Features
MDAs, corruption and productivity
The Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have all been set up by law to play a role in the history of this country and help promote the country’s developmental agenda.
Their roles are in the form of political, social and economic efforts to make life better for people in the country. Politically, they are setup to play a role in the implementation of government policies so that governance will take a smooth shape to achieve the aims and objectives for which government is instituted.
SOCIAL FRONT
On the social front, they play a useful role in the implementation of education, health, agriculture and other areas, so as to bring about full fulfillment for everyone in the country. Economically, productivity cannot rise with the private sector if nothing is done in the public sector to partner with the private sector for the good of the entire country.
The private sector has a crucial role to play in ensuring that the country as a whole is able to achieve its objectives in all dimensions of development. Indeed, the private sector is said to be the engine of growth, so when encouraged and facilitated in the right way, it will be able to bring about the needed result to fashion growth and development. The public sector, for its part, is expected to implement governmental policies in the most appropriate manner and be able to coordinate all matters in the public and private sectors of the economy.
GOOD COLLABORATION
There must always be good collaboration between the public sector through the MDAs so that the desired results will be achieved for the country as a whole. These MDAs are indeed expected to be effective and, in some cases, make the desired profit and even pay dividends to the national coffers.
Unfortunately, many of the MDAs are not effective because their practices as agencies of the state reflect corruption and other negative tendencies that do not augur well for the country. Many departments and agencies, for example, are unable to pay dividends because of great inefficiency on their part, resulting in them continuously demanding money from the central government while they themselves are unable to cut down on their corrupt practices and make money for the country.
IMPLEMENTATION OF GOVT POLICIES
The Ministries are not expected to make profits but to implement government policies in a manner that will ensure effectiveness and efficiency on all fronts. When this is done efficiently, waste will be avoided, and the government will not have to continue to overspend resources on them.
In the case of many of the Departments and Agencies, some level of profit is expected to be made so that their operations will not continue to constitute a total drain on the state’s coffers.
AGENCIES OF THE MINISTRIES
Also, there are many Agencies that have been equipped to operate profitably and supplement the efforts of the central government so that productivity on the whole will be very high and become satisfactory for the country.
Many of the Agencies in the form of public entities have Chief Executives as well as Boards of Directors to help shape up activities, yet some of them think that their appointments have been made for them to embezzle state funds and waste financial resources that could otherwise have been utilised to bring about productivity.
DESIRED PRODUCTIVITY
The Chief Executives should know that they are not appointed for the sake of mere appointment but to work hard and, in some cases, sacrifice themselves to bring about the desired productivity. This is an issue that must be taken seriously.
When public resources are used by Chief Executives to the neglect of other members of staff, this does not help to move the country forward.
PUBLIC ENTITIES
Some of the public entities are doing very well. Unfortunately, many others are total disappointments because the appointed Chief Executives discriminate among staff and result in the victimisation of members of staff who refuse to embark upon dishonest lives.
Again, many of these Chief Executives buy cars and valuable gifts for Board members with the aim of influencing them into cohesion and not pointing out any wrongdoing in the public entity. The same thing is usually done by these corrupt Chief Executives for their heads of finance as well as procurement and other influential departments, all in a bid to frustrate them and give these corrupt Chief Executives their way and carry out their dirty tricks.
It is unfortunate that these things keep happening and recurring, but until we put a stop to all of them, not much can be achieved for the public sector.
ROLE OF SIGA
Fortunately, we have the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA), which has been setup for the purpose of effectively checking the inefficiencies and corrupt practices of the Chief Executives of public organisations and some of their corrupt Board members.
Not quite long ago, we heard the Director General of SIGA refer to this negative tendency and make an announcement to the effect that non-performing Chief Executives and Board members will have to leave their organisations to allow better things to happen.
COMPROMISED POSITIONS
He again pointed out that if Chief Executives buy vehicles and other things for the personal use of their Board members, then these Board members have compromised their positions and are, therefore, not fit enough to run these public organisations.
Many of the socioeconomic problems being encountered in this country stem from this unfortunate situation, but the blame is always put on the central government.
It is expected that SIGA will be given more powers to bite and bring about greater efficiency in the public sector. This is what we need as a country to move forward.
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BY DR KOFI AMPONSAH-BEDIAKO
THE typical itinerant salesman in Sikaman is a herbalist. He is normally a slim macho with the capacity to perambulate the expanse of area covering the triangle of Accra-Tema-Ashiaman. In short, he can walk a total of 60 miles a day, marketing a product that cures every disease, including poverty. 
The door-to-door herbal pharmacist advertises his product by word of mouth. He has nothing to do with the Food and Drugs Board (FDB). After all, his concoctions do not feature on FM stations.
Those herbalists who cannot walk to propagate the herbal gospel, liaise with drivers of mass transportation and their mates. They are, therefore, given the chance to sell their products on Benz buses that ply the routes.
Normally, the herbalist starts his sales message with a prayer and Bible study. He asks the passengers to bow down their heads in supplication to God the father, the son, the Holy Spirit.
When a herbalist asks the passengers to close their eyes and bow their heads, Moslems on board naturally feel offended. They feel that the herbalist has no right to assume that every passenger is a Christian. They think such an assumption is an affront to Islam.
So a Moslem on board will raise the hand for a point of order. He’ll remind the herbalist that it would be in his own interest to mind his language.
“Be careful the way you address people in a public place. Not every person here is a Christian,” he’d state assertively.
Of course, the herbalist will promptly ignore him, but would all the same “watch” his tongue. Who knows whether or not the Moslem brother is inspired by Quoranic zeal to defend the tenets of Islam to the hilt?
When he starts saying, “Wallahi!” and “Inshallah!” it could be the beginning of proclaiming Islam as supreme, a point which must be driven home with talibanic precision.
So the herbalist must tread carefully lest he steps on fire.
The herbalist could even add a measure of mirth to it all, by announcing that Christians on board today have very interesting company on the journey, but that should not detract from the business of the day.
The Moslem brother will weigh the words carefully and offer a wry smile.
He must be careful the occasion does not degenerate into the use of semantics and proverbial oration to deride his conviction that public utterances must be mindful of religious sensibilities. He has made his point very clear and expects that it is taken in good faith in the interest of a peaceful journey.
The herbalist will now open the New Testament and preach salvation, stating clearly that salvation can come only through Jesus Christ and NOBODY else.
The Moslem brother will now start twitching his moustache. The visible and almost revolutionary reflexes of his upper lip can be an indication that sentiments have begun superseding reason, and the outcome could well be tragic now shift uneasily in his seat.
The time has come for him to also express his right to the religion of his fore-bears. He’ll put his hand into his pocket and rise to his feet. The time has indeed come!
This article was first published on Saturday, September 9, 2006
When the cause of a particular problem like sickness, disease, sudden illness, a social issue etc. are not known, it stands to reason that resolving it becomes a huge challenge.
Citizens would understand the government when public announcements are made to the effect that government is trying to find a solution to the issue, even though it is taking a while for it to be resolved because citizens are rational beings.
On the other hand, if the solution to a particular issue is known to everybody but the government for whatever reason, is dragging its feet in resolving it, citizens become frustrated and begin to lose trust in their leaders.
One such issue is the heavy traffic along a section of the Kasoa – Odokor road. A short stretch of bad road between the traffic light at the Weija Government Hospital and the entrance to the entrance of the overhead that leads to the N1, is the cause of the problem but nothing is being done about it, day after day, week after week, month after month. Thus is clearly unacceptable.
Another issue that requires urgent attention is the lack of pavements along a lot of streets in parts of the various Municipal Assemblies. Exercise is a prerequisite for long life and healthy living and for those of us who it has become a way of life, this issue of people putting up structures right to the edge of the drains beside the roads, are making life difficult for us.
We are compelled to walk along the roads, putting our lives at serious risk. Pedestrians should never be compelled to compete with vehicles on our streets and roads. Roads and streets are made for vehicles and pavements are made for pedestrians. That is the norm. Any attempt to normalise a situation where pedestrians are mingling with vehicles is insanity.
It is the road regulations that makes it so and therefore district or municipal assemblies are to take responsibility and ensure that spaces for pavements are not encroached upon. Citizens have rights that must be protected by their leaders and making pavements available to pedestrians, is one of them.
When we hear of teachers having sex with students, it appears it is something recent. It is not a new phenomenon. It has been there since Adam. Perhaps this issue is getting much attention due to the proliferation of social media. It was an open secret in times past when Teachers were in relationships with female students and some married them immediately after completion of school.
Some teachers were also known to be having unholy interactions with female pupils but due to the times that these acts occurred, human rights issues and the awareness around it, allowed such unscrupulous teachers to get away with their crimes.
Now we are in a different era and so a Headmaster is now in hot waters. He is alleged to have raped about 19 female students and as usual, some officials tried to cover it up and are also in hot waters and their actions or inactions in the matter are under investigation.
Why the man has been allowed to roam freely without being arrested is simply mind boggling. It appears that the law applies differently, depending on who you are. This issue came to public attention sometime in August this year, yet the police had not arrested or invited this man for question regarding the rape allegation.
It has come out that he is a Constituency Secretary of the ruling party and the question in the public domain is that, is it because he is a political figure that is why he is still walking around without questioning? I believe in the rule of law so let us hold our breadth and let the proper thing be done.
The police must however be seen to be active in this matter. God bless.
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