Develop charters to minimize incidences of corruption - Civil Service

The Head of Civil Service, Nana Kwesi Agyekum-Dwamena, has called on chief directors of Civil Service organisations to develop charters to minimise incidences of corruption in the Service.

Nana Agyekum-Dwamena said this at a Macroeconomic Policy Dialogue organised by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) of the UN and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration for Chief Directors of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), on Monday.

He said the development of charters would also contribute to improved service delivery and uplift the image of the Civil Service.

Nana Agyekum-Dwamena said this was necessary because the citizenry had high expectations in terms of the quality of service delivery from public sector organisations.

He said sadly the Civil Service was perceived as an institution plagued with issues of corruption, abuse of office and lack of transparency.

He said there was the need for the chief directors to lead their various MDAs to change the narrative adding that the implementation of the charters would help improve the orientation of MDAs towards their customers.

Nana Agyekum-Dwamena said it was in efforts to repair the image people had about civil servants that had prompted the institutionalisation of systems where chief directors signed performance agreements, which contain a distinct set of targets that they were expected to deliver and evaluated on annually.

He said to ensure the success of the President’s Coordinated Programme of Economic and Social Development Policies (2017-2024), themed: ‘’An Agenda for Jobs: Creating Prosperity and Equal Opportunity for All,’’ presented to Parliament, chief directors must initiate innovations based on government priority areas.

“We must also enhance tracking and improved inter-sectoral collaboration so that the President’s Transformation Agenda will be seen by all the good people of Ghana,” he said.

“Unfortunately, training for officers in the Civil Service is not being undertaken primarily because funds are not purposely set aside for such activities. This impacts negatively on performance at optimum levels.

“We are proposing the establishment of a central training fund dedicated to the regular and targeted training officer to facilitate the provision of the requisite support to government,” Nana Agyekum-Dwamena added.

The Head of Civil Service further urged chief directors to champion the cause of changing attitudes towards work.

The Policy Dialogue, which saw the participation of various chief directors from the MDAs, is to discuss relevant issues related to the growth of the country and address the question of how to design and implement effective strategies and policies to support and promote inclusive and accelerated economic growth.

It would also focus on how the wide shared benefits of the growth achieved, could help impact on poverty reduction as well as improve the livelihood of the populace, and agree on a memorandum of understanding to facilitate conscious dialogue.