Yesterday [June 23, 2022], the nation celebrated United Nations-African Union Public Service Day alongside the rest of the globe with a colloquium featuring the leaders of certain public service agencies.
The institutions included the Passport Office, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), the Ghana Health Service, the National Development Planning Commission, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, and the Nurses and Midwifery Council (NMC).
"Building the resilience of the African public administration to assist and enable the realisation of Africa's nutritional demands during and post-COVID-19 epidemic" was the focus of the event.
The Public Services Commission (PSC) sponsored the day, which had the sub-theme "The role of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in re-imaging service delivery, provision, and recovery during and post pandemic.
The day, established by the UN and the AU and observed annually June 23, honours the importance and virtue of the public sector, draws attention to how it contributes to development, recognises the work of public workers, and inspires young people to work in it.
Objective
Dr. Janet Ampadu Fofie, the chairperson of the PSC, stated that the main goal of this year's commemoration was to give AU member states the chance to consider and evaluate the effectiveness of the service delivery tools at their disposal during and after the COVID-19 pandemic and how the journey on the "Africa We Want" had progressed on areas like achieving food security, nutritional resilience, and other commitments under the SDGs and Agenda 2063.
She said that the goal of the event was to inspire the public to be enthusiastic about using the services of institutions in the public sector and to expect excellence from public employees.
Dr. Fofie said, "It is anticipated that the national celebration in 2022 will, among other results, result in the ability of member states to inspire public employees who behaved admirably during the COVID-19 epidemic and also come up with new ideas and innovations."
Michael Aduhene Adu-Darko, the Commissioner of the PSC, and academician and author Professor Esi Sutherland Addy emphasised the necessity for public institutions and employees to use information and communications technology (ICT) to promote income creation.
Digitalisation
Representatives from the DVLA, the NMC, and the Passport Office, among others, described how they were leveraging digitalization to drive their companies for maximum gain while discussing how the Fourth Industrial Revolution was improving public services.
The DVLA representative, Mr. Abraham Zato, discussed how the authority's transformation from one of the most corrupt organisations in the nation as a result of its laborious manual procedures to an amazing example of service delivery excellence.
Felix Nyanteh, the Registrar of the NMC, said that the council had digitalized its licencing exams and other services with assistance from certain partners, which she claimed had resulted in cost savings and enhanced services.