Lateness to work, official function will not be countenanced - Chief Director

The Chief Director of the Volta Regional Coordinating Council (VRCC), Mr Prosper Afenyo, has sent a stern warning to public servants against lateness to work and official functions, saying the trend is “unethical and would not be countenanced any longer.”

He was speaking at the opening of the maiden Volta Regional Conference on performance contract.

The four-day programme took off an hour behind schedule due to lateness by some of the Municipal and District Chief Executives, District Coordinating Directors, Regional Heads of Department and some key staff of the assemblies.

Mr Afenyo noted that the lead facilitator of the programme who travelled from Accra turned up at the venue “well before the scheduled time” to rather wait for the participants, saying “this is very embarrassing.”

He pointed out that the conference was meant to bring leadership and management together to boost the performances of the assemblies, and that objective could not be attained with habitual lateness on the part of assembly officials.

Meanwhile, the lead facilitator, Mr Edwin D.P. Barnes, a former member of the Ghana Civil Service Council, said that “stealing time” was unprincipled and as bad as “stealing state resources.”

He reminded the participants of their duties to serve the people and account to them diligently, saying that required truthfulness and punctuality to work.

The Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Letsa, who opened the conference, said that the participants were holding positions of trust which required them to use the little resources at their disposal to improve a lot of the people.

He said their duty call also included faithfulness and accountability to the people, without which they would definitely face the full rigours of the law, adding “we are to serve the people and not ourselves.”

The conference topics included Preparedness to Deliver on Performance Contract, and Impact of Performance Contract on Operations of the Assemblies, among others.

The Head of Human Resource of VRCC, Mr Cyril Dzinyanu Xatse, commended the Local Government Service for instituting the Performance Management System regime, saying it provided an objective and unbiased approach for performance management in the service.