Civil Service undergoing changes

Accra, June 23, GNA- Dr. Alex Glover-Quartey, Head of the Civil Service, on Tuesday said the Service has embarked on a training programme to transform the attitudes of its employees to perform their mandatory duties.

He said that would make the service proactive and deliver to the increasing demands of the public.

Dr. Glover-Quartey said this at a day's seminar, organised by the Civil Servants Association Ladies Club (CISALAC), as part of activities to mark the 10th Africa Day of Administration and Civil Service week. The celebrations, with the theme; "Public Service Capacity Building for the African Renaissance," was instituted by the United Nations, in recognition of the contribution of the Civil Service to development. Dr. Glover-Quartey gave the assurance that gender equity would prevail in the training programmes to ensure that women attained heights in the service.

He challenged women to aspire for the top leadership positions in the service, adding that "you must stop making the excuses and attending numerous funerals because such attitudes amounted to negligence of duty.

He called on Heads of Departments to submit a scheme of service that would state which programmes individuals were to embark upon. "Heads who failed to submit their list would be sanctioned," he said.

Ms. Margaret Mpare, Vice President of the Club, said the current rise to leadership positions of two women to the position of Chief Directors, out of 17 males and with a few others who were female Directors, was a step ahead of what existed sometime ago.

She said research findings of Women in Public Life Project (WPLP) in 1995 showed that 35 per cent of the Civil Service was made up of women and 95 per cent of secretaries were female while receptionists were exclusively women.

Within the same period there were no female Chief Directors and out of the total of 138 Directors only 15 were females, she said. Ms. Mpare said it was the objective of the Club to encourage and assist ladies of the service to enhance their potentials for self-development and improve their productive capacities for a better Civil Service.

She thanked the Head of the Civil Service for his vision to help in the advancement of women and gave the assurance that the executive of the Club would submit to the training needs of women in the service. She called on women to learn to sacrifice a little and not to dwell on in mediocrity, but aim to play effective roles in the Service. Dr. Kwamena A. Beecham, a medical officer at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, who spoke on Diabetes, said Ghana was reaching an epidemic stage and that there was the need to create much awareness and educate the public on the state of the disease.

He said diabetes accounted for about 6.9 per cent of deaths in prenatal cases and was the leading cause of blindness, erectal non-functions in men and amputation of limbs in patients. He urged Ghanaians to cultivate the habit of eating balanced diets and to do exercises, seek regular medical advice and check their weight.

Dr Beecham said, "There is nothing like a diabetic diet, but a balanced diet in the right quantity, eaten at the right time is recommended for diabetic patients", he said.

"Eating expensive continental fast foods and drinking wines do not make one safe from this disease", he added.

He appealed to government to subsidise the price of insulin and to also embark on massive education to create awareness on the disease.