Dr Nana Ato Arthur, the Head of the Local Government Service (LGS) has revealed how majority of the staff and officials at the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) have developed the bad habit of reporting to work very late, as if they were under no rules or authority.
According to him, the attitude of most of the staff had become very detrimental to the general performance of the assemblies, adding that, the earliest time some of the staff report to work was 9:00 or 10:00am and again leave their offices earlier than the closing time.
Dr Ato Arthur who is currently on a working visit to the Ashanti Region to assess the performance contract signed by the assemblies in 2020 disclosed with disappointment that some of the staff always lied about the time they report to work in the attendance book.
“For instance someone who reports to work at 9:15am in trying to cover up, will go into the attendance book and records that he/she reported to work at 8:01am. Sometimes others who report to work at 9:30am will look at the time of the last attendant and also follow the sequence. So if the last person records 8:01am then the rest will record from 8:02am, 8:03am, 8:04am, 8:05am and that order”.
He indicated that he had been informed that the majority of the local government staff especially the senior staff travel outside their districts on every weekend and report to work on Monday around midday.
Dr Ato Arthur said he was honestly not happy about the situation and cautioned those who use distance as justification for their lateness to refrain.
He disclosed that the LGS introduced the Biometric Clocking System which used to capture the fingerprints of all local government staff across the country as part of measures to fight lateness, but revert to the use of the attendance book due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr Ato Arthur fumed that in this current dispensation where the local government staff were enjoying flexible working hours or where staff had to come to work twice or thrice in a week due to COVID-19, he did not understand why people should still report to work late, adding that, “Government still pays their salaries and allowances in full even though they work for 15 days or less in a month.”
He condemned the bad attitude of majority of the staff who sit in their offices with earphones in their ears, making needless video and phone calls, chatting on whatsapp, facebook and instagram even when there are official duties to perform.
Dr Ato Arthur blamed the situation on bad leadership at some of the assemblies, saying, “If you are a good DCE or Coordinating Director you will never allow your staff to report late for work.”
