Ho, Jan. 2, GNA - Mr William Krakani, First National Trustee of the Civil Servants Association of Ghana (CSAG) has deplored the trend among some Civil Servants to wilfully absent themselves from work after long holidays.

He was speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Friday on the generally low attendance of workers at the Ministries at Ho. Mr Krakani, who is a Principal Development Officer of the Department of Social Welfare, said the Government in widely circulated announcement had expressly stated which days of the week were non-working days. "In any case we all know it and there is nothing to explain the mass absence from work except the pervasive attitude among us to take Government business for granted", he said.

Mr Krakani observed that it was disappointing for clients to go to offices to transact businesses and find to desks empty. He observed that unattractive wages and poor logistics in the Civil Service were not tangible reasons for flagrant abuse of the trust of their employers.

Generally workers in Ho reported for work in trickles and as at 9000 hours when the GNA went round most offices had not opened for business. At the Regional Office of the National Youth Council (NYC), Mr Ransford Ocloo, Regional Youth Coordinator, expressed misgivings about the practice but complained that his staff had not yet received their December salaries.

He said staffs at the NYC District Office in Kete-Krachi as at the time of the visit were yet to receive their November salaries.

At the Ghana Education Service (GES) Regional Office, workers were standing in groups and chatting.

Mr Hickson George Tome, Public Relations Officer of GES, said work was going on normally and that it should be expected that after long holidays there would be some socialisation among workers before they settled down for serious business.