Sustaining civil service productivity, delivery through digitalisation

Since independence, conversations around improving the Civil Service for efficient productivity and service delivery for national development have remained topical, with much of the good intentions resulting in significant progress.

The Civil Service as a public institution with the important mandate, a remarkable history and a brighter future which has the responsibility of assisting with the formulation and implementation of policies for the socio-economic development of the country is determined to do more and lead the way in the transformation of Ghana’s economy amid current global challenges.

Faced with the nationalistic duty to lead the transformation agenda, the service has taken significant steps to leverage digitalisation for excellent service delivery to the citizenry in line with its vision to be a modernised customer-sensitive public organisation providing world-class services and policy advice and transparent services.

It therefore means a vibrant civil service as the machinery of government responsible for policy formulation and implementation for the transformation of the economy is making strides to position itself in the global digital space in order to achieve sustained growth that would create jobs and achieve prosperity for all.

Celebrations

For the past years, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service has organised a series of Civil Service Week celebrations and awards ceremonies to honour the excellent contributions of past and current civil service staff in diverse ways to the growth and transformation of the nation.

The theme for the 2022 Civil Service Week Celebration and Awards Ceremony was: “Digitalisation in the Civil Service of Ghana:

An Agenda for Improved Productivity and Service Delivery.”

It was held on Friday, July 29, 2022 in Accra, with the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia as the guest of honour.

Speaking at the event, he expressed his delight that digitalisation had brought efficiency, accountability and real transformation in public sector productivity and service delivery.

Similarly, the two guest speakers at the public lecture held on Tuesday, July 26, 2022, who shared their views on the theme and the implications of Civil Service digitalisation on private sector development, underscored the importance of the various digital platforms currently in use which had created the enabling environment for civil service staff to serve their clients in public and private sectors better.

They emphasised the fact that digitalisation was enhancing the ease of doing business and eliminating the cumbersome process of accessing services offered by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

They added that the country stood to benefit from the advantages of digitalisation while working on the negative side to reduce the impact on those who used the platform.

The good intentions of the Civil Week celebration towards service delivery was demonstrated to civil service staff and the public with policy fair and exhibitions by MDAs, as well as the services by National Identification Authority, National Health Insurance Scheme, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority, Passport Office, Births and Deaths Registry, Registrar General’s Department, NITA, Ghana Health Service, among others.

The week-long celebration also ensured the mobilisation of some private sector institutions such as Hedge Pension, MTN, Vodafone, Airtel Tigo and others for the policy fair and exhibition which brought some benefits to the public who needed their services.

It also witnessed massive participation in the clean-up exercise for workplace environmental hygiene, socialisation activities with a 32 team inter-ministerial football tournament, a food bazaar involving men’s cooking competition in the various Ghanaian dishes from the16 regions represented by ministries and demonstrated the abilities, extra-talents and team spirits of the civil service for a common purpose.

AfCFTA

Indeed, the expectations on Civil Service productivity and service delivery for national economic transformation are high especially when Ghana, the black star of Africa is hosting the African Continental Free Trade Area, seen by many as an excellent strategy to develop Africa’s economy.

In this respect, what is required of civil service employees is to be dedicated, open to new ideas, demonstrate extraordinary skills, and greater commitment to work and service delivery.

As it was said by an eminent civil servant, Nathan Anang Quao: “It is the perfection of the civil servant that will move this country forward and not the politician”.

The Civil Service has a bright future and must mobilise resource and strength to digitalise faster to continue to wear the accolade of being government machinery with pride.

The Civil Service Week celebrations would continue to mark an important milestone of the service’s transformational journey and this is an opportunity for civil service staff to take advantage of having the event and utilising its platforms to contribute to forging civil service solidarity and excellence at the workplace.

As the week celebration is aimed at recognising the hard work of civil service staff in achieving collective sector goals, the call on sector heads by the Head of Civil Service, Nana Kwasi Agyekum-Dwamena, to do diligent work by nominating deserving civil service staff for consideration for awards for their meritorious and selfless service to the nation should be seen as a step in the right direction.

The writer is the Corporate Affairs Officer, Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority. E-mail: Stematash@gmail.com