5 year plan will modernise public sector – Prez. Akufo-Addo

According to him, the 2018-2023 National Public Sector Reform Strategy (NPSRS) would review and mordenise the public sector.
He indicated that, the review of the current structure, processes, systems and internal management functions of the public sector is intended to support government development priorities.
The President intimated that, the modernised and improved working conditions are key to increasing productivity in the public sector.
Speaking at the launch of the NPSRS themed ‘Delivering for Citizens and Private Sector’, he noted that, the core aim of the reform is to strengthen the human resource capacity of the public sector to improve its delivery.
He said that, the reform would ensure the establishment of an electronic record management system for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDA’s).
“The public sector will go paperless and reduce its human interface” he noted.
He urged all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA’s) to identify its roles and programmes within the scheme and draw its budget in accordance with its activities in order for the MDA’s to have its fund to ensure the continuity of the reform.
A robust communication team would be established at the office of the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, to support the coordination of the scheme.
Delivering his speech, the Senior Minister, indicated that Public Sector Reforms from the 1960s have never achieved its desired results due to uncoordinated, inefficient and ineffective design and implementation of reforms in the Public Sector and this has largely been attributed to the absence of credible strategy.
He added that government transformational agenda of ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ requires the necessary reforms in the Public Sector. He further said that the agenda of ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ agenda cannot be achieved with the current status quo of the Public Sector, hence needs the reform.
The Minister added that the government has a composite agenda to formalize the Ghanaian Economy through a number of initiatives such as the National Public Sector Reforms Strategy (NPSRS) 2018-2023.
The Senior Minister also revealed that, the NPSRS for 2017-2027 which was signed under the previous administration was accepted under this government but have decided to review the document framework.
He explained that, the government believes in the inclusion of the private sector for development and because of that, the government wants to ensure that the Public Sector is reformed to be more Citizen- and Private Sector-friendly. There was a Review Committee, assisted by a Technical Committee which constituted in June, 2017 to undertake the review.
During the review process, he said, eminent personalities who contributed a positive touch on both private and public sectors were invited to share their knowledge on how best government can make the Public Sector more effective in facilitating the Private Sectors to play an active role in job and wealth creation.
He also announced that, this reform strategy is to make the Ghanaian Public Sector more responsive, efficient and effective in the administrative service delivery to Citizenry and the Private Sector.
“The intention of the government is to make Public Sector play a catalytic role in supporting the private sector in job and wealth creation” he said.
Mr Osafo-Maafo indicated that, the government is committed to reforming and supporting the Public Sector to deliver a cutting edge service to the Private Sector and Citizenry so that opportunities would be created to deal head-on with poverty on sustainable basis.
To achieve the national public sector reform objectives, the President has charged the Minister to provide strategic directions to the reform process.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Public Sector Reforms, Mr Thomas Kusi Boafo ,highlighted the six pillars on which the strategy is going to focus on.
He indicated that, the pillars which includes Citizens and Private Sector –Focused Public Sector ,Capable and Disciplined Workforce, Strengthened Public Sector Regulatory Framework, Modernised and Improved Working Conditions, Strengthened Local Governance Structure and Digitised Public Sector Services and Systems would help achieved the goals of the strategy.