Ghana needs new breed of civil servants

Chief Executive Director, Ghana Chamber of Mines(GCM), Dr. Joyce R. Aryee, has said that the nation needs committed civil servants to carry its developmental agenda through. She said professionalism, clean and politically neutral civil service is what the nation needed in its fight against corruption, unprofessional conduct and bad ethics. Dr. Aryee was addressing the 33rd graduation ceremony of the Christian Service University College (CSUC), in Kumasi on Saturday, of which 391 students were awarded various degrees, diplomas and certificates in Business Administration and Theology. Thirty-two students had first class honours in Business Administration while three received first class in Theology. In the Business Administration, Reverend Kwasi Addai-Baah, was adjudged the overall best student. "Professionalism, in Nation Building, Balancing Competence and Ethics" was the theme for the occasion. The GCM Chief Executive said the cost of poor performance and corruption in the public service were too great to bear stressing that such vices hurt the entire public sector. She called for the setting up of management structures to ensure that a public service ethos and competence were achieved. The CSUC President, Professor Emmanuel Frempong, said the University had a student population of 1,951 pursuing undergraduate programmes in Theology, Business Administration, Computer Science and Communication Studies. The College would soon introduce a Degree in Nursing programme. Professor Sam Afrane, Chairman of Council of the CSUC and Dean, Faculty of Planning and Land Economy of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), said the University would implement a number of short-term development programmes to effectively manage the expansion and growth of the College. It had acquired an eleven-acre land at Akrofuom-Saben on the Obuasi road for the construction of a new campus; it would also build a student hostel and a five-storey block to house a library, Computer Centre and Communications Studies Laboratory. It would in addition go into human resource development, academic excellence and research, and also increase and stabilize supply of electricity to support its fast growing academic and supportive services of the University. Professor Aaron Nii Lante Lawson, Provost, College of Health Science, University of Ghana, advised the graduates to embrace the principles of integrity, hard work and good stewardship.