Move to give legal backing to codes of conduct
The President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, has announced the commencement of action to give legal backing to the various codes of conduct for political appointees and public officials.
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He explained that the move, which he personally requested, was to make the codes more binding on the appointees and other state officials.
Opening the second roundtable meeting of the African Cabinet Secretaries in Accra yesterday, the President said already the Public Officers' Code of Conduct Bill was before Parliament, awaiting consideration.
The association was set up to, among other things, provide peer support and technical assistance to improve decision-making by governments in Africa.
This year's meeting was informed by the growing demand by African people for accountability and good governance from their governments.
Good move
President Mahama described as a good move the decision of the association to champion transparency and accountability in policy formulation.
He said Ghana had, since 2012, been implementing a set of policy deliverables which, among other issues, enhanced accountability and transparency in the governance system.
"The fact that Ghana today ranks high in all major governance indicators, including transparency, human rights, free speech and the rule of law, is, to a large extent, the result of accountability in governance.
"We have, for instance, adopted the national anti-corruption action plans, while various codes of conduct for government appointees and public officials are being implemented," he said.
Responsibility to citizens
President Mahama said accountability in policy implementation must put the citizen at the centre.
"Public policies and programmes are nothing if they do not engage and involve a buy-in from our primary stakeholder, the citizen," he said.
He said it was important for governments to have in mind that no longer could policy proposals be developed by bureaucrats behind closed doors and imposed by political leaders on the people.
In all that, he said, cabinet secretaries had a role to play by making informed inputs and making sure the decisions were implemented.
The President said the recent E-Cabinet platform launched would promote transparency and accountability.
Council president
The President of the Council of African Cabinet Secretaries, Dr Ernest Surrur, said there was no justification for Africa to be poor, once governments placed emphasis on good governance, accountability and transparency.
"With the resource endowment of our continent, we only need sincerity and integrity among our leaders and their commitment to genuine service delivery to their people, rather than using government as a means to enrich themselves," he said.
Dr Surrur stated that in spite of the strides Africa had made in governance over the years, it was unfortunate that most of the decisions taken by cabinets were not implemented.
"Often, this was because proposals were submitted to cabinets without evidence that they would work," he said.
Besides, he said, the resources for the implementation of recommended actions were often overlooked.
He stressed the need for ministers to have the confidence to question the workability of major proposals that came before Cabinet for consideration.
Host secretary
The Secretary to the Ghanaian Cabinet, Mr Roger Angsomwine, said the association had provided a platform for reflecting and tackling critical issues in Africa.
"Our unique approach to fostering peer reforms is acclaimed worldwide," he said.