By Edzorna Francis Mensah
Professor of Political Science at the University of Ghana, Professor Ransford Gyampo, has expressed shock at the level of partisan politics within the civil service to the extent that some civil servants attend political rallies and others wear party paraphilia openly with impunity.
He said it appears the principle of neutrality is not fully honoured and respected in Ghana and that “evidence abounds that regime after regime staff of the Civil Service with people on the clear basis of party loyalty and in a manner that honours the principle of building politically Civil Bureaucracy in its breach.”
Professor Ransford Gyampo, who was speaking as a guest speaker for the 7th Nathan Annan Quao Excellence Lecture and Awards organised by the Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana (CLOGSAG), said the idea of political appointment of Chief Directors by Politicians undermine the quest to make such appointees politically neutral in terms of perceptions and in terms of what they do overtly or surreptitiously.
The event was on the theme: “The Weberian ideal of political neutrality among Civil Servants: A review of the situation in Ghana.”
Professor Gyampo stressed the fact that what is more worrying is that “it appears many civil servants are either not conscious of the principle of political neutrality or have deliberately decided not to comply with its tenets.”
“Consequently, at the workplace, some civil servants openly show their support for political parties.
Some are heard campaigning for political parties, while others are heard campaigning against political parties. Some do attend party rallies while others brazenly wear party paraphernalia and do other excessively partisan activities in a manner that erodes confidence in the civil bureaucracy as an administrative,” he added.
For his part, the Executive Secretary of CLOGSAG, Isaac Bampoe Addo, in a welcome address, reminded the government about the fact that the current events regarding galamsy have made it clear that neutrality in the Civil and Local Government Services is paramount, as he suggested that, regarding the water pollution, “if the MDAs and the MMDAs were left to perform their tasks, we would not have been where we are now”.
He mentioned that state institutions, administered through a decentralised local governance structure, are responsible for formalising and regulating mining activities and ensuring that illegality is exposed and curtailed, and “thus the political will to fight and eradicate galamsey must be seen from DCEs and MCEs who can galvanise support from traditional rulers, community members, and regulatory agencies to ensure compliance with pollution avoidance mechanisms, prevent mining in environmentally sensitive areas, and implement frameworks for allocating concessions that are mined sustainably and reclaimed to restore their ecological integrity”.
“It is time for us to evaluate the democracy that has characterised governance under the Fourth Republic to ascertain whether this type of governance is helping us to develop as a nation,” Mr. Bampoe Addo added.
