Directors of MDAs sharpen their experience

Accra, Feb. 11, GNA - Directors of Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) on Monday began a three-week training programme to build their technical leadership and management competence towards improved service delivery in public administration.

The training, which falls under the Accelerated Training Programme for Leadership of the Civil Service, is expected to help sharpen the capacity of the Directors for effective decision-making in utilisation of national resources.

Opening the training at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Mr Samuel Owusu-Agyei, Minister of Public Sector Reforms, said the ultimate goal of the government's reform agenda was to ensure that civil servants served the citizens in fairness as well as manage public resources efficiently.

"Government relies on the knowledge, skills and ability of its employees to produce goods and services efficiently, effectively and responsively," he said.

Mr Owusu-Agyei said Government would not compromise on the need to continuously build capacity of public and civil servants because they remained critical to service delivery.

He said continuous training of civil and public servants would not only shape policies and services they delivered, but also build modern and non-partisan professionals with abilities to manage complex issues pertaining to both public and private environment.

Besides the Directors course, the Mr Owusu-Agyei also opened a training programme for Management Analysts for some 40 participants, also drawn from the MDAs nationwide.

This category of people would be equipped with analytical tools and skills that would enable them function as change agents and internal consultants in their respective institutions. Mr Joe Issachar, Head of the Civil Service, said changes in service delivery were occurring in the world with great rapidity, which required that Ghana rose up to meet those challenges for efficient public service administration.

"Internally the needs and expectations of Ghanaians are rising and becoming more diverse," he said, adding that there was the need to transform the Service from the old, slow bureaucracy to a newer more agile institution in order to position it to deliver effectively. Mr Issachar said the problem of underperformance could be addressed partly through training and noted that the Accelerated Training Programme would provide the requisite amount of knowledge, competencies and skills in the Civil Service.

Dr Stephen Adei, Rector of GIMPA, lauded Government's effort in building capacity of the civil and public servants, saying "until government and civil servants built their capacities, no one will do it." He said money was not everything because "with the right leadership what is not there can be created."