Corruption high in public service organisations – Survey

Public servants, employees of public service organisations (PSO) and public service perceive corruption in PSOs as fairly high.

Sadly, significant numbers of them are not aware of any sanctions available to punish offenders.

These are some of the findings of the 2015 State of the Public Service Report (SoPSR).

The report indicated that in some instances actions taken were not “deterrent enough to curb unethical behaviours in the PSOs”.

According to the report, lateness and absence from work, the use of public funds for personal benefit continues to be the common infractions of Code of Conducts and Conflict of Interest in Public Service Organizations (PSOs).

Mrs Bridget Katsriku, Chairman of the Public Service Commission (PSC), who launched the report in Accra, said employees who engaged in such acts were normally cautioned or no action was taken against them by management.

The 2015 SoPSR survey focused on employees’ perception about various aspects of Human Resource Management, including leadership-employee engagement, ethics, values and conduct, training, working environment and well-being, among others.

The survey – which was carried out among Public Service organisations, public servants and public service beneficiaries – touched on effective leadership, human resource management, and transparency and accountability.

It was supported by the World Bank, and it is the second of its kind.
Mrs Katsriku, therefore, appealed to leadership to adhere to Code of Conducts and apply sanctions against these acts.

She said the report further disclosed that there was high prevalence of unfilled vacancies in PSO’s and that was a result of “austere government policies on recruitment”.

“These unfilled vacancies were also as a result of lack of succession planning, high attrition, and scarcity of certain specialised skills in the job market,” she recounted.

Mrs Katsriku was not enthused with the lack of attention paid to the implementation of the Disability Act, noting that the act relates to the workplace environment.

She said it was important that adjustments in the workplace were done to suit persons with physical disabilities, to enhance effective job performance.

The Chairman of PSC reiterated the need to also give more female adequate training to take up leadership positions.

According to her, training should not be conducted for only males in organisations, stressing that females also needed to be trained.

On Organisational Efficiency and Effectiveness, Mrs Katsriku pointed out that the report showed that because organisational structures had not been reviewed in the last five years, there was no charge in organisational mandate and strategic directions of organisations.

She said the report showed that some organisations had no service charters and client feedback mechanism.

“These findings underline the need for more serious efforts to be made to sensitise workers and organisations on the importance of service charters to guide their service delivery,” she said.

Mrs Katsriku appealed to leadership to hold durbars and retreats to give staff the opportunity to contribute to decision-making for organisational cohesion.

According to her, the 2015 SoPSR on employees, no doubt, revealed serious challenges confronting public servants in the performance of their duties, and stressed the need for a concerted effort to address them.

Mrs Katsriku pledged the commission’s commitment to work and it would collaborate with all stakeholders to ensure that continuous reforms and innovations in public service administration and management, in order to enhance performance and productivity in the nation’s developmental agenda.