A NATION OF APOLOGIES

• “National Service Secretariat apologizes for service personnel beatings”, reported by Starr FM online, July 25,2017.
• “Savelugu NPP youth apologize to Nana Addo”,  reported by Citi FM online,June 22, 2017.
• “NPP’s Delta force travels to Accra to render apology to Akufo-Addo”, reported by Ghanaweb.com, March 31,2017.

The above instances are just three of many stories I have read online in recent times. A similar theme runs through all of them. An apology after a lawless act. So the format is, act lawlessly,issue an apology to curtail legal action and we all go to bed.

These days,you simply can’t listen to the news without suffering the ‘begging brigade’ apologizing for one thing or the other. We have mastered the lost art of public confessional code. We are effectively using apology as a moral acceptability mechanism to evade responsibility.

Apology is important.There is no shame in making mistakes.It takes courage to recognize the mistakes and apologize. However to keep apologizing after committing the same mistakes repeatedly is not only annoying but also baloney.

These days the phenomenon has even transcended the realm of public officials to corporate executives too.

A couple of weeks ago, I went over to my bank to transact some business. Though I was supposed to be issued a certificate of investment immediately,the customer affairs manager told me, my certificate would only be available in a week. Reason? It needed to be taken to the head office for the director in charge of investment to sign. Well that was no big deal for me. I could wait for a week.

However, eight working days passed without a word from the bank. I decided to be the gentleman – that I am not. I called the customer care desk to inquire about my certificate and remind the manager that I still haven’t gotten a copy of the certificate in my mail as he promised. Well he apologized and promised to ensure I get the mail by close of the day. He then told me to pass by the office on Friday to pick up the original copy. It was Tuesday.

Needless to say,the days went by quietly as the Osu cemetery. No mail on Tuesday,Wednesday and Thursday. I tried to be cool and indeed kept my composure all through the days. This was a bank depending on my money to survive yet they could be this careless about the shitty services they were providing me. The dreaded Friday came and I quietly walked to the bank with all my ego deflated. I mean how could they disrespect a customer like that? But I had hope because I knew they would be over themselves, wailing and apologizing and lying to me about how they cherish me as a customer.

I was so right…

Immediately my shadow entered the building, the apologies started. I was even offered a cup of coffee whilst they get my documents for me. Well I enjoyed the coffee but I had other ideas. I sat quietly to listen to all the bogus excuses and apologies. However,unlike the ones involving the state, I could do something directly about this one. I humbly requested to de-invest and as a matter of fact close my account. The manager was shocked. But I was determined to save myself from the comedy of further apologies. I lost some quid because of that but at least I made them pay. I could see it in their eyes. They were hurt losing me. But do I care? Next time, I’m sure they will treat me better.

This reminds me of the very worn-out apologies those customer service guys at MTN always foist upon me when I call to complain about an issue. Can’t they resolve the issue with my data bundle and stop the useless excuses and apologies? Well, I ditched them too. I can be quite impatient.

I observe these days even politicians are also in the business of apologies after reneging on electoral promises. Nawa o!!!

However, in all this craze of national apologies, I admire the one group who have simply decided not to join the bandwagon. They hate pretense. They are staying true to their form. It is a dreadful thing to be caught up in traffic as a new driver in Accra/Tema. I learnt that in a very hard way.

Eish!!!!

The taxi and trotro drivers simply have no mercy and patience. Even when you decide to walk, you will still fall a victim to their true nature. What is the use of the pedestrian lanes anyway? For the use of trotro drivers when the traffic is heavy? My bad! I didn’t know that. We didn’t have that in my village. One of those drivers nearly knocked me over the other night. He simply drove on whilst I struggled to get up from the ditch he had pushed me into.

I won’t even talk about the taxi driver who almost killed me at the pedestrian crossing. When I drew his attention to the red traffic light that was clearly on, he just got angrier, changing the language from pidgin to Ga. Eish! He didn’t apologize. He insulted me more for wasting his time and sped off.

You see, I love that taxi driver. He didn’t pretend he was sorry when he knew he would do same at the next traffic lights or zebra crossing. He also taught me one thing, in this town, the roads belong to the drivers first. All of you, unfortunate ‘carless’ folks are at our mercy. We do as we care on the roads.

Well let me get back to listening to Fela to avoid boring you. Try it too… Listen to Fela.