Accra, June 19, GNA - Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, Minister of Public Sector Reform on Monday blamed inadequate performance in the public services on the poor quality of leadership within the service, saying this had resulted in deficiencies in knowledge, skill and attitude. "The service therefore, needs better leadership that focuses on high quality service delivery with time consciousness," Dr Nduom said at the launch of activities marking the first ever celebration of the Public Service week in Accra.

The week-long celebration on the theme, "Effective and efficient service delivery in the Public services - Challenges and Prospects", seeks to focus on roles, responsibilities and mandate of the public services and to outline the conditions under which public servants work. It is also to promote and forge a national partnership for an effective, efficient, transparent and accountable service delivery as well as encourage cooperation among public sector institutions. The celebration of the week would bring under one umbrella the individual celebrations of the different public sector institutions. Dr. Paa Kwesi said the public sector was under severe strain and lacked a healthy and conducive atmosphere to deliver. "We lack modern equipment, facilities including ICT solutions. Our human resource situation is not appropriate for the needs of government and the private sector," he said.

The Minister reiterated government's commitment to work on a comprehensive pay programme within the Public Service. Dr Nduom said the pay programme being put together by the Ministry with assistance from experts would remove distortions within current salary levels and ensure equity and fairness in salary administration in the Public Service.

He said recent upheavals on the labour front only pointed to the piecemeal approaches adopted over the years to solve the difficulties in salary administration in the country.

"There is the need now for a comprehensive solution that will stem the problem once and for all," the Minister said, adding however that the implementation of the comprehensive pay programme could take three to four years to implement.

It is in this direction that the Ministry has developed a fully cost, prioritised and time bound three-year programme for all key reforms being undertaken in the Public Service. Prominent among these are pay and pension reforms as well as good conditions for work to inspire present and future Public Servants to improve their productivity.

The Minister said the presentations by the participating agencies in the course of the week would provide Ghanaians adequate hard material to work and achieve better and more efficient work outputs. Mr. Kwamena Bartels, Minister of Information and National Orientation, expressed the hope that the week would help look at ways through which to stimulate performance in the public sector to enable it provide adequate support to the private sector to enhance economic growth and accelerate the country on the path of attaining a middle income status.

Other activities include a photo exhibition and a national durbar on Friday June 23, the actual day of Public Services. 19 June 06