Address By Mrs Mary Chinery-Hesse, Chief Advisor To The President, At The Launch Of The New Charters

Address By Mrs. Mary Chinery-Hesse, Chief Advisor To The President, At The Launch Of The New Charters For Five Public Service Agencies At The Ministry Of Information And National Orientation Conference Room, At 3 Pm On Wednesday, 28th November, 2007

HONOURABLE MINISTERS

CHIEF EXECUTIVES OF VARIOUS PUBLIC SERVICE AGENCIES

DISTINGUISHED INVITED GUESTS

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

OUR FRIENDS FROM THE MEDIA

It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you to this event which is very important for a number of reasons.

Our gathering here gives expression to the urgent need identified by H. E. the President that every MDA and MMDA is to prepare its New Charter and establish a Charter Unit with immediate effect. This intervention emanated from several concerns H. E. the President had about the pace and quality of service delivery in our country.

Public perception of and experience with the quality and mode of delivery of services provided by public service organisations have often not been very positive and satisfactory.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, our Government’s efforts to increase the efficiency of its public services have been recognised by ‘The Doing Business Reformers’ Club” which awarded Ghana the top award among five African countries for cutting bottlenecks in property registration, thus reducing delays from six months to one.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, “Doing Business 2008” report issued by IFC and the World Bank recognised Ghana as a global top 10 reformer for the second year running for making it easier for entrepreneurs and businesses to operate and contribute to economic development. In the span of one year, Ghana has earned 22 marks for “ease of doing business” and placed 87th out of 178 economies (previous report placed Ghana at 109th).

With the adoption of “The New Charter”, we have taken a giant leap in establishing a shared vision for our public service. It is, indeed, a significant step in our pursuit of serving the public interest, based on the principles outlined by H. E. the President at the launching of the Charters for the land sector agencies, just one month ago.

We are here, today, to witness the launching and the signing of “The New Charter” for five (5) of our public service Agencies. These are the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD), Registrar-General’s Department (RGD) and Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA).

Ladies and Gentlemen, we must focus our public service on its core activity, namely the delivery of services within agreed time frames and the provision of a conducive environment for private sector to play a leading role. The Government is committed to implementing policies that create an economic environment that is conducive to investment and ensures that a growing critical mass of Ghanaian entrepreneurs have access to improved public services, to enable them pursue their endeavours.

Business-friendly regulations and procedures lead to more registered businesses and starts-up, which in turn produce jobs and contribute to economic growth, improving our lives as a nation.

Today’s event is an opportunity for “The New Charter” initiative to gain practical credence, once the collaboration between the service providers and the consumers/users has been obtained. Hence, all public sector institutions must support the Government to deliver on its mandate.

It is my sincere hope that a dramatic culture change will be soon felt in all our public service organisations which will re-orient our public servants’ minds in acknowledging that customers are the most critical and important factor in their existence and operations, whilst pursuing excellence in service delivery.

Let me take this opportunity to commend the five public agencies and their sector Ministries for having responded early to the directive from H. E. the President as we look forward to their contribution in developing a capable public service committed to serve the citizens and the visitors to Ghana.

I hereby launch The New Charters for the five public service organisations: Customs, Excise and Preventive Service, Internal Revenue Service, Controller and Accountant-General’s Department, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority and Registrar-General’s Department.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you for your attention.

May I now ask the Heads of the Agencies to join me for the signing and witnessing of The New Charters.