DECODING THE MYSTERY OF THE GHANAIAN MECHANIC & TECHNICIAN

Ghanaian mechanics and technicians tend to have a terrible reputation. Prior to the country gaining the uncomfortable reputation of becoming an e-waste dump site, many vehicles and devices have ended their useful life here. Many vehicles and gadgets have gone to their grave-yard in the hands of the Ghanaian mechanic and technician.

Fitting shop in Ghana - Photo credit N. Ojewska.

It is shocking when someone goes to the hospital seemingly healthy but never returns. However, this is a common fate for many gadgets and equipment in Ghana.

So what exactly is the problem? What makes the Ghanaian mechanic or technician so stereotypically terrible at their job.

After years of dealing with Ghanaian mechanic and repairers it has become quite clear to me what the fundamental problem accounting for their inefficiency in the large majority of repair cases is. While we have common tendencies such as taking things for granted and "trusting God", using crude tools, general over-confidence and lack of knowledge about the gadget/equipment in question, there is a major but not so obvious handicap.

At the heart of what makes the Ghanaian technician or mechanic inefficient is the fundamental lack of knowledge in troubleshooting techniques i.e. a lack of proper diagnostic skills. This accounts for their hit-and-miss approach to fixing technical issues.

lack of understanding troubleshooting techniques/steps

A SCENARIO

If you are wondering what the absence or lack of proper troubleshooting techniques can cause, let me draw a picture using a television set / console device to illustrate.

Assuming your television or console device stops working as you are watching your screen, the typical reaction is to check if electricity has gone off or the device has powered off. This process is the troubleshooting process.

TROUBLESHOOTING

Depending on how efficient you are at this, you may identify the problem and resolve it or you may ruin your device. If you establish that there is electricity power in the house but your device is still off, the sequence of actions would determine the fate of the device. The normal sequence after establishing there is electricity in the house is to check the TV/Console's power outlet (see illustration), followed by the power cord that plugs to the power pack/ adapter. You then test the power pack/adapter and its connecting cord before you even think of touching the device. The same process will follow within the device to establish the problem that cause the device to go off.

HOW THINGS GO WRONG

Imagine this. If in trying to solve the problem you skip testing the power outlet which in this scenario happens to be the problem because a fuse has blown in it, everything else on the power source including the cables and adapters will pass the test! You may then open the console or TV looking for the fault when in fact it is the power outlet that you skipped testing. In the process you may ruin something within the device thereby compounding the problem. So the simple failure to check the power outlet for power can lead you on a wild goose chase through the device. If you do not ruin something in the process you will still end up wondering what the problem is because it is not within any of the components you tested. Thus a mechanic or technician failing to troubleshoot/diagnose the problem of your gadget or vehicle problem can create the ultimate nightmare.

WHAT ACCOUNTS FOR THE HANDICAP

If you are wondering what accounts for the handicap, it is quite simple. It is the lack of formal training in troubleshooting techniques or diagnostic methodologies. The average Ghanaian mechanic learned the job from another mechanic often through oral and observational means. Rarely do the mechanics learn through properly documented processes or include this in their training process.

While most mechanics can troubleshoot to a degree they almost always have no knowledge of the underlying principles of troubleshooting or diagnostics techniques.

IMPLICATIONS

The consequences of this lack of proper understanding of troubleshooting and the hit-and-miss approach to fixing gadgets and vehicles are wide and far reaching. The car that failed brakes or broke a shaft or just broke down in the middle of a highway causing an accident and deaths is often the result of someone's failure to properly diagnose and identify the problem and the associated risk. There is significant repetitive loss of money and time by the productive citizens to the epidemic of poor troubleshooting/diagnosis. A mechanic tells you your problem is fixed, you drive a few meters and the problem surfaces costing you time and money and in extreme cases endangering your life. There is an environmental cost when devices that could function efficiently break down and are discarded or function inefficiently causing pollution or high energy consumption or become electrical hazards. These are but a few of the implications.

SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM

Training can bridge the knowledge gap and significantly improve the status quo. This training must however be targeted and focused at the actual problem as identified. There have been many capacity building training programmes but they have mostly been ineffective because the trainers / organizers themselves have failed to diagnose the problem.

CHALLENGES

On one hand, overconfidence may be a major bottle-neck to improving the troubleshooting skills of technicians and mechanics mainly because there is a general social conflict between formal and informal trained individuals. Apprenticeship trained mechanics often take great pride in their hands-on experience while formally trained individuals tend to be perceived as ignorant with a superiority complex. Any intervention would have to factor this into the design of the intervention.

CONCLUSION

Change Ghana is solution oriented blog started by Matthew A. Loh with the objective of (as the name suggests) change Ghana for a more positive experience by citizens. It is the hope that this article will somehow influence the problem associated with dealing with mechanics and technicians and in the long-term reduce the number of headaches in the country.