KB Asante: Voice From Afar column
Ignorance of procedures impedes progress
A friend asked my view about a remark by an aide of President Nkrumah that the revered leader ignored procedures and set in train a major problem which confronts the nation today.
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I immediately said ‘no’; but upon a survey of events and reflection, I said: “In a way yes. But why should the President worry about all the dry procedures which can blur his vision?” “What is the role of the civil servants and the public officers we employ at great cost?”
“You know”, I added, “Hordes of advisers and deputy ministers and even some ministers are the problem. They should follow the rules. But many of them are ignorant about the set-up of the administrative system and the procedures or steps which should be followed to make ideas and proposals materialise.”
President Nkrumah had no time for impediments to his dreams and ideas. He gave instructions to the officials around him and he expected proposals for action, not dissertations about the consequent problems which suggested that no action should be taken.
If there were problems, he expected proposals to overcome the difficulties. Sometimes he changed his mind after considering the probable consequences of his directives as sympathetically conveyed by officials.
I believe that it is the duty of the officials immediately around the President to follow the procedures which would ensure good governance. A personal example would best illustrate the point. Once I was not happy with what the President asked me to do.
He asked me to do some work in the area of health. I said it was not my job. My role then was Principal Secretary, African Affairs Secretariat. I dealt with foreign policy and diplomacy and not issues concerning the Ministry of Health. But when the President insisted that any work he gave me was my job I complied with his instruction; but I was mindful of the proper procedures.
I telephoned my colleague, Aflah Addo, who was Principal Secretary or Administrative Head of the Ministry of Health. We met and considered implementation of the President’s ideas within the rules and procedures.
The President wanted to modify a few things, including private practice by government doctors. It was clear that an announcement without considering and understanding agreements would lead to trouble. And so Aflah Addo had to find out what had been agreed and the procedures for a change.
He put the relevant officials on the job. There were other issues which would consequently affect other health officials. Again this required knowledge of current practices and procedures for modification or changing the set-up or rules.
Civil servants of the Ministry of Health worked on various issues urgently and consulted other Ministries or Departments as necessary. Thus the labour people were consulted and most importantly, the Ministry of Finance. What was to be done could not be contained completely within the budgetary allocation of the Ministry of Health. We believed that the President was not to be assisted to ignore financial discipline.
Consultation with the Ministry of Finance was therefore most important. It would be observed that so far the Minister of Health appeared not to be in the picture. Now Ministers were most concerned when the President by-passed them and dealt with the administrative head or Principal Secretary. We knew this and acted appropriately according to the circumstances.
In this particular case I approached Enoch Okoh, Head of the Civil Service, and he informed the minister that the President wanted the matter dealt with urgently and as Osagyefo knew that the minister was engaged on the other urgent matters, he asked that the Principal Secretary should be approached to begin working on the relevant issues. Osagyefo, however, wanted the minister to keep an eye on the matter.
The Principal Secretary kept the minister informed and left the approach to the Ministry of Finance to him. The minister was happy to be involved. Presidents and ministers will continue giving instructions without considering the rules and regulations, and procedures. But if there are no officials with knowledge of the system to carry out instructions within the rules many problems will occur.
Officials should as a rule know their political superiors and how to work with them to achieve the common good. Some can be difficult and Nkrumah was no exception. I was nevertheless surprised about the ignorance of some senior officials about how he approached issues. One Thursday morning, President Nkrumah asked me to accompany one Major Addo to Uganda on a certain matter