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Opinions of Saturday, 6 April 2013

Columnist: Danso, Kwaku A.

Performance agreement of directors and government exectives

To: Dr. Raymond Atuguba, Executive Secretary, Office of the President, Accra, Ghana

Dear Dr. Atuguba,

I take the liberty and pleasure to forward to you this documents brought to our attention by Prof. Kwame Mfodwo. We like to thank Kwame for this document which obviously has existed but seems not being used or enforced.

I never knew such documents existed. This is an excellent example of how Ghana can be managed according to any President's Visions and Mission Statements, which will then lead to Goals and Objectives, by which we can justify paying people, or any person. Every human being in the world is supposed to produce and contribute in some capacity, and public officials should have target goals and be paid accordingly instead of hired as rewards for supporting a political party that wins power. Ghana government as it stands has been operating without any consideration of results or output (or what Economists and those in the Liberal Arts call Deliverables) as a people. We have hired 60-70% of an estimated Ghanaian workforce, with revenues coming mostly from (1) outsider corporations exploiting our minerals and oil and giving us a pittance, (2) remittances of our people working overseas, and (3) excessive 45% to 200% duties and taxes on imported goods, half of which seems from people overseas and a handful of importers.

Ghana government needs to cut the size of government by a minimum of 50%! Ghana is a small country and can be managed by only 10 appointed Cabinet Ministers and one Deputy each, and the rest technocrats hired to work like in a profit making corporation; plus the Regional and District and Town/City elected Chief executives, each with hired City Managers or technocrats. Technocrats are people with relevant managerial or technical experience to get needed results.

Since 1966 Ghana has allowed all infrastructures built under the first government decay and go without maintenance, huge buildings go unused, Judges unable to make decisions per reasonable timeframe, and total breakdown in discipline!! This is a failure in leadership that has allowed this national disgrace as some of us see from the outside. The bottom line is that the President has to sit down himself and design specific target goals for his Ministers and Chief executives, and pass this down all the way to the lower Managerial ranks of Government. Dr. Raymond, please pass this over to the President. It is not too late to save Ghana and none of us would want the implosion that is inevitable in Ghana is nothing changes. We want to see such open contracts on line at the government Website with aggressive timelines for delivery of services, for completion of government projects, for adjudication of disputes, for services to be rendered to the people. And we want a time frame announced for election of local leaders we can hold accountable in each town or district.

Thank you Sir,

Yours Obedient Servant (as they used to end letters in the 1950s when I was growing up).

Kwaku A. Danso, M.Eng., PhD

President - Ghana Leadership Union (NGO), Moderator-GLU and GLF Forums.