A political scientist at the University of Ghana, Professor Ransford Gyampo, says partisan appointments to the civil service contribute to idle activities such as gossiping and sale of some products by civil servants.
According to him, the lack of productivity in the civil service can be traced to how politicians reward their followers with offers they are not qualified for.
Speaking on the AM Show on Friday, he explained that it has become the norm for politicians to allocate slots for their sympathisers, even when some of them lack the requisite skills to deliver on the job.
Bemoaning the practice, he said civil service appointments must be based on merit to curb unproductivity in the sector.
“You have appointments not based on meritocracy and you have square pegs often filing round holes. So they’re unable to function and deliver on the mandate on their doorstep. That’s the reason why if you go there, they have nothing to do”, he told host, Benjamin Akakpo.
The lecturer continued: “Most of them have nothing to do. Some are selling, some are gossiping, some are playing drought and some are selling sobolo, some are selling asana, some are selling cloth and they move from one office to the other just marketing their wares. They have nothing to do because they’re square pegs in round holes”.
Sharing his views on the matter, Professor Gyampo further indicated that, the concept of civil service, which was propounded by German sociologist, Max Weber, was for the state to have qualified people manning affairs.
But according to him, since the beginning of the 4th Republic, the civil service has rather become a means by which politicians reward their avowed supporters.
His comments come in the wake of a recent call from the Civil and Local Government Staff Association (CLOGSAG).
Addressing the press on Thursday, the Association complained about the appointment of unqualified partisan personnel.
The Executive Secretary of CLOGSAG, Isaac Bampoe Addo said this must stop to enable civil servants to be more effective in discharging their duties.
“Recruiting of party apparatchiks as consultants to perform routine civil servant functions and paying them higher salaries, thus ballooning the civil service wage bill as reported in the 2020 Auditor General’s report for MMDAs and MMMDAs is worrying”, he said.
Mr Addo added that, “hindsight evidence reveals that the so called ghost names that cannot be identified in the civil service pay roll have turned out to be personal assistants of ministers.
Related to the above, permanent consultancies to key functions of the services have been outsourced to party apparatchiks consultants. This has comprised the quality of services provided by most civil servants service organisations”.
Meanwhile, the Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana (CLOGSAG), has rejected the Finance Ministry’s excuse for paying GH¢1.1 million as salaries to non-staff of the Ministry.
The Association sees no reason for the initial payment at all.
In a press release issued on Friday, September 9, and signed by its Executive Secretary, Isaac Bampoe Addo, Association said the decision is untenable.
Source: Ghana News
