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Heads of five Public Sector
agencies sign new Charter
Accra, Nov. 28, Ghanadot/GNA - The government and Heads of
five public sector agencies on Wednesday signed a New
Charter to inculcate a culture of excellence in service
delivery and create a positive public perception of the
public sector.
The New Charter is an agreement between the organizations
and the public through which trust and confidence in public
service will be sustained.
The agencies are the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority
(DVLA), Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS),
Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Registrar-General's
Department (RGD) and the Controller and Accountant-General's
Department.
Mrs. Mary Chinery Hesse, Special Advisor to the President
signed on behalf of the President whiles the agencies were
signed for by their respective Heads.
Launching the report, Mrs Chinery-Hesse said the new Charter
forms part of the government's objective to transform the
Public Service to deliver quality service within the
shortest possible time.
She said public perception of, and experience with, the
quality and mode of delivery of services provided by the
public service organisations had not been very positive and
satisfactory.
The new Charter therefore impresses upon the organisations
to focus on their core activities to deliver services within
agreed time frames and the provision of a conducive
environment for the private sector to play a leading role,
she added.
Mrs Chinery-Hesse said unless the public sector performed
its services effectively, the government's agenda would not
be met and called on the five agencies to take serious steps
to improve on their services and re-orient their workers for
a positive attitudinal change towards their clients.
"It is my sincere hope that a dramatic culture change will
soon be felt in all our public service organisations which
will re-orient our public servants' minds in acknowledging
that customers are the most critical and important factor in
their existence and operations, whilst pursuing excellence
in service delivery."
Mrs Chinery-Hesse said the efforts of the five agencies
would help the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to
raise the needed resources for enhanced national
development.
She said it was the duty of the public to complain to the
Central Complaints Unit that had been established at the
Office of the President when services provided by the
agencies were not satisfactory.
Mr. Samuel Owusu-Agyei, Minister of Public Sector Reform,
said the Ministry would provide the necessary policy
framework and support to the Ministries, Department and
Agencies (MDAs) to restate their organizational vision,
engender commitments to their mission statements, assign
employees meaningful work and restructure their processes
and procedures.
This, he said, would ensure that standards were met and also
reduce cost adding; "A courteous and respectful greeting
requires no financial investment. Failure to give a member
of the public a simple, satisfactory explanation to an
enquiry may result in an incorrectly completed application
form which will cost time to put right."
Mr. Owusu-Agyei said the Ministry had reactivated the Client
Service Unit (CSU) concept 2005, by providing guidance and
support to 23 MDAs to establish such units and additional 18
in 10 districts in the Central, Eastern and Greater Accra
Regions.
He said the public service must adapt to and respond in a
sustainable, quality conscious and efficient manner to the
needs of users placing them at the centre of their concerns.
He said a Charter mark would be given to the agencies at the
end of the year and that any agency that scored below
average would be sanctioned as it meant that services
provided were unsatisfactory.
The Heads of the five agencies pledged their total support
to the document which was prepared in-house and were
comfortable with it because the targets were set by
themselves.
Mr. Christian Sottie, Controller and Accountant General
promised that salaries would be paid on due date and
pensions paid within two months of receipt of the correct
documents.
He said the Department had since last year, established
Treasury Realignment where monies would be sent to the
various districts to pay the pensioners without having to
travel to Accra.
The Commissioner of CEPS, Mr. Emmanuel Doku said the result
of valuation would be ready within 30 days upon receipt of
petition, value claim for refund to clients within 30
working days, five days for draw-back due clients,
registration at Customs Bonded Ware-house seven days and
collection of vehicles, personal effects and courier
GNA
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