Renowned Ghanaian playwright and marriage counselor James Ebo Whyte, popularly known as Uncle Ebo Whyte, has revealed how a single overseas trip spiraled into one of the darkest moments of his life, leaving him jobless, accused, and fighting to clear his name.
Sharing his story on The Career Trail programme on Joy Learning TV and Joy News, he revealed that his journey began at the University of Ghana, Legon, where he studied statistics.
Upon completion, he was posted to Asempa Publishers for his National Service, a place he describes with fondness.
“For my National Service, I worked with a wonderful company and a wonderful boss, Rev. Peter Parker, at Asempa Publishers. He was a retired British soldier who had relocated to Ghana to become a minister of the Presbyterian Church, and he was running a publishing house for the Christian Council of Ghana, called Asempa Publishers. So that is where I did my National Service, and I was retained. My working career began from there,” he recalled.
Things progressed steadily from there. After years of service at Asempa Publishers, Uncle Ebo was poached by another publishing company, which seemed like an upward move in his career.
However, the opportunity turned out to be the beginning of a storm.
“After working with Asempa Publishers for six years, another company poached me. After working with that company for four to five years, they fired me,” he disclosed.
The dismissal didn’t come quietly. Uncle Ebo shared that it was accompanied by eight serious allegations that, although baseless, severely damaged his image.
“They came up with eight serious charges. If you knew the charges, you wouldn’t want to talk to me. It portrayed me as the worst rogue ever. The only thing was, none of it was true,” he submitted.
The cause, he believes, was not misconduct but rather envy. According to the playwright, a trip to the United States, during which he impressed foreign partners of the company, triggered insecurities within the local office.
“I had travelled abroad and met some of the principals of the company. They were so impressed with me that they wrote back asking, ‘Why have you kept him from us? From now on, let him be the one to represent you at our annual stakeholder meetings,’” he recounted.
“Somebody decided, ‘One trip abroad and they’re saying this? What if he goes again?’ Let’s take him out. So they put together a board, a board made up of very responsible people, just to make the decision to get rid of me,” he continued.
He explained that the dismissal was not only harsh but also procedurally unfair.
“The dismissal was summary: eight charges, you are off. They didn’t even allow me to defend myself,” he highlighted.
Feeling wronged, he took the matter to court.
“I took the matter to court. In the end, the court ruled that the company had not proven any of the charges against me. They hadn’t even given me a chance to defend myself, so they had no basis for terminating my appointment.
“But the judge also made it clear that no court can force a company to continue working with someone. If they say they don’t want you, the court can’t compel them to keep you,” he narrated.
Yet, the legal win offered little comfort. The stigma of the accusations lingered, making it nearly impossible to find another job, especially as he was the sole breadwinner.
“I’ve always run a single-income home. So with me out of a job, there was no money coming in. It was very difficult to get a job because the news had spread, and companies didn’t want to associate with me, even though the court had cleared me. I was jobless for one and a half years,” he noted.
He further described that the experience was difficult, especially for someone like him, who is naturally wired to avoid conflict.
“I’m not one of those people who can thrive in trouble. In school, if you told me the headmaster was calling me, I would panic. That’s why I know I can never be a drug dealer. If I were smuggling and someone looked at me suspiciously, I’d confess. ‘It’s here, take it,’” he expanded.
“It was a dark moment for me,” he added.
Still, despite the heartbreak and the isolation, that difficult chapter became the catalyst for his next act, eventually paving the way for Roverman Productions.
“That dismissal, as painful as it was, marked the true beginning of my life,” he stated.
Source: Irene Adubea Aning
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