It has become characteristic of government outfits to face issues of little or no funds for support, inadequate infrastructure and inconsistency in the payment of salaries.
But coupled with issues of sexual harassment, one’s job even as a Chief Executive Officer of a government institution can be extremely unpleasant.
The outgoing Chief Executive Officer, (CEO) Juliet Asantewa Asante, of the National Film Authority (NFA) has opened up about disturbing situations she faced at her outfit under the previous administration.
Juliet, who had accepted the role at the behest of the former Minister (supposedly, Minister for Tourism) had little idea the ordeals awaiting her.
According to Juliet, not long after she assumed office, she realized no one really cared about anything and as a result, strategies she was planning to implement looked already bleak.
In the absence of government support, Juliet said she has had to support some projects herself and had to work from her room often due to lack of space in the little office.
Fast forward into her role, the CEO would be sexually harassed and face ridicule from some workers.
Read below the full narrative from the outgoing CEO
TODAY IS ONE OF THE HAPPIEST DAYS OF MY LIFE…
In November, 2020, when I was asked by the minister, to take the job of the Executive Secretary of the National film Authority, I accepted. Little did I envisage what was to follow…With a paper in hand, but no office or money, I set out to recruit staff.
With two staff members, we started the work. I took time to draft a strategy paper. But it became very clear, very quickly, that no one was interested and that this was going to be a very very long road… In the first year, we were given 1000ghc ($100) for the entire year. Second year, 10,000ghc (about $1000 at the time). Neither me or my staff received pay for 2 years.
We had to shoulder the cost of running a Government office from our pockets. We worked from my home or the homes of other staff members.
There was absolutely no one to show us the ropes of how to set up a new Government agency and while we were struggling to understand what to do and not to do… I was dealing with a very antagonistic board, that told me upfront that i wasn’t who they wanted.
The first activity we tried to do was gather data to understand the sector and problem we were dealing with. This activity was blocked by the board and almost everything after that was challenged or blocked. Board meetings were a sight to behold. Thankfully, the Covid video took off and many Ghanaians found solace in the beautiful video giving hope to many, without realizing that it was from the newly formed National Film Authority. filmmakers contributed the video for free.
By then though, the attacks were non stop, online and offline… Gush, there was a day I was attacked for 5 hours by a 13 member board and screamed at to keep quiet when I tried to explain the situation… and insulted two weeks without any breaks on 3 WhatsApp pages… at the same time, my mother was dying and the hospital bills were killing me, while I had to be buying light and paying for office printing, transport and paying for events out of pocket etc… it was those days that we did the Pitch Series. It became very clear to me very quickly, that if we were to achieve anything… a complete tunnel vision was needed.
Complaining was never my style and explaining or going on radio stations to confront untruths was not the answer either… i didn’t have the mental space… i was fighting a war outside and having earthquakes at home. My own tribe was eating me up and I had to play psychologist to my perplexed team… they just couldn’t understand the massive hate…In 2022… we all got our first salaries… thank God… but money was still so tight and we still had inadequate office space, no car for work, nothing… even the machines used at the office was personal to many of us.
Everything you have seen online was edited on my personal machine. Last Friday, madam Kafui Danku was announced as the new Executive secretary. Congratulations madam. i wish you all the success.I remember vividly a day when I was caught between two male bosses. one lifted me up bodily and shoved me into the arms of another, insisting that I give him a hug! The latter hugged me and made the comment ‘maybe, I am the one who will marry you one day’… that night, I scrubbed myself until my skin was tender… I felt dirty.I am 50 years old and I have just lost my job.
So I can afford to say this… may another woman never suffer this…Or should I speak about the woman that called me stupid and all manner of things I can’t say here and banged the phone on me, simply because I tried to do a good industry event? My staff held my hands and told me to be strong… may a woman never do this to another woman… I recently heard someone say about me ‘people just don’t like her’ 😅… firstly, that’s not true. Many people love me… but anyhow, I am not here for likes… and I am sure even you don’t like yourself all the time… many are carrying some people’s fights and buying hate they don’t even understand. But… thank you 😊… I am grateful to you.
Your dislike puts fire under my butt. I love you. because of you, I can’t be lazy. I want to say a big thank you to many who helped us along the way. Some even bought flight tickets to help me travel to conduct Government work.
Source: Dehotpress
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