President John Mahama has expressed regret at what he says is the shabby treatment public servants mete to the citizens of Ghana and has called for attitudinal change. Presenting his first ever policy statement since he assumed office as president, John Mahama said whilst public servants had received improved salaries with the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure, the general public was yet to receive commensurate improvement in the quality of services. The public, he noted has had to endure “poor or no utility services,” patients still receive “shoddy treatment from the hospital,” and others are met with “hostile and unkind attitudes” from the public servants. Whilst the police service may have improved on its quality of services, President John Mahama regretted the continued payment of bribes to the police by commercial drivers. He said the public is not “receiving value for money”, imploring that “we exist to serve the public not to Lord it over them.” The president also identified overspending, especially in election years as one of the challenges the government has had to grapple with. To address this, he has put in place a stringent government expenditure management systems with strict directives to ministries, departments and agencies not to execute unbudgeted programmes. President John Mahama touted the stable macro economy the country has enjoyed over the last three years with the promise to hold down inflation, maintain discipline in expenditure and to continue with efforts at ensuring a stable currency. He attributed the recent depreciation of the cedi to increased imports of non-oil products. According to him, the country has spent twice as much foreign exchange on non-oil imports which he said has negatively affected the cedi. He said the government together with the Bank of Ghana had taken adequate measures to arrest the decline in the value of the cedi. The address coincided with the 40 days remembrance of the late president John Mills, whose vision President John Mahama says he continue to implement. He said his government had dedicated itself to the agenda of a better Ghana and would ensure an effective completion of the agenda set by President Mills.