Head of Civil Service, Nana Kwesi Agyekum-Dwamena, has deplored the adverse work orientation of some staff within the service, which he says must change in order to move the nation forward.

Nana Agyekum-Dwamena is not worried about the professional competency of the civil servants whom he says are highly knowledgeable, rather, he is worried about their attitude to the job.

“If we bring you the CVs of Ghanaian civil servants, I tell you that it will be able to sink a ship…but I’m concerned much more about attitude,” he stated on The Hard Truth, a current affairs programme, on Joy News channel, Wednesday.

However, the Civil Service is introducing stringent policies directed at reversing the trend, he told the host, Nana Akosua Konadu Asante-Samuels.

This includes streamlining training programmes to ensure the courses undertaken by participants would inure to the benefits of both the organisation as well as the individual’s competency. 

All organisations under the service are also mandated to submit training plans to the head of the civil service by March of each year.

To that effect, an officer has been delegated to liaise with the country’s development partners and tasked with the responsibility to do a needs-based analysis of the available opportunities and further recommends the persons who should be enrolled, he disclosed.

“We have also tightened up the training agenda in the sense that before you go on a particular training you need to show clearly how that will contribute to your organisation or to the development of your own competency,” he explained.  

Nana Kwesi Agyekum-Dwamena, however, expects some resistance “because for every change process there will be resistance” and he is determined to whipping those people in line.

“We want to get a critical mass of people who will be committed to not just doing their work but are really interested in showing that Ghana develops. This is the only country that we have and I believe that the civil service needs to take a critical role,” he said.

Watch the full interview below: