The Chief of Staff, Madam Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, has called on all managers of the nation’s public institutions to be visionary, innovative and prioritize targets to operate effectively within the limited resources at their disposal.
“Effective leadership is imperative to translate the SDG’s into prudent policies for excellent public service delivery,” she said.
She further urged actors in public service institutions to be conscious of their unique responsibilities to serve the interest at all times.
Madam Osei-Opare was speaking at the opening of the first annual conference on leadership, innovation and technology at Cape Coast.
The two-day conference organised by the Ghana Association for Public Administration and Management (GAPAM) was on the theme: “leadership, technology and innovation in public service management”
She noted that the impact of technology on the management of public sector could not be underestimated as it injected effectiveness and efficiency in the sector, saying, “Efforts are being made to exploring ways to facilitate ICT infrastructure development to enhance growth in the economy and society”.
Madam Osei-Opare further stressed that the country could not afford to be left behind in the digitisation and the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
She, therefore, called on public service managers to be proactive and strategic in undertaking heir service delivery mandate.
The public sector, Madam Osei-Opare said, was the engine of development and a key stakeholder in ensuring the well-being of Ghanaians.
She admonished them to exercise professionalism, customer sensitivity, neutrality, impartiality and work towards fulfilling the government’s agenda of eradicating poverty from the country.
The Chief of Staff expressed the government’s commitment towards developing robust technological infrastructure and human resource capacity to meet the increasing digital demands of the country, adding that it would also boost employment for the youth.
She noted that, the programme provided unique opportunity for public service introspection among students of public administration, practitioners and academia to generate practical solutions to the challenges facing the public sector.
The Head of the Local Government Service, Dr Nana Ato Arthur, in a speech read on his behalf, called on public administrators and managers to be abreast of the rapidly changing technological environment in the delivery of public services.
He further called for the use of innovation to generate growth and enhance service quality.
Dr Arthur said: “Although many perceive the public sector as a hardened bureaucracy characterised by stalemate and inertia, it is in fact far more dynamic and innovative than its reputation would suggest”.
“Our innovation must be turned into a permanent, systematic and pervasive activity, with the creation of an innovative culture and the utilisation of collaborative innovation” he said.
FROM DAVID O. YARBOI-TETTEH, CAPE COAST
