President Akufo-Addo in a photograph with members of the Civil Services Council at the Flagstaff House in Accra
President Akufo-Addo yesterday swore in an eight-member governing board of the Civil Service Council, which will be chaired by a retired Supreme Court judge, Justice Rose Owusu.
Other members of the Board are Head of the Civil Service, Nana Kwasi Agyekum-Dwamena; Justice Henrietta Abban, a retired Appeals Court Judge; Edwin Barnes, a retired senior civil servant and Isaac Kwame Asiamah, from the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC).
The rest are Isaac Bampoe Addo, representing the Civil Servants Association and two other members appointed by the president, who include Mary Imelda Amadu and Isaac Tetteh Adjovu.
Swearing them in, President Akufo-Addo gave a note of caution, “At all times, you have to be guided by what is in the interest of the country. You have to be guided by what is in the interest of the people; the public interest of Ghana should be your main consideration.”
Expectation
He proceeded to give them a charge, “My expectation is that you are going to give me good and honest advice – advice devoid of unnecessary partisanship, advice that will help me do my work well and that you will assist me also to give strategic direction through the Civil Service in the way in which it mobilizes and deploys its human resources.”
Knowing the caliber of people on the Council, the president expressed confidence in them saying, “I know that the leadership of this body is in strong hands and I am sure that they will give the direction to the Civil Service that will allow us to realise our objectives…and I’m hoping that together we will be able to do a good job for our people because in all the cases, in all times, it is their welfare that has to guide our actions.”
That, he said, is because “The essential purpose of the Civil Service is to help government formulate and implement its decisions and policies.”
As has always been, he said governments and political parties would come and go but the Civil Service should be there all the time to help successive governments to discharge their duties.
Worry
But he noted that more often than not, the Service has been confronted with the issues of corruption, excessive red-redtapism excessive bureaucratization and in many cases overt political involvement.
He has therefore stressed the need for the Council to confront some of these underlying issues which affect the performance of Civil Servants and the Service.
He pledged his government’s commitment to work closely with the Civil Service in an atmosphere of transparency and openness since according to him, “we see the Civil Service as a strategic partner in the state in being able to assist us realize our objectives.
The chairperson of the Council, Justice Rose Owusu, thanked the president and the government for the confidence reposed in members of the Council, and gave an assurance that they would live up to expectation.
Present at the short ceremony were the Chief of Staff, Frema Osei-Opare; Employment and Labour Relations Minister, Ignatius Baffour-Awuah and the Minister for Monitoring and Evaluation, Dr Anthony Akoto Osei.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent