BENEFITS OF LEAN GOVERNMENT (JAN 26)

NO public service administration can do without bureaucracy. Bureaucracy is necessary to ensure checks and balances in the system, but when it is reduced to red tapeism, then it becomes counter-productive.
Many ordinary people fear doing business with our public service institutions because of the cumbersome nature of transacting business in some of these institutions.
Time and again users of services offered by our public service institutions have complained about the frustration that they face because of the regular refrain, “Go and come”, which has become a euphemism for bureaucracy.
However, it has been argued that lean governments create the space for the people to make easy contact with their leaders.
It is in this context that President J.E.A. Mills’s decision to reduce the number of ministries from 27 to 23, in line with the contract that he signed with the people during the electioneering, should be lauded because it is aimed at reducing red tapeism that has characterised transactions in our public service institutions.
The DAILY GRAPHIC believes that savings that will be made through the running of a lean government will be invested in more critical sectors of the economy.
We concede that the problems confronting our economy are legion and that these challenges demand that every sector receives special attention, but it will not be possible to appoint ministers to take charge of every agency.
Therefore, the re-alignment that has been done by the government as part of its policy initiatives should give our ministers the opportunity to have more effective oversight responsibilities over all the agencies under their supervision.
The sceptics who thought that the new administration will not be able to redeem its pledges to the people must revise their notes now with the fulfilment of the promise by the new administration to run a lean government.
We know that pursuing this agenda may not be easy, at a time when some may think that this is an opportunity for them to be offered positions in the public services. However, with determination and the will to put into action policies to make Ghana a better country for all, it is our hope that there will be the willingness to pursue programmes for the betterment of all.
The Daily Graphic calls on all Ghanaians to give our President all the support in his endeavour to reshape the destiny of the country.
We must all applaud the President when he takes steps in the interest of the people and offer pieces of advice when his administration takes decisions that we may consider not to be in the best interest of the nation.
In a democratic society the people believe in different ideologies but their values and virtues as a nation remain the same, no matter which political party is in power.
If we decide to sit on the fence because our parties are not in power, the fence will break and the entire society will be the loser. Let us put partisan politics aside and help to build the nation under President Mills who has the mandate to govern.
Let the decision to run a lean government reflect in the effective implementation of government policies and programmes to engender the necessary social transformation. Our public services should become more responsive to the needs of society whose taxes have helped to maintain public causes.