IMANI Ghana has released a list of what it describes
as the top 10 best and worst public sector leaders in the country.
A press statement signed by the Executive Director
of IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe identified the National Health Insurance
Authority(NHIA), the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), the Registrar
General’s Department, the Ghana Shippers Authority among others as the “top 5 most inspirational
public sector leadership awardees for 2014″
While other institutions such as the Chief of
Staff’s Office,the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) , the
National Service Secretariat, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative
Justice(CHRAJ),the Auditor-General,the Bank of Ghana, the Sports Ministry, the
National Pensions Regulatory Authority and the Social Security and National
Insurance Trust were named as the “top worst performers”
Some of the institutions named as the worst
performers have come under intense criticism for massive corrupt practices they
have been implicated in.
CHRAJ and NSS were in the news for bad reasons in
2014, following the scandal that hit both institutions.
The CHRAJ Boss, Lauretta Lamptey was accused of
wasting 180,000 dollars on rent alone while the Director of the National
Service Secretariat(NSS), Alhaji Imoro was identified in a GH 7.9 million
financial canker at the Secretariat.
Below is the full statement issued by the IMANI
Ghana
IMANI has always advocated the need for public
institutions to be guided by the progressive ideas of asserting their
independence from their appointing authorities, effectively and transparently
communicating their work to the public in order to achieve transformational
leadership. These basic guidelines collectively help a country in the provision
of public goods, such as sound regulation, enforcement of sensible laws,
ensuring quality standards where they are needed and above all provision of
security for our lives and property.
This was to be the basis for IMANI to reluctantly offer rare praise for
doing what was expected of public office holders and civil servants who we pay
through taxes.
It also fits our mission statement, which is to
subject any government policy that is likely to have systemic implications for
development to basic ‘value for money’, ‘due diligence’ and ‘rational choice’,
‘public choice’ and ‘vested interest’ analysis and then actively engage in
public advocacy to publicize the results, with a view to promoting peace and
prosperity through human flourishing.
As we celebrate 10 years of informing people and
influencing policies, our own reflection over the contribution of the public
sector to Ghana’s development has been one of disappointment as we have
witnessed the slowest public reform efforts over the last decade. This has
become worse with the incredible amount of brazen scandals within some public
institutions. In spite of the overwhelming crisis of confidence, some public
institutions are struggling to live up to their mandate and values, hence the
need to recognize and applaud them for providing leadership.
So here is our Top 5 Most Inspirational Public
Sector Leadership Awardees for 2014:
1) National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA)
Established under the National Health Insurance Act
2003, Act 650, the NHIA has pursued its mandate with passion, save the one time
cacophonous and disorderly promise by the current political office holders to
make the NHIA survive on a one-time premium payment. With that spineless dream
discarded, the NHIA moved on to make swift and effective changes to its
operations through the introduction of the biometric health insurance cards in
January 2014. Aside its staff working for extended periods of time to register
as many persons from all walks of life especially children, the elderly and
pregnant women. Public and some private institutions were specially catered for
as the NHIA deployed mobile teams to ease congestion at certain registration
centres.
Unlike other public agencies, the Authority has a
functional website with its mandate and functions well spelt out. Electronic
documents on the site are current and relevant. Information about their health
providers, district offices and contacts (including call centers) are available
as well. However, what the NHIA needs in
order to sustain its operations is for
piloting the process of taking off relatively well off clients who are
able to afford private health care so it can focus resources on providing quality care of the many
indigenes in society.
2) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
The Ghana Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a
public agency set up under the EPA Act 490, 1994 with a mandate of formulating
environmental policy and making recommendations for the protection of the
environment. The EPA has had its fair share of battles with industry and their
externalities. However, it has been able to achieve some appreciable measure of
success in terms of monitoring environmental activities as well as extending
some level of support to the private sector. For instance, the Kwame Nkrumah
University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in collaboration with the
Technical University of Delft, the Netherlands, and Farmerline Limited-Ghana
partnered with the EPA and other government agencies to undertake a project
aimed at monitoring and collecting data on weather patterns to guide farming
activities in Ghana’s cocoa growing areas. The project is to extend support to
vegetable and cocoa farmers for effective food production, harvest forecasts,
and water resource management.
The EPA has rolled out an energy conservation
project. The project, which would be piloted in hotels and other manufacturing
companies, would include the installation of energy saving bulbs, shadow
sensors, energy saving key cards, biogas among other equipment that would
reduce the cost of energy to between 30 to 40 per cent. The energy saved would
in turn be put back on the national grid to benefit industries and reduce the
load shedding in the country. Apart from this, the EPA is working closely with
hotels in particular and other manufacturing companies to put waste generated
by their businesses into a biogas system to help reduce their energy
consumption. The EPA can do more. We would like to see it extend its operations
to all hospitals, clinics and health posts in the country by working with the
private sector to help dispose off biomedical waste in a safe and efficient
manner.
3) Ghana Shippers Authority (GSA)
The GSA is living up to its official expectations to
effectively manage the demand side of shipping with a view to protecting and promoting the
interests of Ghanaian shippers, by employing innovation in its practice and
initiatives to provide cutting edge shipper services that meet the dynamics of
the maritime industry.
The GSA has over the years ensured that the Ghanaian
shipper has real time, safe and reliable delivery of import and export cargoes
by all modes of transport in the most cost – effective manner. The GSA has enhanced
its competitive edge through its continual cooperation and collaboration with
private sector organizations and advocacy firms to upgrade the knowledge of the
shipping public and other industry – related players through workshops and
seminars.
The GSA has played a significant role in the payment
of competitive freight rates and other related ancillary charges through
continued effective monitoring and negotiations. The GSA in its quest to ensure
a level playing field for competition has instituted operational parameters
under which providers and consumers of shipper services can operate.
The Authority has also initiated projects that are
aimed at infrastructural expansions and upgrades to address developmental and
technological changes in the maritime industry. The Authority has been
effective in its pursuit of excellence in ensuring optimum deregulation and
liberalization of shipping services in the country. However, the GSA could extend its finer
leadership qualities to the leadership of the Ports, Harbours and Customs in
order to rid itself of corruption. It is
disheartening to hear that due to the many corrupt acts at our ports and
harbours, clients in inland countries are diverting most of their cargo away from
our ports to neighbouring Ivory Coast and Togo.
Clearly the Presidential Task Force on checking corruption at the ports
and harbours have done very little to help.
3) Registrar General’s Department
The mandate of the Registrar General’s Department
(RGD) is to ensure an efficient and effective administration of entities
inter-alia the registration of businesses, industrial property, marriages,
administration of estates, and public trustees; to provide customer friendly
services and accurate data for national planning. Testimonies from the private
sector indicate are positive and indicates an improvement in the registration
of businesses. Now delays associated with the registration of businesses have
significantly reduced. This is partly attributed to the online registration on
the agency’s website.
The RGD has also been instrumental in the campaign
for the protection of intellectual protection rights. This year, they partnered
with IP Network Ghana to stress the essence of IP rights and its implications
for creativity and innovation. The RGD
need to decentralize its operations through the setting up of mobile
registration centres or employing an army of volunteers to register as many
small and medium enterprises as can be covered. The formalization of businesses
for SMEs will enhance their growth whilst earning tax revenue for the
government.
4) Ghana Stock Exchange
The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE)’s performance in a
difficult 2014 was partially successful based on its impressive performance in
2013. For the first six months of 2013 recorded a very impressive performance
as against the whole of 2012. From January to July 2013, the GSE Composite
Index stood at 61.39 per cent, as against 6.06 per cent for the whole of 2012.
The GSE Financial Stock Index equally stood at 61.66 per cent, as against 0.53
per cent for the entire 2012 total market capitalization for the period under
review stood at GH¢55.78 billion as against GH¢54.95 billion in 2012 with
domestic capitalization doubling from GH¢5.57 billion to GH¢10.57 billion.
Total volume of trade was equally on the rise. At the close of business onJuly
31, total trade stood at 209.16 million as against 218.13 million, for the
whole of 2012.
In terms of value, total trade at mid-2013
stood at GH¢230.51 million, as against
GH¢102.2 million for the whole of 2012.Reviewing the market, Bloomberg and
other international news wire service described the market as “best performing
market in Sub-Saharan Africa”.
Listed companies also recorded significant price
increases during the first half year. Out of the 34 companies, CAL Bank led the
gainers with 194 per cent followed by Enterprise Group Ltd. with 191 per cent,
Benso Oil Palm Plantation, 150 per cent, GCB, 134 per cent, and PZ Cussons
Ghana, 122 per cent. Seven companies gained more than 50 per cent in their
share price while eight companies gained above 10 per cent. Eleven companies
maintained their prices with only four recording some level of depreciation.
Investor interest in the market soared with the
massive performance of the bourse. This is evidenced in the fact that the
number of equities changing hands increased by 161 per cent, compared to the
previous period. Volume traded also exhibited a similar trend; hence growing by
435 per cent. The introduction of the Ghana Alternative Market (GAX) by the GSE
has afforded some SME’s the opportunity to secure much needed longer term
capital at a relatively lower cost allowing for future expansion, growth and
greater ability to stand competition.
The Ghana Stock Exchange was established in July
1989 as a private company limited by guarantee under the Companies Code of
1963. It was given recognition as an authorized Stock Exchange under the Stock
Exchange Act of 1971 (Act 384) in October 1990.
So, that’s it for the leading lights for 2014. We
usually do not publish the top worst performers.
However the following deserve
critical mentions for being the least inspirational public sector leaders and
we offer how they could reform.
1. The Chief
of Staff’s Office
Over the last two years, this office has been reputably
ineffective and profusely wasteful. Last
year the Office of the Chief of Staff alone overspent its budget by about Ghc41
million ($ 13m) on items that are not clear to the public. The Chief of Staff
gives orders and counter orders which played out comically in public a few
times making a mockery of what is expected of a well coordinated office. A Chief of Staff‘s office should ordinarily
be interested in shoring up the capabilities and capacities of the human
resources the Presidency has to work with. He must of course be mindful of party
political interests. However, he should ensure that the latter does not unduly
affect the fortunes of the country. Demonstrably, the former Food and Drugs
Chief had been a cancerous failure, reversing almost all the important
universally acclaimed professionalism his board and other diligent staff of the
FDA had brought to bear on the institution. To have allowed the appointment of
same to a very important institution like COCOBOD was not only the worst crime
committed in managerial and financial science, it was like thrusting a hot
ironed knife into the hearts of cocoa farmers and investors. A year on at COCOBOD, the fears of many cocoa
watchers has been confirmed through the revealing Cocoa documentary by
Multimedia’s Joy FM.
The constitution of various boards in this country
has been severely undermined by the principle of ensuring differing
capabilities on boards to outright mockery of the process by fitting many
square pegs in round holes. The results have not been surprising. To have heard
and witnessed the shameful and potentially criminal justification of obscene
travel allowances for most board members of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority
when the airport elevators are for most of the year functionally inactive was
worrying. The flooding of important grounds at the Airport was shameful for a
‘gateway’ to West Africa. The GCAA’s
board most certainly must have made it impossible for the Director –General of
the GCAA to work in order to achieve his otherwise professional productivity. Air-Commodore (Rtd.) Memphey who was
appointed Director-General of the GCAA in 2009, is credited with overseeing the
transformation and growth of the aviation industry over the past five
years. The creation of a Power Ministry
is another wasteful venture occasioned by a complete disillusion from a self-imposed
chaos in the energy sector.
The Chief of Staff seems to have turned the
Presidency into a hub for negotiating deals that never get passed in parliament
or when they are sent to parliament, they are passed at the frightening speed
of light. Out of 23 oil contracts, only 7 have been published by the
government. As Parliament has become politically unaccountable to Ghanaians on
value for money projects introduced by the Executive, the Chief of Staff should
be filling the gap.
Redeeming the image of the Chief Of Staff’s Office.
To redeem the office’s dormant and least
inspirational image, it must assemble all experts to advice the governments on
all its projects to properly evaluate them. On the issue of value-for-money,
the 2014 budget statement read “Government takes a very serious view of
Value-for-Money and transparent means for it’s contracting for projects and
services that involve the use of public funds”. IMANI on that note proposed
that government should “Declare a moratorium on all the current projects. The
government should list all the projects they are currently funding and submit
them to a “Value for Money” review; value for money audits shouldn’t take more
than 3 months to be completed. The 2015 budget was however very quiet on the
value-for-money initiative in 2014. This
is where the Chief Of Staff’s leadership can be felt. It is heart-wrenching to
note that the Tamale Airports was claimed to have been constructed at the cost
of $100m and a mere refurbishment of the Kumasi Airport Runway could swallow
$29m of our taxes when we know that Ethiopia is building from scratch three
very modern airports for a total of $64m.
It is important to understand that whilst for most
strategic projects the requisite expertise may be spread across multiple ministries,
departments and agencies, the Chief of Staff must see to it that the Cabinet
Office is strengthened through a thorough coordination of expertise across the
civil service and above all he must have the gravitas and power to keep the
Better Ghana project of the government on course instead of merely existing.
2. The Controller and Accountant General’s
Department (CAGD) and National Service Secretariat and CHRAJ
If there were two institutions that had perfected
the art of making nonsense of all the reform efforts firmly established by the
Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to rein in the haemorrhaging wage bill, it
is certainly the Controller and Accountant General’s Department and the
National Service Secretariat. Apart from busily padding the ghost pay roll with
more ghosts, the CAGD had refused to allow technology, transparent technology
to fix the mess in the public payroll. Under its watch plunderous activities of
the National Service Secretariat were allowed passage which leaves the lay
public wondering if the two organizations were not directly benefitting from
the organised looting. Some Ministries and the controller and accountant
general disregard the publicly declared moratorium on employments by the
Finance Ministry. The Finance Ministry may well be informed that the vaunted
GIFMIS model to check this illicit dissipation of public funds will never work
on a faulty accounting system. Instead
of wasting nearly $80m on GIFMIS and pretending to pay human beings through a
payment platform called Ezwich, Ghana should simply hand over the entire public
payroll to IT specialists such as SOFT Tribe which has been helping clean a
part of the payroll they currently manage.
Evidently as the party for all went on with our taxes, even CHRAJ, a
body mandated with powers to protect and defend our human rights joined in the
loot. CHRAJ,an otherwise fine
institution that performed creditably with fewer resources under Ms Anna
Bossman and Justice Emile Short has been severely pillaged, abused by its
leadership through brazen acts of corruption. Thankfully, the Chief Justice has
established a prima facie case for dealing with the head of CHRAJ so the matter
ends there until a newer CHRAJ is born hopefully soon.
3. The Auditor-General
The Auditor- General had simply been sleepy on his
job until shaken by the legal team of the OccupyGhana movement. That singular action by OccupyGhana to compel
the AG to perform his functions was acknowledged by some ministers of state and
the President himself. Although the 2015
budget said nothing substantial on transparency and anti-corruption initiatives
the Finance Minister acknowledged in his budget speech, paragraph 142, thus, in
2015 ‘the government will implement initiatives to enforce the recommendations
of the Auditor General’s report. This will involve sanctioning and possible
prosecution of persons indicted by the report.’ This was essentially a
reaffirmation of the constitutionally mandated charge on the Auditor-General to
perform his duty. It would appear the entire Audit Service was simply wasting
tax payer funds as it did very poor in justifying the allocated expenditure.
The audit service was allocated GH₵125,527,610 in 2015 while it received
GH₵119,115,792 in 2014. This represents a 5% increase. A review of the activities
for 2014 and projections for 2015 appear very similar with no visible extension
of role to warrant the 5% increase in allocation. If the fight against grand
official corruption is to be won, it must be supported by an active audit
service.
4. The Bank of Ghana and Sports Ministry
The Bank of Ghana through its unwarranted control of
the forex market perfected the voodoo act in economics and helped our currency,
the cedi lose so much value, whilst rail roading the fortunes of our economy in
to an abyss. By the end of December 2014, Ghana’s cedi was adjudged by almost
all global financial houses to be one of two worst performing currencies in
Africa, the other being the Zambian Kwacha. Both countries are on bended knees
at the IMF begging for external financial discipline to be injected in their
economies. The Sports ministry took
Ghana’s current status as a very corrupt country a step further, earning us
higher marks on the grand Hollywood comedy platform as we truly became the butt
of international jokes. No further comments.
5. National Pensions Regulatory Authority and the
Social Security and National Insurance Trust
These two institutions ostensibly responsible for
the future and health of our pensions have by their various public
pronouncements succeeded in establishing firmer doubts about the positive
future of our pensions. It is still unclear where millions of dollars in
pension money have been kept. It is more egregious to leave many Ghana analysts
guessing if the millions of pension money missing have not found their way into
suspicious bank purchases and several crony capitalist deals which have sullied
the reputation of the government internationally. Frankly, it cannot be
credible when on the same day in a week, the Ministers of Labour say the value
[of pensions] is Ghc 440m, the Pension regulator says GHc 1.64bn – (remember it
is the same figure it says it had last year) – and later the state owned daily
Graphic is reporting that the pension regulator suggests that the real figure
is Ghc 2.1bn. The minister of
agriculture sometime last year said the value is Ghc 1.2bn. A forensic audit
into the activities of the NPRA and SSNIT be as a matter of urgency be
conducted in order to first ascertain where the missing funds are and secondly
why contributors to the second tier pension funds are receiving less than 3%
returns when the real rate of returns over the period had averaged 16%.
Special Mentions
The following public sector agencies deserve special
mention for their work.
The Ministry of Communications under the leadership of
Dr Edward Omane Boamah has effectively neutralized the damaging effect of many
government’s untrained communicators. The ministry deserves commendation for
increasing access to broad band services although at very expensive rates. The
Ministry could have allowed the existing Telcos to provide 4G data and Internet
services instead of licensing entirely new companies that are struggling to
raise funds for the purpose. The Ministry should examine all arguments in its
proposed agenda to have all telecommunication s go through a central port
called Interconnect. The Ministry should not be seen centralizing speech and
give the impression that civil liberties would be threatened with quite an
archaic arrangement known to ex-communist states.
The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission deserve
commendation for clearly maintaining a credible database of all Ghanaian
workers, quite different from the padded numbers the CAGD flaunts with greater
dissipation of public funds. The FWSC should be allowed to properly evaluate
all public jobs in Ghana and ideally be the one that telling us who to recruit
and how many for each government department, agency and ministry.
The Ministry of Local Government comes up for
special mention especially as the new Minister seemed to have found favour with
many well meaning Ghanaians in his bid to clean the country of filth.
The Ministries of Trade and Foreign Affairs
under Haruna Iddrisu and Hannah Tetteh respectively dealt with the most
important trade matter for the sub region, Economic Partnership
Agreements. As the EPAs will be signed,
it is important for the current trade Minister Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah to begin
plans for national conversations on how Ghanaians can take advantage of the
opportunities in the agreement. As
always, IMANI is ready to assist on that front.
So, this completes our assessment of the most
inspirational and least inspirational public sector leadership awards for
2014. In 2015 and beyond, every Ghanaian
must actively seek to serve the interests of the country at the least
opportunity. We at IMANI will be helping
the government to effectively mobilise revenues for development through our
work with DANIDA. We shall use our access to the international diplomatic
community and beyond to encourage investments into Ghana. Happy New Year.
IMANI is Ghana’s Local Think Tank.
Source: Citifmonline.com
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