The Ministry of Public Sector Reform last Monday marked the 2008 Africa Public Service Day and the President’s Excellence Award ceremony in Accra, under the theme “From Policy to Result-Based Implementation .

The awards were aimed at institusions which have made imaginative and cost effective interventions which have delivered positive results for communities in their respective areas of operation through out the country.

The Africa Service Day was initiated by Africa Ministers of Public and Civil Services at the third Biennal Pan-African conference in 2001 in Windhoek, Namibia to set standards that would restore the dignity and prestige of the public service as well as raise performance levels and productivity of public servants in the discharge of their duties and responsibilities.

The charter seeks to enhance professionalism and ethics in the public services and to addresse the fundamental conditions required for strengthening competence, ethical values, image and code of conduct for African Public Service employees.

The Minister for Public Sector Reform, Hon Samuel Owusu-Agyei, informed the public that, the Africa Union has set aside 23rd June of each year to be celebrated by all Member States of Africa in recognition of the efforts and achievements of public services workers in promoting the development programmes of their various Governments.

He said, this year’s theme for the celebration is relevant to the national development agenda and to present an occasion to showcase the major achievements.

Some of the inroads that have been made in the public sector reform agenda, he explained, are the establishment of Local Government Service, the establishment of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to ensure fair, transparent and consistent implementation of Government’s  Public Sector Pay Policy and other agendas

Hon. Owusu-Agyei noted that, the President’s Excellence Awards has been designed to recognize and reward outstanding achievements by Public Sector institutions.

Some of the institutions awarded were the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing-Community Water and Sanitation Agency, the University of Ghana- Center for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systerms,

 
Others were the Ministry of Health-Ghana Health Service, the Public Health Division, the Judicial Service-Commercial Court, the University of Ghana Dental School,  the Ghana Police Service- Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit, Ministry of Fisheries and the Private Court Process Servers Schemes for the Judicial Service.