Commemoration of UN/AU Public Service Day: Creation of digital platform will facilitate AfCFTA — Dr Arthur

The Coordinator at the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in Accra, Dr Fareed Arthur, has said the creation of a digital platform will enable institutions to relate to one another and work better under the initiative. 

The reality is that the world is changing and we cannot extend the same attitude we exhibited as public servants during independence to drive AfCFTA, he said.

Dr Arthur was speaking at the 2023 UN/AU Public Service Day celebration in Accra yesterday on the theme: “Building an African Continental Free Trade Area ready Public Sector”.

The event was attended by the leadership of workers from public sector institutions, among others. 

Priorities

Dr Arthur who was speaking on the topic “Priorities for public sector support in the implementation of AfCFTA and trade agreements,” said the public sector had a huge task in ensuring the smooth implementation of AfCFTA for the country to derive the benefit associated with the continental trade.

He said the world was moving at a fast pace and it required that public servants embraced transformation for accelerated growth.

Dr Arthur further urged the public sector to change its attitude towards infrastructure development, investment promotion and reforms, and enhance stakeholder engagements and public/private sector collaboration.

He said that investment promotion was critical to the successful implementation of AfCFTA, adding that “hosting the secretariat makes Ghana the commercial capital of Africa, but it must be attractive to be a good capital”.

“We need to consciously put in place measures to make the country an investment centre and business-friendly to attract the right investments,” Dr Arthur said.

He observed that some regulations in the country were too prohibitive which will not “enable us build a team that can win”.

Dr Arthur, therefore, called on policymakers to find ways to reduce such constraints to make business more competitive.

Vibrant public sector

The Kenya High Commissioner to Ghana, Eliphas Barine, said what Africa needed was a vibrant public sector to push its development agenda forward.

He said the public sector was not only expected to do things in an orderly manner, but were also expected to uphold the highest ethical standards and evidence-based advice to the government in the implementation of the continental trade.

Efficiency

The Chairman of the Public Services Commission, Prof. Victor Kwame Agyeman, said without an effective, efficient and competent public service, achieving the goals of AfCFTA would remain a mirage.

A Senior partner of AB & David Africa, David Ofosu-Dorte, said although African businesses were ready to work with the public sector, the attitude of some public servants had remained a stumbling block towards the growth of private businesses.

He also said that the private sector was not being engineered to be competitive because of barriers, ranging from policies, programmes and regulations in the public space.