<<Print>>

Mr Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, on Tuesday said government was in the process of introducing a new public sector reform strategy.

He said the introduction of the new strategy was aimed at building a public sector that would respond to the changing needs of citizens and the business community.

He said Ghana was in competition with other countries on the global level, and there was the need to introduce effective and efficient mechanisms, and improve business processes in line with global trends to attract foreign investors as well as sustain local businesses.

Mr Baffour-Awuah made this observation at the launch of the 60th anniversary celebration of the Public Services Workers Union (PSWU), in Accra, on the theme “promoting quality public service delivery and national development –setting the agenda for alternatives.”

He said “we cannot continue to do business as usual. We need to adopt strategic efficient and result oriented mechanisms in order to deliver quality services to our clientele including the business community.”

Mr Baffour-Awuah said the vision to achieve a more responsive and result oriented public sector that delivered quality services to those who needed them was critical to the development agenda, saying there was the need for conscious effort to accept change and institute capacity development measures at all levels.

The sector minister said 60 years in the life of an organisation was a milestone for reflection and stock taking, adding that, despite the achievement of these millstones, the sector was under pressure to deliver better quality goods and services.

He said as a developing country, there were lots of gabs in terms of access to social services in the general quality of life for many Ghanaians and the private sector relied on the public sector to create the enabling environment that facilitates the growth of business.

“If we want to achieve the best by attracting the right type of investors, then it behoves us to make sure we provide the best of service at the best of their abilities. We have to be innovative as much as possible to use the very scarce resources we have at our disposal the best way we can to improve the lives of Ghanaians.”

Mr Baffour- Awuah said there was the need to pay attention to the feedback of clientele which showed that the public sector had not been as lucrative as expected, saying, there had been demands from the public and users of our services for us to demonstrate more professionalism in addressing their needs and ensure a more efficient use of scarce resources and time available to us.

“As workers our responsibility is to cooperate with our respective institutions, implement measures that would bring change and advise management on what works and what does not work, taking into consideration the ultimate benefit and growth of our organisations.”

He urged the workers to put the scarce resources including human resources to judicious use, and accept and admit that the attitude of some colleagues was what was fueling the perception of inefficiency in the public sector.

“We need to do peer reviewing, hold each other accountable to disabuse the minds of people. As well as adopt decent and civil ways of engaging industrial relations. The public sector is the source of livelihood for many and we have to take full ownership and make conscious efforts to support its growth.”

Mr Bernard Adjei, Acting General Secretary of PSWU, said the anniversary celebration coincided with the 10th Quadrennial delegate’s conference of the Union.

He said the theme for the celebration was chosen with the proposition that despite the government in power, it was a fact that, the delivery of quality public services and national development was not predetermined.

He said it was the result of our decisions, choices, and capacity to follow up on them, willingness to cooperate to deliver quality public service, which met the basic needs of Ghanaians as well as aspirations to sustainable development through the advancement of decent work, social justice and peace.

Mr Adjei noted that in order to play their role effectively in setting the agenda for alternatives, they intended to redefine themselves with regard to their identity and services, by bringing the union to the rank and file, restructure the operations to deliver services to meet the changing needs and aspirations of members in a responsive manner, as well as innovatively engage our membership, government and management, and other stakeholders.”

Dr Anthony Yaw Baah, Secretary General, TUC, said the future of the union was for those who were ready to unite, saying “the future would be different, but we have the opportunity to determine what the future would be.”

The PSWU is a pioneer Union in the Ghanaian public sector, formed on June 22, 1959 as a result of the merger of four house unions namely Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Customs, Excise and Preventive Services, Meteorological Department and Produce Inspection Unions.