Bring back the passion into the work of ISD - staff urged

Director of the Information Services Department (ISD), Mr Charles Wereko, has charged officers of the Department to show passion in their work to enable it to re-occupy its enviable position in the dissemination of accurate information.

He said the frequent criticisms of the ISD Management on social media platforms by some ISD staff would only worsen its plights.

"We must resolve to work collectively and put our best foot forward while continuing to find solutions to our challenges with a positive and constructive spirit,” Mr. Wereko advised.

Mr Wereko gave the advice during a familiarisation tour of the ISD's Regional Offices in the Bono East, Bono, Ahafo, and Western North regions.

Mr Wereko was accompanied by Mrs Dorothy Silo Tagoe and Mr. Ebenezer Owusu-Ansah, Heads of ISD Regional Co-ordinating Division and Operations Division respectively.

The team held discussions with Regional Ministers of the host regions and other key stakeholders on ways to improve ISD's operations.

The Department, he said, has plans of refurbishing and re-tooling the Cinema Vans and Computer Units in line with its transformation programme.

The ISD Director stated that the renovation of the Right To Information Secretariat and the Research Section of the Department have been completed with modern state-of-art gadgets.

He said 260 Android phones have been distributed to the Regional and District Information Officers to facilitate the collection and transmission of data.

Mr. Wereko announced that plans were afoot for the Department to improve the remunerations of Information Officers.

He encouraged the officers to continuously upgrade themselves with the relevant professional qualifications and critical skills to enable them to effectively discharge their functions to justify the salary increment.

The Department, he said, had also finalised modalities for the payment of allowances, including overtime, transfer grants or haulage refund for transferred/retired officers, medical subsidy, car maintenance allowances, among others.

He charged Regional Information Officers to submit applications on behalf of their officers who qualify to enjoy any of the above-mentioned allowances to the ISD Head Office for prompt action.

Mr Wereko indicated that the Department had completed the training and posting of newly recruited RTI officers to all MDAs and key public institutions, adding that it would soon arrange training for its officers, particularly Deputy Information Officers who have been designated by their assemblies as RTI Officers.

The ISD Director announced that it had begun a social media campaign on the 2020 elections and encouraged the staff to use their platforms to educate the public for peaceful polls.

Mr Wereko advised all information officers to maintain professionalism in the discharge of their activities.