Weaknesses in Africa’s public service said to be breeding corruption

Members of the African Union (AU) have expressed worry over the continuous domination of the continent at the bottom of most corruption perception and public sector governance indexes.

The degree of corruption has partly been attributed to weaknesses in the Africa’s public services emanating from political patronage in appointments and promotions in the service.

“Citizens face the challenge of accessing information from public service institutions as a result of the weaknesses in paper-based records management systems and the myths associated with oaths of secrecy and confidentiality,” says a communiqué issued by AU Public Servants, after a meeting in Accra.

The communiqué dubbed: “Accra declaration on Africa Public Service in the Age of Open Government: Giving Voice to the Citizens,” recommended to heads of African states to facilitate reforms in the public services to promote better service delivery.

According to the communiqué African governments need to promulgate and implement access to information laws without delay.

Governments should initiate, develop and put in place robust mechanisms to improve service delivery, transparency, accountability and integrity in the public services.

It said governments should resource and provide continuous training to public service officials to enhance their capacity to deliver quality services to the people.

In a speech read on his behalf, President John Dramani Mahama called on member states to use the opportunity of the public service day to create enabling environment to promote strong public service on the continent.

He said giving the number of observations made by public service experts there is the need for member states to work at delivering quality services to the ordinary people to improve their standards of living.

The President expressed gratitude to the foreign participants, saying “I hope you will return to visit Ghana’s tourist sites.”

Source: GNA