The Ministry of Communication and the Office of the Head of Civil Service are developing a scheme of service to attract more Information Technology and Management professionals into the public sector. The Scheme, which was currently at its consultative process, would provide competitive remuneration packages and clear career progression path, considering constraints and requirements in the civil and public services. At the Launch of the Committee's work on the scheme in Accra on Tuesday, Dr. Benjamin Aggrey Ntim, Minister of Communications said recruiting skilled IT professionals was crucial to improve operational efficiency within the public sector. He said Government recognised the use of ICT applications as significant investment to coordinate opportunities and prospects to meet expectations and service delivery within the public sector. He said it was in pursuance of that objective that the Ministry in collaboration with the Office of Head of Civil Service and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was working on poor conditions of service to motivate more IT professionals to provide the needed ICT expertise to develop the economy. Dr. Aggrey Ntim said recent ICT Policy developments also called for collective efforts from all stakeholders to ensure implementation of such policies through information technology systems that would link up government agencies for a cost effective open governance system. He mentioned the National ICT Backbone Infrastructure, which had extended over 170 kilometres of fibre cable from multiple places as some government interventions to enhance ICT knowledge. The Minister entreated Chief Directors to offer the needed assistance to contractors to make it easy for them to provide the needed e-government points in the regions and districts to enhance ICT deployment. Mr Shigeki Komatsubara, Assistant Resident Representative, UNDP, said ICT was key to realize objectives of the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II). He said the effective deployment of ICT within the civil and public service would therefore accelerate socio-economic development and fit well into the ICT4AD Policy. Mr. Komatsubara pledged UNDP's support to realise a concrete and well-binding scheme of service for IT professionals. Professor Samuel Woode, Chairman of the Public Service Commission said the public service was the wheel of economic development and should therefore be given the necessary IT infrastructure to drive the economy forward. He called on government to work on placing more value of the public service to encourage more professionals to join the sector. GNA