Civil service inefficiency: Blame weak supervision – Baba Jamal

The low productivity of Ghana’s public and civil service can be traced to lack of proper monitoring and supervision, former Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Baba Jamal, has stated.

“What I think is the problem with the civil service in Ghana is a matter of supervision and monitoring, straight rules that are supposed to guide their work. That is what is lacking in this country,” he noted.

“People in the ministries just do what they want because the person knows at the end of the day they will take their salary.”

He was contributing to a discussion on the productivity of Ghana’s public and civil service on Class FM’s Executive Breakfast Show.

He admitted in an interview with host Moro Awudu that though there were professional people in the two sectors, majority of the staff were not productive.

The former Member of Parliament (MP) for Akwatia said the situation was a challenge for ministers because any individual who tried to change the status quo “becomes an enemy of the system when you insist on making things right”.

According to him, ministers are sometimes forced to work with only a handful of staff who are serious with their work.

He called for strict supervision of workers with clearly set goals and objectives in order to ensure productivity and efficiency.

“There are no set goals, people just do what they do… There are a lot of professionals who do their work well, but majority are [lackadaisical]. They come to work late and leave so early and Friday is virtually a holiday,” he added.

He disclosed that the same individuals would not exhibit such attitude to work if they were to be employed by a private entity.

Mr Jamal further disclosed: “The process to dismissing a civil servant is so cumbersome that nobody wants to even do it.”