'Civil Service Lacks Efficient Leaders'

Bridget Katsiriku
The courage and competence levels of many chief directors and directors of Ghana's Civil Service have come under sharp criticism.

Bridget Katsriku, Chairperson of the Public Services Commission, who raised the concern at a five-day induction course for newly appointed chief directors from various ministries, said political polarization, patronage and the fear of incurring the displeasure of political leadership, had created a situation whereby civil service leadership could not  live up to the values of the service.

According to her, the lack of supervision in the civil service could be described as a symptom of a deeper malaise, adding that the civil service was expected to be politically neutral, transparent, accountable and with a high sense of integrity.

Mrs Katsriku made the observation on Monday in Accra during the opening ceremony a seminar under the auspices of the Danish Government.

She said: 'Chief Directors often give the type of advice that they believe would please the political leadership sometimes because of the fear of reprisals.'

She urged them to review the status-quo and boldly strategize to transform the civil service into a service whose actions were transparent, fair and neutral and to be leaders of a service which was held accountable for its actions.

'You must not be care-takers by maintaining the status-quo, but be leaders who would work with such passion that you leave your Ministries in a better state, with improved service delivery culture than you met them.

'This entails exercising your own high personal integrity, managing in a transparent manner, maintaining very high standards of dignity and confidence and above all, being truthful, calling a spade a spade, and being able to tell truth to power,' Mrs Katsriku stated.

'Accountability to government may, therefore, be lost and it is no wonder that as a result of lack of supervision, many public service agencies have over the years, established unacceptable culture of tolerance for corruption, blatant looting, indiscipline, abuse of office and gross disregard sometimes for human life.

'The sheer magnitude of attitudinal decay, corruption, lack of accountability, indiscipline and unethical behaviour and conduct has become institutionalized norms in the public service.

'Taking bribes before providing services for which we are being paid is now the norm in many of our institutions,' she said.

Dr Ekow Spio-Garbrah, Minister for Trade and Industry, urged the chief directors to be abreast with ICT and to be bold enough to point out errors to the ministers.

 
- GNA