Staff at the Atwima Nwabiagya District Assembly was given the shock of their life when they were asked by their District Chief Executive, Michael Amoah Awuku to return to their various homes for being late for work.

President Akufo-Addo has said his government will not condone lateness to work and has asked his appointees to respect their time and this could be the inspiration for the DCE who took over office last month.

The President said: “We all avoid very carefully any mention of the workplace attitudes that retard our progress. I have said it at another forum, but I think it bears repeating: we arrive at work late and then spend the first hour in prayer; we are clock watchers and leave in the middle of critical work, because it is the official closing time. Everything comes to a stop when it rains, and we seem to expect the rest of the world also to stop. We have no respect for the hours set aside for work… we pray, we eat, we visit during working hours. We spend hours chatting on the telephone when customers are waiting to be served, thereby increasing our labour costs. We take a week off for every funeral. And then we wonder why we are not competitive”.

Speaking on the matter on Accra-based Neat FM, the DCE indicated that although work starts at exactly 8:00am, most workers arrived around 8:30 while some were not in their offices by 9:00 am.

He indicated that under his watch, he will not entertain lateness to work because it affects productivity.

The DCE disclosed that the management of the Assembly will meet to decide on further sanctions for all individuals who report to work late in order to help fight the culture of lateness at the Assembly.