Opinions of Friday, 3 May 2013

Columnist: Missy

Action After May Day Celebration!

So far the path appears clearer, although it is a bit slow. We need to purged the system no matter how bitter the concoction may be.Those alleged to have mismanaged their institutions should swallow the concoction and a bit of their pride and step aside or at best reform what has not worked well in the past we can,t continue like that.

We don,t need any white paper evidence, the loud voices of the people should send a signal and these concerns are worth investigating. Remember it is dangerous for a poor worker in any institution to send a white paper on corruption and mismanagement of any institution for fear of being vindicated. At worse we should send the suppose leaders to where there is less chop chop, if it is so difficult to execute that task, then it is unfortunate. If leaders do not like to be reassign then,they should resign honourably as its done in civilised countries. Why should we wait for the president to do that?

Leaders in most public institutions have done a great disservice to mother Ghana and one wonders if May Day is worth celebrating as we use to do just after independence. Our leaders, have corrupted the entire system such that doctors even require bribes before treating sick patients while on strike it is alleged.They also want to be paid while on strike!!!! On what moral grounds? The whole public service needs some form of reforms.

So that, the heads that rolls should go with some part of the bodies that are also decay. Doing away Chief Executives Officers alone may not yield the needed results because some of them have form their own empire and nothing sometimes change when they leave.They literally leave what we try to address eg, board of members, board directors ,management, etc.Another solution is to assign the leaders to where there is less chop chop.If he/she cannot work in another institution in the same capacity then there is a problem he /she should resign honourably as it is done in some civilised countries.

We should spare the president from this type of task and blame game if he does carry out this assignments eg, proceed on leave, step aside and resign honourably, it keeps one marketable in the business world.

Our public institution is rotten to the core. The corrupt leaders have corrupted the young and the up & coming ones , unfortunately those who have the traits and weak morals have fallen into the trap! Leaders have made corruption look so fashionable and so, to belong you have to dance to the tune or you are labeled difficult or you are an outcast.

In some institutions some have formed Clans and Empires. Holding meetings upon meetings in obscure places, in their homes with no result,always discussing agenda,s and issues that can be solve in just one sitting.This is sometimes deliberate only to get to meet another time for obvious reasons.

Another area that is worth looking at is the procurement processes. Despite the law governing this processes we still have huge problems there so far as corruption is concern . We need to rotate and change persons in procurement processes to minimise the wanton abuse of the system put in place. Most procurement teams assembled are just birds of the same features they are cartels and must be broken. Heads of public institution should reassemble new groups to send a strong signal , that way if you have already collected any monies from a prospective bidder then, you have your self to blame.

Interviews for jobs,should be a source of concern if we want to employ competent individuals . Teams for such proceses should be rotational use competent people. Again this interview teams are people who sometimes collide with each other even before the commencement of the process and monies and goodies would have already been exchanged.

Don,t talk about the many consultants we now have in many of our public institutions? Why not recruit local individuals in the institution capable to deliver as the consultant in their respective areas ? In most cases the local consultants use the same employees to do the shoddy work or you never see any progress in what they do , yet we dole huge sums of monies all in the name of consultancy. Mind you they work double double in Ghana and virtually they do no work for their mother institution and are paid heavily to do what serious institution could with their employees. Interestedly in some cases they metamorphosis into full blow employees without recourse to any recruitment processes. We as people should look at this consultancy thing and only use them when and when is absolutely necessary.

In the private sector for example whether the "Kings"or " Queens" are away business continue as usual. Again in developed countries as soon as meetings are over memo,s are released for all employees to know what went on in the meetings ie decision taken. etc, etc. This is done to prevent misinformation. In this era of technology , people are eager to have information, it is therefore better to get the right needed information than to get distorted , skewed and jaundice information. I think the current minister for health is very apt in disseminating information that is a sign of a good leader.

Truly. These suggestions are basic things that should not be a subject of debate.Unfortunately, it appears we need to go to the basics because public sector workers are worse off than today despite the numerous training, they have.A lot of the public purse and donor funding goes into training yet the attitude of especially public servants is not impressive.