The Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Dr Nii Moi Thompson, has bemoaned the presence of television (TV) sets in government offices.

Speaking in an interview on Citi FM on March 6, 2025, he asserted that the presence of TVs in government offices tells the kind of country Ghana is.

He pointed out that public servants are not paid to watch TV, adding that the presence of TVs in public offices grossly reduces productivity.

“My office, when I showed up, there's a television set on the wall. I said no, we are not paid to come here and watch television, so get rid of it. You're going to get rid of it in other offices. You're not there to watch the news. Sometimes they say ‘in case something happened’. I said, ‘nothing will happen; if something happens, we'll all get outside and be okay’.”

“I see that it's still hanging. So, someone's going to pay a price for that. But in fact, for me, the presence of TV sets in government offices is the ultimate symbol of a country that is simply not serious,” he said.

The NDPC chairman narrated his experience of going straight to a minister's office because everyone at the secretariat was watching TV.

“I've been to places where I walk through reception straight to the minister's office, and no one asked me a question because everyone was watching television,” he said.

He added that the content people were watching was even more problematic.

“At 11, quite literally… It wasn't just soap opera, but soft porn with these telenovelas and all that. People are half-naked. 10 am in government offices and you could walk through a reception, and nobody asked.”

BAI/EK

Watch videos from the 68th Independence Day celebration below: