Name and shame latecomers — Ransford Tetteh

The acting Managing Director of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Mr Ransford Tetteh, has called for the naming and shaming of public office holders who report to work late.

He stated that if the government’s intention of moving Ghana beyond aid would succeed, it required efficient management of time to ensure effective service delivery at the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

“If you go to the MDAs around 3 p.m., you sometimes do not find a single soul to access the service you need. Some of the public officials report to work very late.

“If we cannot report to work late in expatriate businesses, why are we accommodating lateness and non-punctuality in state-owned enterprises (SOEs)?” he quizzed.

Mr Tetteh was speaking during a courtesy call on him by officials of Punctuality Ghana Foundation, a public time management education campaign organisation.

The campaign

The project, which started in July last year, seeks to garner support from individuals, civil society organisations (CSOs), public officials and the clergy to educate the public on the need to manage time appropriately.

Under the project, which is being implemented by Wise Water Foundation (WWF), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), a number of programmes are being rolled out to promote punctuality in the country.

The programmes include the installation of clocks in public places, going on walks and floats, organisation of public fora, workshops and conferences and the display of punctuality signages in offices and public places.

So far, the Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye; the Ministers of Information and Employment and Labour Relations, Messrs Mustapha Abdul-Hamid and Ignatius Baffour Awuah, respectively; and the Chairman of the Church of Pentecost, Apostle Professor Opoku Onyinah, have endorsed the campaign.

Observation

While endorsing the campaign against lateness, Mr Tetteh also observed that: “There is a general breakdown of law and order, resulting in indiscipline on our roads which eventually causes delays and lateness to work.

“If we have to transform this country, we need concerted efforts to make the laws work,” he stressed.

Corruption

The Founder and Executive Director of Punctuality Ghana Foundation, Mr Emmanuel Amarquaye, urged officials of state institutions to up their game in terms of time management to help reduce corruption in the system.

“If we want to deal with corruption in this country, we need to address the issue of the misuse of time because when service delivery is delayed due to poor time management, money will begin to exchange hands,” he said.

The director also entreated authorities of educational institutions to incorporate time management into the school system to produce citizens who would be time conscious.

Mr Amarquaye further urged both state and non-state actors, as well as faith-based organisations (FBOs), to join in the campaign to weed out indiscipline at workplaces.

Recall

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, during his state of the nation address to Parliament in February last year, charged state institutions to realign their activities to reduce wastage of time.

He also called on the public to be responsible in the use of time to enhance service delivery. In spite of the call, some Ghanaians have still not changed their attitude to time management.