A Network for Human Resource Practitioners in Ghana’s Public Service was, yesterday, launched in Accra.
The Network is a joint initiative between the Australian government and the Public Services Commission (PSC) of Ghana which aims to build capacity in human resource management through the sharing of information on policies, research and best practices and, thereby, strengthen public sector performance through the better management of human resource.
Membership of the Network is open to all employees in Public Service Organisations (PSOs) who perform human resource management functions.
More than 120 Human Resource Management (HRM) practitioners working in different PSOs have registered as members since the beginning of June, this year.
The launch formed part of the second annual conference of Public Service Human Resource (HR) Practitioners, which was organized by the Public Services Commission on the theme “Towards a Paradigm shift in the Management of Human Resource in Public Service Organisations – The Role of the Public Service Human Resource Management Practitioners”.
The conference provided the platform for HR practitioners to share ideas on current initiatives such as performance management and to examine their role in developing a productive workforce to meet current socio-economic challenges. It also aimed to sensitise HR practitioners in the Public Service on new HR initiatives being introduced by PSC and other government institutions.
In a keynote address, Mr Ishmael Yamson, former Chief Executive of Unilever Ghana Limited, noted that the main driver in the transformation of national economies was the development of effective, efficient, productive, and self-motivated quality manpower.
Mr Yamson said human resource development had been identified as a core pillar for our growth and development and that the reduction of the role of human resource practitioners to the lower levers of the organization constrained their effectiveness.
“Human Resource function is often excluded from the senior executive table; it is often buried in the function normally referred to as Finance and Administration. So Human Resource does not report to the Head of the organization. What that means is that Human Resource is seen as an operational function and not a strategic function. They are the ‘foot soldiers’ and not strategic thinkers,” he said.
He stressed the need for the HR function to be properly placed in public service organisations and their responsibilities and authorities clearly defined, adding that the HR function should be seen as strategic, rather than simply operational, and aligned with the initiatives of the national transformation agenda.
Mr Yamson said the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) was introduced by the last government just before it left office.
He said the new government, which had been compelled during the electioneering campaign to commit to the implementation of the policy, adopted it for execution without deep consideration of its strategic impact and consequences.
He wondered whether any HR practitioners in the Service were consulted by any of the governments at both the consideration and execution stages, adding that the introduction and implementation of the policy were political decisions not strategically examined by professionals — the fallouts of which, including labour unrests and strike actions, practitioners now had to deal with.
Mr Yamson blamed the existence of ghost names on pay rolls on the situation where public sector appointments were seen as favours, for which reason appointing officers had lost their capacity to apply the rules and took advantage to abuse the rules by using their leverage to get people into the service.
He, therefore, called for a manpower audit to remove ghost names which is said to constitute 35 per cent of the total public sector wage bill.
He also called on the PSC to develop professional human resource executives with the capacity to lead the strategic national exercise of improving on efficiency, effectiveness and an instituting an acceptable level of performance in the delivery of services to the government, citizens and other non-state actors.
In a statement, the Australian High Commissioner to Ghana, Ms Joana Adamson, said support by the Australian government for the Network for Human Resource was only one component of a broader two-year public sector governance programme—a partnership between the Pubilic Services Commissions of Australia and Ghana.
Ms Adamson disclosed that that in addition to this support, the Australian government was also offering scholarships for Masters programmes, study tours to Australia and targeted technical assistance activities to further develop Ghana’s HRM.
She said the key sectors of the Masters scholarships were Agriculture and Mining/ Extractive Sector Public Policy.
Welcoming participants to the conference, the Chairman of PSC, Mrs Bridget Katsriku, underscored the importance of the role of HRM practitioners in the effective and efficient running of any organization.
Mrs Katsriku said to play that role effectively, HRM practitioners required the right skills, knowledge and competencies.
However, she said, in addition to the lack of standardization and consistency in the nature and application of HR practices and procedures, particularly in employee health and well-being and development, employee management relations, and employee records management in various PSOs, many PSOs also had no clear definition of HRM practice.
She said in response to the situation, PSC had embarked on a paradigm shift through undertaking a number of initiatives such as the development of a Performance Management Policy and Systems Framework; Human Resource Management Information System (HR Database); Human Resource Management Policy Framework and Manual for the Public Services; and the Manpower Audit of PSOs.
Mrs Katsriku commended the governments of Australia and Canada for their immense contributions towards the efforts of PSC in the improvement of HR capacities in the public service of Ghana.
Source: ISD (G.D. Zaney)
