A more robust public sector is key to accelerated national development, Mr Edem Senanu, Lead Consultant of the Inter-Ministerial Coordinating Committee (IMCC) Secretariat, had said.

There is the need, he said, for the sector to be adequately resourced to ensure that strong institutions are put in place to carry out its mandate with dispatch to facilitate national growth.

Additionally, strong, capable and knowledgeable leaders who are up to the task must head these strong institutions for rapid results, failure of which would draw the development of the country back, Mr Senanu said.

He was speaking in Cape Coast on Friday, at a day’s sensitization workshop to discuss the National Popular Participation Framework which had been put together by the IMCC to among others, enlighten the citizenry of their constitutional responsibilities to fully participate in the decision making process at all levels.

The event was attended by representatives of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), government departments and agencies, civil society organisations, traditional rulers and journalists to sensitise them on the need for all citizens to fully participate in the democratic process.

The Framework, held under the theme “Power to the people”, also seeks to engage the citizenry in all governance processes like attending budget hearing, assembly sittings, fixing of fees and also demand accountability.
It also seeks to task MMDAs and Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to carry out their constitutional mandate to engage the public to participate in their activities to facilitate good governance.

Mr Senanu expressed unhappiness with the practice where political elites were given more credence than technocrats, a situation that was gradually eroding the effectiveness of that sector and challenged heads of institutions to demand the needed resources for them to perform creditably for public good.

Mr Senanu also tasked the public sector to be friendlier in the discharge of its duties and urged it to collaborate with the public, civil society organisations and the media to create the needed voice to put government on its toes.

“Challenges that the citizen face will be addressed faster for rapid and accelerated development if the public sector is more effective and efficient and Ghana will advance rapidly in the next five to ten years”, he said adding that public sector technocrats have the best experience and exposure to turn the fortunes of the country around.

The sector, he said, was needed at all cost because it provides great platform for citizen engagements such as business registration, tax collection, adjudication of cases, electricity supply, education, health delivery, fire prevention and others which must not be downplayed.

On citizens’ participation in the decentralization process, he said citizens are the key components of the democratic system and called on the public to demand accountability as well as participation in the governance process to ensure the desired impact and results.

The MMDAs and MDAs were also to create the platform for the public to participate in their activities by organizing among others, public planning and budget hearing, validation and review, town hall and community meetings and annual open days.

“We must pay attention to our rules, norms and actions which can limit the right people who have the potentials to participate” he said and called on all well-meaning citizens to actively participate in the local government system to help check corruption at all levels.