals across the globe must come together to fashion out plans to defeat such invisible enemy.

We must ensure that human livelihoods are more important than politics and media reporting few of them who may seem seem bias. Therefore, honesty, timeliness and faithfulness to humanity must be given utmost priority while our personal interests awaits another time of action.

And African governments in particular, must see more inwardly than attempting to live in ‘ wishful thinking’ kind of economic management systems.

Long live the world at large, long live Ghana, long live Morgan International Community School and education as a while including all other industries, long live parents and guardians and kudos to all health workers across the globe who have risked their lives to save many lives, Hod bless you all.

And by the way, let me share my personal testimony with you today, “I can never cease to wonder that God’s hands have always been upon me, no matter the circumstance, and no matter the time it takes to resolve a peculiar challenge in my life, He has always been there for me, a Faithful God is Who I have." Thank you and God bless you all.

Reverend Obed Danquah, is a distinguished entrepreneur, who among many businesses, owned Express Funds Money Transfer, Express Life Insurance Company Limited to which he later sold to Prudential Life Insurance. He currently takes interest in writing and he is now working on three major books to be published.