Eight new charters for MDA's

Accra, March 14, GNA - Government on Thursday launched eight new charters that would make eight Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) improve on public service delivery by defined standards in a timely manner.

Mrs Mary Chinery-Hesse, Chief Advisor to the President launching the Charters in Accra said they were novel and ingenious initiative of President John Agyekum Kufuor to arrest the widespread irritations, frustration and desperation encountered by the public when they come into contact with public agencies.

She said President Kufuor determined to ensure excellence in public service introduced the concept last October for public service institutions for an undertaking to Ghanaians on their performance.

The eight MDA's are Ministries of Finance and Economic Planning, Tourism and Diasporan Relations, Ghana Tourist Board, Food and Drugs Board, Department of Urban Roads, Ghana Highway Authority, Ghana Standards Board and Public Services Commission.

Mrs Chinery-Hesse said so far 22 institutions had signed the charter and was optimistic that they were keeping faith with the pledges they made by diligently implementing their new charters.

She explained that the charter was also to level the playing field in terms of standard of service Ghanaians would receive, feel equally served promptly and satisfactorily, without any hint of favouritism. Mrs Chinery-Hesse said the public signing was necessary because the pact was intended to be with the public who assess services of the organizations and called on the public to assist in the implementation of the charter.

Mr Stephen Asamoah Boateng, Minister of Tourism and Diasporan Relations was hopeful the charter would help sustain high quality service to the people, adding, "it would go a long way to eradicate corruption since there would be openness and transparency". "This shows an effort by government in tackling corruption. It would also reduce bureaucracy in the public service," he added. Mr Samuel Owusu-Agyei, Minister for Public Sector Reform, said government since 2004 had been implementing far reaching reforms in the public sector to restructure it, improve performance and managing change to attain the best practices in management and delivery of public services.

"At the moment, the Ministry of Public Sector Reform's concern is to manage the transformation of our public sector by involving stakeholders to play their mandated role fully," he added. He said the Ministry had drawn up a charter Handbook that would be made available to MDAs as well as Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies soon to provide some reading material that public entities could refer to consult with ease when they consider developing their new charters.

Mr Owusu-Agyei said the Sector was also planning monitoring and evaluation visits to agencies that had already launched their charters to assess their impact on service delivery. Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning said the Ministry believed in accountability and when the public had information on service, "they would hold us accountable. For us at the Ministry, the charter would enable us discharge our functions in a more open, supportive and transparent manner".