Govt Appointees in Civil Service Dislocates Governance--Prosper Bani

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A former Chief of Staff, Prosper Bani, has stated that there's nothing wrong for governments to appoint people outside the Civil Service to help prosecute their agenda.

He warned against the situation where such appointees appear to have taken substantive positions within the Service.

"With reference to the fundamental theory of Max Weber which established the civil service of this country we will be creating a situation where there will be significant dislocation between government and the various services to the people", Mr Bani noted at the 4th edition of the Accra Dialogue series.

Themed: 'Executing the President's Mandate -The Role of the Civil Service,' the dialogue was organised by Media General in partnership with the Institute of Law and Public Affairs (ILPA), and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation (FESF).

Mr Bani indicated that condoning such culture would not inure to the benefit of the country but create a disjoint between the Civil Service and the services they are required to offer both in theory and practice.

Though Mr Bani who served under the John Mahama administration argued the nature of a government's agenda may necessitate the use of extra hands but that did not give those appointed to help the leeway to take over the country's civil service.

"The tendency of having people to support presidents and ministers to deliver their job is nothing new as well, however, where appointees from government begin to take the substantive positions of civil servants, then we have issues.

"People who are to be politically appointed into the civil service must be taken through the necessary recruitment processes and training to equip them very well for the job.

"If you want to be a civil servant, go through the civil service programme, you need to be trained, because the functions are just as sensitive, nervous, tricky and dependent," Mr Bani insisted.

Another former Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Mpiani, raised concerns about the quality of the current civil service, describing it as being in a "sorry state".

Former Rector of Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Professor Stephen Adei, described members of the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG) members who had accused government appointees of taking over their job as "uncivil". -3news.com

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