Civil servants hold open day in Accra

THE Ghana Civil Service yesterday held an open day and citizen’s engagement for staff within the ministries enclave as well as traders and drivers at Tema Station in Accra.

Staff of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Registrar General Department (RGD), Birth and Deaths Registry, Ghana Technical Training Centre (GTTC) and the Government Secretarial School educated the drivers and traders on their services.

 Civil servants within the ministries enclave, traders and drivers at the Tema Station were offered the opportunity to register for the health insurance card or renew it.

The Road Safety Ambassador, Rev. Charles Ntim, said both passengers and drivers had a role to play in ensuring safety on the road.

He explained that it was the duty of passengers to be vigilant in ensuring that drivers were not drunk or overloaded their vehicles, which could lead to accidents as well as make sure drivers obeyed the road traffic regulations.

This, he said should be done in a courteous manner so as not to provoke the driver thereby leading to unnecessary arguments in the vehicle.

“We always sensitise the drivers to take their time when driving because the lives of the passengers they carry were their hands,” he stated.

 Company Inspector at the Registrar General Department, Emmanuel Odoom, said it was unfortunate traders have the impression that business registrations was solely for companies and other business entities and not them.

 He explained that market women also have the right to register their business as sole proprietorship and association saying that “if you are a tomato seller, you can register your business as an individual and register as an association of tomato sellers.”

According to him when one registers his or her trade, he or she has the legal authority over the name used in registering the business and could open an account in the name of the business.

Ms Odoom said it would also be easy to access financial services from the banks and other institutional entities and get investors for the business.

He therefore urged the traders to walk into the RGD to access the services of the department for the growth of their businesses.

The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ghana Civil Service, Tony Goodman in an interview with the Ghanaian Times said the open day and citizen’s engagement sought to educate Ghanaians on the role of civil servants in the country. 

He said it was unfortunate some Ghanaians have a wrong perception about the service explaining that with the introduction of digitisation at the service, staff could not afford to report late at work.

He stated that there was a monthly attendance report as well as performance agreement that the staff had signed to, which checked the movement and punctuality of the staff.

“There is no room for lateness from any civil servant and therefore, every civil servant is expected to clock in when they report to work,” he said.

BY JEMIMA ESINAM KUATSINU