I am privileged to be part of today’s event which marks another forward step in the on-going transformation of the Ghanaian Public Services.

The overall objective of the government’s reform agenda is the transformation of the Public Service through a dynamic, focused and relatively short-term process designed to fundamentally reshape the public service, one of the transformation being “transforming service delivery”.

The Public Service must adapt to and respond in a sustainable, quality-conscious and efficient manner to the needs of users by placing them at the centre of their concerns, while ensuring transparency, efficiency and effectiveness.

Improving delivery of public services means improvement in the way those services are delivered. It is not a one-off exercise. It is an on-going and dynamic process because, as standards are met, they must be gradually raised.

The Ministry of Public Sector Reform has spearheaded the reactivation of the Client Service Unit (CSU) concept since 2005, by providing guidance and support to twenty-three (23) MDAs to establish Client Service Units. We are presently facilitating and supporting the establishment of eighteen (18) additional CSUs, including 10 districts in the Central, Eastern and Greater Accra Regions.

His Excellency the President, guided by the principle of service to the people, has identified the need to accelerate the pace of improving service delivery by taking the CSU concept to a higher level. Through his personal efforts, “The New Charter” initiative was born and, on October 24th, 2007, the land sector agencies had their New Charters launched and signed by His Excellency the President himself.

“The New Charter” does not mean introducing more rules and centralised processes or micro-managing service delivery activities. Rather, it involves creating a framework for the delivery of public services which puts citizens/customers first and enables them to hold public servants to account for the service they receive within time frames naturally agreed upon.

What we can do at the Ministry of Public Sector Reform, in order to ensure that these standards are achieved and maintained, is to provide the necessary policy framework and support to all Ministries, Departments and Agencies to restate their organisational vision, engender commitment to their mission statement, assign employees meaningful work and restructure their processes and procedures even in the mist of challenges that border on logistical support and motivation.

Improving public service delivery can be achieved with the present resources that the nation and specifically, the MDAs and MMDAs have.

Many improvements that the citizens would like to see cost nothing and can, sometimes, even reduce costs. A courteous and respectful greeting requires no financial investment. Failure to give a member of the public a simple, satisfactory explanation to an enquiry may result in an incorrectly completed application form which will cost time to put right. A few hours each month of a senior manager’s time spent talking to the public/their customers and the staff who serve them is worth hundreds of GH Cedi in customer surveys.

I am confident that, by putting our collective efforts behind the well-articulated vision of His Excellency the President, will enable us to achieve our goal.

I thank you for your attention.