Stop aiding politicians to steal - Albert Kan-Dapaah warns Civil Servants

The Minister for National Security, Albert Kan-Dapaah has slammed the Civil servants of the various Government Institutions for not being the gatekeepers by preventing the Politicians from embezzling state funds which is becoming a security threat to the Nation.

According to him, "Often, the politician gets blamed for acts of corruption. But we tend to forget that no politician can embezzle state funds without the active involvement of a civil servant whose job is to act as a gatekeeper against corruption".

The Minister said this when speaking at the 2024 Civil Service Week and 2023 Awards Ceremony held at the Accra International Conference Centre over the weekend when speaking on the theme: Combating Threats to Sub-regional Peace and Security: Perspectives of the Civil Service".

The Minister further noted, "As civil servants, we must remember that every cedi stolen or every penny embezzled robs the state of its ability to build societal resilience against security threats".

He explained that in addition to eschewing all forms of corruption, civil servants must at all times uphold their fidelity to the State and guard against partisan dictates that have the potential to influence them to act in ways that are injurious to the national security interests of the State.

"Acts such as leaking sensitive documents capable of compromising the security of the State, collaborating with both internal and external agents in pursuit of a partisan agenda of a parochial interest not only pose threat to the State but also diminishes the confidence of the public in the capacity of the State to respond to security threats" he noted.

He continues that the Civil Servants must protect the public purse and ensuring transparency and value-for-money projects that align with the aspiration of the citizenry requires them to adhere to the highest form of professionalism that eschews all forms of corruption.

He urged the Civil Servants to consider the adverse impacts of several scenarios where acts of indiscretion however small they may be across the various relevant Ministries or agencies for instance, to the delayed procurement of military equipment to fight terrorism or the construction of poor roads or the delayed importation of critical medicines for our hospitals among a host of other examples.

He noted that the long-term consequence of such acts would include the inability of the State to safeguard its territory against the infiltration of terrorists, rampant road accidents claiming innocent lives due to poor quality of roads, the high mortality rate due to the absence of critical medicines to enhance healthcare delivery in the country.

"An efficient Civil Service system that shapes the actions of government toward addressing the aforementioned human security challenges through the protection of the public purse and ensuring value-for-money implementation of projects that addresses development gaps, automatically contributes to the mitigation of the primary drivers of radicalisation" the Minister noted.

He explained that within the context of Statehood, it has become customary for an elected president to work with a body of non-elective and non-partisan officials who work behind the scenes to support the government in the enactment and implementation of policies aimed at delivering public goods and services to the citizenry- the provision of public goods and services being the primary objective of any government.

He added "It is this body of non-partisan and non-elective officials that has become known as the Civil Service. In an ideal situation, members of the Civil Service are to be considered as the real technical experts on governance, comprising some of the best brains in a country whose works are defined by enduring values such as patriotism to the State, diligence, transparency and professionalism".

He said in essence, the Civil Service is to operate as the engine and the powerhouse of the government in meeting the expectations of the citizenry regarding the delivery of public goods and services, adding that Civil Service is the vehicle through which the Government performs its basic duty of providing public goods and services to its citizens.

Albert Kan-Dapaah noted that the effectiveness of a government to deliver the expected public goods and services such as ensuring peace and stability and the provision of infrastructural development to enhance the living conditions of the people is dependent on the efficiency of its Civil Service.

He said it can therefore be argued that in a liberal democratic system, the security of a State tends to be guaranteed when the government works with the Civil Service to meet the expectations of its people in the provision of public goods and services in a manner that eliminates perceptions of corruption and marginalisation while promoting fair and equitable distribution of State resources and development across every part of the country.

Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah noted that the evidence suggests that across the West African States, the breakdown in security leading to instability could be attributed to the failure of the governments to meet the expectations of the people.

"And a deeper dive into the collapse of those governments would reveal a highly deficient and inefficient Civil Service structure which was practically incapable of shaping and implementing government policies to meet the expectations of the people" he added.

He noted that in drawing lessons from the experience of neighbouring West African States, the Civil Service architecture and all personnel within the architecture must act in several ways to safeguard the peace and stability of Ghana.

He added that fortunately for Ghana, the Constitution and laws provide the Country with several tools and agencies such as the Public Financial Management Act, the Public Procurement Act, and the National Development Planning Commission among others, which when effectively utilised and adhered to, can enable the nation to protect the public purse, promote transparency in the utilisation of state resources and ensure that state resources are equitably distributed and invested in areas to address development gaps that pose significant threats to human security in the country.

He expressed that in effect, all domains of human security including health security, food security, environmental security, energy security and community security can be adversely affected by what may be deemed as a small act of indiscretion or poor judgment on the part of a civil servant.

"In this regard, civil servants must realise the sacred nature of their duties, acknowledging and appreciating that any act of misconduct that robs the state of its resources could have a direct impact on the security of the State" he added.

He further urged the Civil Servants to actively participate in matters of security in the country and also tasked all ministries to develop customised ministry-specific security strategies out of the National Security Strategy aimed at addressing specific human security challenges.

He also called upon the Head of the Civil Service to adopt the National Security Strategy as a critical indicator or metric for assessing the performance of the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

He also noted the central government has a huge role to play in pursuit of a formidable and reformed civil service, adding that the politicians, cannot function without an effective and efficient civil service.

" It is therefore in our interest to empower and resource the civil service to function effectively. We must institute good remuneration packages which enable the civil service to compete with the private sector to attract top talents. We must at all cost invest in capacity building programmes for staff and encourage independent critical thinking among personnel of the civil service" the Minister noted.