Political interference impeding effective service delivery - CLOGSAG

Isaac Bampoe Addo, the Executive Secretary of the Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana (CLOGSAG), on Friday said political interference is impeding the effective service delivery of the Civil and Local Government services.

He said political interference took the form of interfering in the decision-making processes in the Civil Service and Local Government administrative procedures encompassing - promotions, postings, transfers recruitments, conversion, and upgrading.

Mr Bampoe Addo was speaking at CLOGSAG’s End of Year Thanksgiving Service in Accra and said the impact of political colourisation had led to challenges in the bureaucratic and administrative operations of both the Civil and Local Government services.

He said that had created grounds for the abuse of power, improper conduct, poor service delivery and discrimination in salary levels and other conditions of service.

“These infractions invariably affect professionalism within the Local Government Service and the Civil Service,” he added.

Mr Bampoe Addo bemoaned conditions where personal assistants or technical assistants of ministers encumbered Civil Service positions that would eventually affect storage of institutional memory.

He said in some cases those non-core staff of the Service were made to represent Ministries, Departments, and Agencies on boards, authorities and committees.

He said CLOGSAG was drawing attention to those limitations within the Civil and Local Government services and “we are no longer going to sit aloof.

“We are expecting concrete guidelines that will insulate these services from undue interference”.

Mr Bampoe Addo said attempts to bring to the fore the harmful effects of flouting the principles of political interference through the CLOGSAG Neutrality Project have still not yield the desired results.

He said staff within the Service received sanctions for flouting the neutrality principles, while political authorities went scot free and, therefore, staff were encouraged or empowered to flout the principles at will.

“We are of the opinion that this is not what the Supreme Court judgement on political interference envisaged and we need to confront this issue headlong and settle the matter,” he said.

Mr Bampoe Addo, quoting the late Nathan Quao, an epitome of a neutrality of the Civil Service, said: “It is the perfection of the civil servant that would move the nation forward and not the politicians”.

He said the areas of perfection that needed attention included recruitment of the right calibre of personnel, emphasis on training and retraining as well as an enabling environment to ensure productivity.

Mr Godwin Brocke, the Chief Director, Office of the Head of Civil Service, commended the Staff for their commitment to duty, especially during the COVID-19 outbreak.

He lauded them for embracing the new methods of doing government business in their various places of work.

He said going forward, the Head of Civil Service would review its partnership with CLOGSAG to ensure good conditions of service for members.

Mr Peter Essaim Asante, the Human Resource Manager, Office of Head of Local Government Service, commended the officers in the various metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies for their efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic with less resources.

He thanked the National Executive Council of CLOGSAG for the supportive role in training of some of their officers and called for more support in the near future.