Bolgatanga, July 14, GNA - Mr. Mark Woyongo, Upper East Regional Minister, has called on public sector workers to demonstrate absolute commitment and diligence in their work, in reciprocation of the salaries they take home at the end of each month.

The Minister noted that some public sector workers show lukewarm attitude to work and give little consideration to output, and said it was only proper that employees offer dedicated services and show commitment to their work to ensure national development. The Minister said this on Friday when he addressed workers in the civil and public services as part of his working visits to Ministries, Departments and Agencies in the region.

The departments visited included the Centre for National Culture (CNC), the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, the Ghana Library Board, Information Service Department, the New Times Corporation, Ghana Tourist Board and the National Health Insurance Authority. At the CNC Mr. Woyongo asked the staff there to be more proactive and creative so that they could generate funds internally to enable them to run programmes locally rather than continue to depend on their head office for everything.

The Minister used the occasion to encourage trainees at the Centre who are into Tie and Die production, cloth weaving and dressmaking, to take their training seriously, and assured them of his administration's readiness to support them with loan facilities to start their own businesses after completing the course. Staff of the Centre appealed to government to complete a multi-purpose theatre building which has been abandoned since 1998. At the offices of the Museums and monuments Board, the workers advanced arguments that the facility was a critical area for research work which is as important as any educational institution. However, funds allocated for the running of the department in the region was so meagre and could hardly support the execution of the Board's planned programmes. They therefore appealed to government to allocate enough funds to help run the organisation. Mr. Woyongo advised staff of the Information Services Department (ISD) to be responsive in their role as disseminators of government policies and programmes to members of the public, especially those in the rural communities.

The Minister who is himself a former employee of ISD, told the staff that the best way to redeem their credibility as information service providers and as civil servants was to stay neutral in the performance of their duties. The Regional Information Officer, Mr. Nelson Mba Ayamga, said the department has 56 staff in the region. He added that out of the number, four were serving at the Municipal and District assemblies as Information Officers and Public Relations Officers. Mr. Ayamga appealed to Municipal and District Assemblies in the region to patronize the use of the Information Cinema Vans to reach out to the local communities to publicise their activities.