Adda calls for teamwork from heads of departments and agencies

Accra, March 3, GNA - Mr Joseph Kofi Adda, Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment, on Thursday called for teamwork among heads of departments and agencies to ensure a change in the image and perception of the Ministry.

"This is the only way the Ministry would gain its rightful place in the scheme of government business and attract donors," Mr Adda said. "We are all important ... without anyone of us the system would not function well. Titles are not important. We need to generate output to achieve our goal. Start with the ideas and transform them into goals," he said.

Speaking at the first meeting with heads of departments and senior officials in Accra, Mr Adda said the Ministry had been lagging behind and there was the need to ensure a total change in their endeavours. The meeting afforded the Minister the opportunity to share his vision and familiarize himself with activities as well as the environment in which the heads of departments work.

The Minister said: "My vision for the sector is to begin the process of team building for the major task ahead of us if we are to help the President develop the nation's human resource capacity to create wealth and reduce poverty.

"My mission is to lead this team to improve the well-being of all the people, who live in Ghana, by helping to create and also to develop the mechanisms by which that wealth could be created."

Mr Adda noted that some ministries, which were neglected over the years, had been able to work hard to turn them around saying "this Ministry can also do the same.

"As a Ministry, our strength is derived from the priority which the President has placed on human resource development and improving the lot of the vulnerable in our society."

The Minister told the Heads of Departments to ensure mutual respect and to do away with undermining each other.

He said the Government was ready to allocate more funds to the Ministry on condition that personnel were ready to show results. Mr Adda said the Ministry intended to adopt a strategic management system under which targets would be set and performance assessed. He said donors were ready to assist the Ministry hence the need for all to work in a transparent manner and to achieve results. "We are blessed with abundant human and material resources and it is incumbent upon us to help mobilise these to improve our social well-being."

The Minister stressed the need for the Ministry to undertake a survey on the unemployed, complete a sector strategic plan and undertake a rapid appraisal of sector capabilities.

Mr Addai Kyeremeh, Acting Chief Director of the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment, on behalf of his colleagues pledged to support the Minister's vision to turn the Ministry around. The meeting attracted members from the National Youth Council, National Vocational Training Institute and the Factory Inspectorate Division of the Labour Department.