Ghana’s public sector performing below international standards – NDC

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has said it will reform the public sector by employing more human resources into the sector if it wins power in the upcoming national elections.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Wednesday, October 14, 2020, Communications Officer, Sammy Gyamfi, said a team of experts in the party has analysed the sector and found that a minimum of 200,000 personnel are needed to enable the public sector to perform up to international standards.

These 200,000 new jobs for the public sector will form part of the total one million jobs the party has promised to create if its flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama, wins power on December 7, 2020.

He said the crack team of experts that was assembled by John Dramani Mahama conducted a Human Resource Gap (HR Gap) Analysis of Ghana’s Public sector which found that the country’s public sector is not operating at an optimum level across all facets of the public service when compared with international or globally accepted standards.

“For instance, the HR Gap Analysis revealed that the Ghana Police Service requires a total of 35,020 additional personnel to enable the service operate at the optimal internationally required ratio of one Police Officer to 450 Civilians. What this means is that the Ghana Police Service currently has an additional 35,020 vacancies that need to be filled,” he said.

He added that the NDC’s analysis of the Educational Management Information System (EMIS) data revealed 98,650 vacancies in the Ghana Education Service.

“That of the Ghana Health Service is 76,795 vacancies, while the Ghana National Fire Service has 30,136 vacancies. The analysis further revealed that the Ghana Immigration Service has an additional manpower deficit of 3,522, while the Ghana Prison Service needs an additional 7,925 personnel to enable it to function optimally.

The Local Government sector also requires about 11,208 personnel, while the Forestry Commissions also needs over 1,200 new staff to effectively coordinate its conservation and management activities across the country.

“The next NDC government is committed to creating sustainable jobs with decent wages in the public sector by filling these vacancies over a period of four years to enable our state institutions to operate at optimal levels,” he stressed.