Minister calls on civil servants to be committed to their work

Mr Emmanuel Asamoah Owusu-Ansah, Ashanti Regional Minister, has called on civil servants to be committed to their work at all levels to move the nation forward.

He said there was the need for them to put aside all political and ideological persuasions and perform their duties as entrusted to them wherever they found themselves.

Mr Owusu-Ansah was addressing a worker's durbar at Mankranso in the Ahafo Ano South district when he toured the area to inspect ongoing developmental projects and also interact with the chiefs and people of the district last Friday.

He said government was doing everything possible to improve the conditions of service of workers with the setting up of the Salary Commission to address their concerns.

He said civil servants used to have a bad name and was happy that gradually through their good work that tag or perception had waned.

He however said punctuality was still a problem and advised them to have a second look at the issue and try to avoid it.

The Regional Minister noted that strikes cannot be ruled out completely, but in all cases it should be lawful in the sense that it must go through labour regulations, adding that, "strikes should be the last resort so as to ensure industrial peace and development".

Reacting to the concerns of the people for solutions to their problems, the Regional Minister said he was not used to making promises and that he could only do that if he is assured of fulfilling it.

"That does not mean that the requests you have made would not be considered, but I do not want to promise you and fail for it to become a problem for me and the government".

He urged the workers to support chiefs and other stakeholders in the district to educate the people to register and pay their premium on the National Health Insurance Scheme to benefit from the scheme.

Nana Serwaa Dwomoh, Queen of Mankranso, appealed to the Minister to help provide an ambulance for the Mankranso hospital, as well as the tarring of the 300 metre road from the town to the Kumasi-Sunyani road.

She said an additional infrastructure facilities for Mankranso Secondary School and the extension of electricity to new areas of the town would be appreciated. At Adugyama, the Regional Minister congratulated the newly enstooled chief of the town, Nana Boakye Yiadom Kotoko and urged him to cooperate with the people and other stakeholders to enhance the proper development of the town.

The chief in a speech read on his behalf called for an additional public toilet facility, extension of electricity to new settlement in the area and the construction of a school block for an English-Arabic school in the town.

Mr Kwaku Obeng Boateng, Ahafo-Ano South District Chief Executive (DCE) praised the government for the good work it was doing to improve the living standards of the people and said they appreciated the efforts.