Charles Asante Wereko: Working his socks off at ISD
It is often said a dream does not become a reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.
He has always believed in climbing the ladder steadily to come to the top to take charge of the affairs of the institution he has served for decades.
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It is, therefore, no surprise that the mantle of leadership for the Information Services Department (ISD) has been handed over to him after acting for two years.
Interestingly, the ISD has not had a substantive director for the past 20 years. Therefore, Mr Charles Asante Wereko becomes the first person to be confirmed as a substantive director after working through all the ranks and acting as the head since 2018.
Mr Wereko’s convictions
Mr Wereko has always lived with the strong conviction that “the ISD can be better than it has always been and believes that effective communication can only be possible if we identify with the varied nature of people and try to make them understand what they need and have to know at the grassroots.”
His leadership experience and belief in striving for self-improvement and that of others is what makes him unique from others despite his calm and gentle demeanour and approach to achieving results.
“I intend to build a robust brand that can be visible and proactive in the dissemination of governments information, programmes and activities for the benefit of the entire society,” he stated.
In his bid to project the image of the ISD, he has developed concept papers for the total transformation of the institution to be at par with the current needs of the people it strives to serve.
He acknowledged the importance of the changing times of communication and need to be abreast of the trends of the new media. This has compelled him to facilitate the use of social media as a tool in effective information dissemination to enhance the ISD’s role and mandate.
Mr Wereko comes on board with a chain of experiences to enable him to change the image and fortunes of the principal public relations outfit of government.
Roles played
As ISD’s former Deputy Director of Finance and Administration from January 2014 to December, 2018, he led in the process of drafting and validation of a new scheme of service for the information workers in the civil service.
He also designed and implemented measures to improve attendance and punctuality of staff at work.
At the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources where he served as the head of communications from January 2008 to January 2014, he was very instrumental in the drafting of guidelines and also facilitated the establishment of a Client Service Unit.
Mr Wereko also planned and coordinated national education campaign against illegal mining as a member of the National Security Committee. Furthermore, he helped in the establishment of a Protocol Unit and a Press Corps to assist in educational issues on the environment.
As a project officer at the former Acting Director of ISD’s office from 1995 to 2001, he worked with Ghana’s missions, namely London, Berlin and New York for the provision of office equipment and other logistics to enhance capacity to attract investors and tourists to Ghana.
While working at the Ghana Mission in London, from September 2001 to 2007, he assisted with the Ghana High Commissioner’s (Mr Isaac Osei) initiative to raise funds dubbed “five pounds no balance and 10 pounds save a life” campaign for a philanthropic cause for Ghana.
In addition, he engaged in other activities which included planning and implementing programmes and activities to commemorate Ghana’s 50th Independence anniversary celebrations in the UK among other important roles to make Ghana noticeable on the globe.
As part of his international assignments, he led the Presidential Media Corps to cover former President Kufuor at the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, UK, in 2005.
Mr Wereko also worked as a District Information Officer at the Tano District in the former Brong Ahafo Region and Bechem Information Services Departments between1989 and 1994.
Education
Mr Wereko had his secondary education at the St Thomas Aquinas Secondary School in Accra from 1974 to 1979 and continued to the Tema Secondary School from 1979 to 1981 for his Advance Level (A’ Level) certificate examination.
Having passed successfully, he gained admission to the University of Ghana to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from 1981 to 1985.
In his bid to acquire higher education, he enrolled at the University of West London, formerly known as Thames Valley University in London, where he studied Corporate Communication and graduated with a Master of Arts degree.
His portfolio of experiences were as a result of conferences and seminars he was part of and these included the annual Ministry of Information management retreats, London mining conference towards optimising the Foreign Direct Investment in the global extractive industry, Fifth Global Conference, the Columbia Foreign Direct Investment Conference and many others that provided him with great hands-on expertise.
Despite the heavy financial constraints on ISD in fulfilling its mandate as the sole government dissemination machinery that connects the government to the people and vice versa, Mr Wereko says he is set to make things better and also ensure improved working conditions for ISD staff.
Family background
Mr Wereko hails from Begoro in the Eastern Region and he is the second of four boys born to the late Edmond Dwamena Wereko, a former technician of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, while his late mother, Esther Manku Wereko, worked with the Bank of Ghana.
He is married to Mrs Sabina Wereko, a principal administrative officer at COCOBOD, with whom he has three children, Edwin Wereko who is currently at KNUST, Jesica Wereko, Wisconsin University, and Laura Wereko who is at the Holy Child School in the Central Region.
About ISD
The Information Services Department (ISD) is the principal public relations outfit of the government.
Its primary mandate is to disseminate information on government policies, programmes and activities as well as access feedback on public reaction to government policies.
The department is represented in all the 16 regions of Ghana and has offices in all the 229 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the country.
It has also three offices in Ghana’s Missions abroad, London (UK), Washington (USA) and New York (USA).
Currently, the ISD is touring the rural communities across the country to educate the public in the local languages on the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The campaign includes drum language and choral music; with drama in the local language as its centrepiece.
The tour is to promote COVID-19 safety, as well as tackle stigmatisation. In Ghana, many patients who have recovered from COVID-19 are facing stigmatisation and discrimination, therefore, the ISD is using critical educational messages to prevention such discriminations in our society.