TUC Secretary General endorses punctuality campaign

Dr Yaw Baah, the Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), has endorsed the ‘Punctuality Campaign’ with a call on public sector workers to eschew time wasted on unproductive activities to facilitate national development.

Many often waste too much time on activities that contribute little or nothing to the country's productivity and the growth of the nation, he said, a situation which requires attitudinal change and a renewed mindset if the country is to achieve its developmental goals.

"We waste too much of our time engaging in activities that will not add anything to our lives and the development of this country. Look at the amount of time we use in churches and funerals. I'm not saying we should not pay respect to our departed but why do we spend so much time on things that will not bring anything to this country or us as individuals?.

"God wants us to worship him, but he has not said we should spend the whole day in a church. We should be careful what we do with time because time is life," he said.

The punctuality awareness and education campaign seeks to promote punctuality in all spheres of national life and is a support to the President's call for a "positive change of attitude to work."

The campaign has so far received endorsement from over 30 leading public figures and officials, including Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, Speaker of Parliament; Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah, Minister of Labour and Employment; Dr Mustapha Hamid, Minister of Inner City and Zongo Development; and Apostle Dr Opoku Onyinah, immediate past Chairman of the Church of Pentecost, among others.

It has also received endorsement from some leading officials of the diplomatic corps like Mr Ronald Stikker, Netherlands Ambassador, Mr Christoph Retzlaff, the German Ambassador and Mr Philipp Stalder, the Switzerland Ambassador, among others.

Dr Baah, therefore, becomes the 32nd person to endorse the campaign since its inception in 2017.

The Secretary General of the TUC said it is high time people took responsibility for their actions and and upheld principles of high standards.

"When you were applying for employment you didn't do it in collective, likewise, when you are being paid it is done individually and so why would you say that you are not alone when you are late? The idea is that we have to change our attitudes and ways."

While commending the Punctuality Foundation for embarking on such a laudable campaign, he assured them of TUC's commitment in ensuring that the initiative made the required impact to achieve the desired results for development.

He appealed to the President to give his support to the campaign by publicly signing on to it to send the strongest of signals to the citizenry on the need to cultivate positive attitudes toward time.

Mr Emmanuel Amarquaye, the Lead Punctuality Crusader, urged public institutions, particularly service providers to prioritise on their Internally Generated Funds (IGF) to maximise revenue mobilisation for national development.

This, he said, should also correspond with a change in attitude towards work and delivery of service to patrons of such services.

Mr Amarquaye said IGF of many public institutions would significantly improve if many of such public institutions delivered services timely to their clients.

Madam Veronica Addo Donkor, Communication Volunteer for the Foundation, commended Dr Yaw Baah and the TUC for committing to uphold the tenets of punctuality, as well as serving as agents of change for national development.

"We strongly believe that the development and building of Ghana thrives on the collective responsibility of each Ghanaian, right from the top to the least person down the ladder. Let us therefore be punctual to work, assignments, events and actually be productive," he said.