PUBLIC SERVANTS ADVISED AGAINST PARTISANSHIP (PAGE 17)

THE Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo has called on public servants to put aside party partisanship and support government programmes to improve the lot of the people in the region.
He said although public servants had the right to belong to any political party, they were obliged to support government initiatives since they covered the whole community but not members of a specific political party.
Mr Ofosu Ampofo said this when he paid familiarisation visits to the offices of a number of ministries and agencies at Koforidua last Friday.
The offices included the Ghana Health Service, Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), Ghana Education Service (GES), Information Services Department, Statistical Service, Labour Office, Land Valuation Board/Stool Lands, New Juaben Municipal Agricultural Directorate, Youth Council, Birth and Death Registry, Trade, Audit Service and Factory Inspectorate.
Mr Ofosu Ampofo said the government was committed to the development of every community in the region, but stressed that unless civil servants put aside their political affiliations and support the government ,there was no way the region could developed.
He, therefore, emphasised the need for civil servants to support any government policy or programme to that effect since they were paid with the tax payers’ money.
The regional minister gave the assurance that he would do his best to address the challenges facing their outfits to enable them to play their expected roles.
At the Ghana Health Service, the first place of call, the Regional Director, Dr Erasmus Adongo told the regional minister that a programme to establish mini- health service facilities in the smaller communities was on course despite some challenges being faced.
At the GES, the Regional Director, Mrs Rene O. Boakye Boateng unveiled a plan that would ensure that teachers were made available for every class, especially in the Kwahu North District (Afram Plains).
Mrs Boakye Boateng also told Mr Ofosu Ampofo that the region registered about 30 pregnant pupils this year some of who took part in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
She said her outfit was drawing up a programme to address the issue.
Assistant Commissioner James Tribe in charge of the Koforidua Office of CEPS, briefed the regional minister on the processes of impounding and disposing of vehicles brought into the country illegally, many of which had been parked and were getting rusted in front of the office.
According to him, such vehicles could only be disposed of on orders from the Castle.
At the Lands Valuation Board, Mr Ampofo advised the workers not to indulge in practices that would make land acquisition cumbersome since that would drive investors away.
Mr Ofosu Ampofo was shocked when he realised at the office of the Factory Inspectorate that nothing was going on because no funds had been made available to the office for the payment of electricity as a result of which none of the equipment was functioning.
He urged the officer in charge as a matter of urgency to take the necessary steps to keep the office running.