CHARLOTTE OSEI SPEAKS OUT

Charlotte Osei, Electorial Commissioner of Ghana

The Electoral Commission, Ghana has rolled out major internal reforms aimed at strengthening the institution to better deliver on its constitutional mandate. 

The reforms include a new 5-year strategic plan, a redefined corporate vision and mission, new brand identity, new corporate values, and organizational structure.

These were revealed by the Chairperson of the Commission, Mrs. Charlotte Osei on Tuesday April 26, 2016 at the launch of the Commission’s strategic plan in Accra.

According to Mrs. Osei, the process towards the development of the new strategic plan and the accompanying reforms began in September 2014 when the Commission, through its former Chairman, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, requested the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to assist the EC in the conduct of a comprehensive needs assessment of the Commission towards the development of a new strategic plan.

She said since 2015, the consultants who worked on the needs assessment have consulted with the various stakeholders, including political parties, national governance institutions, CSOs, Development Partners, the EC Commissioners and staff, resulting in the submission of their final report on the exercise in October 2015.

She noted that the final assessment report of the Consultants called for strengthening the internal working machinery of the Commission to better support its mandate and vision for 2020.“This formed the basis for the preparation of the Strategic Plan”, she added.

Among the many structural changes being implemented by the EC are:

1.       The creation of a legal department to manage compliance, provide advisory support, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) services and oversee relationships with strategic partners.

2.      Separation of Human Resources from administrative services. This is to strengthen the focus on HR, performance management, improve internal stakeholder engagement, training and career advancement.

3.      A new department for Administration and Internal Coordination, to improve administrative oversight and flow of work within the head office departments, and between regional offices and head office.

4.      A new structure for managing third party/fee for service elections and renewed focus on Internally Generated Funds - management, oversight, procedures.

5.      The office of Electoral Services has been expanded to include elections, regulation of political parties and voter registration services.

6.      A move away from Public Affairs to a restructured Communications Department to oversee expanded platforms for more efficient and proactive stakeholder engagement and voter education.

7.      Ghana’s selection as the permanent secretariat of AAEA also required a renewed focus on the role of the commission within the continental context and how we can leverage that responsibility into a key asset for the Commission.

8.     A more interactive, user-friendly and modern online presence through the Commission’s new website, with a better social media presence and engagement to serve the people of Ghana better.

Editorial

THE EMPLOYMENT PROBLEM

It has become increasing clear that the unwritten contract between school leavers and the government is no longer tenable.

For a long time, the understanding appeared to be that after successfully completing school, school leavers will be absorbed by the government or any of its agencies. In truth this assumption came under severe test when governments found it difficult to absorb the then officially recognized school leavers with the standard seven School leaving certificates.

Some went on to train as plumbers and crafts persons of various types, but secondary school education still appeared like the real deal as if offered successful leavers salaried government jobs with pension and other benefits.

This lasted for a while but was soon replaced by university education. Because this has been long sought after, parents continued to invest in it even when the signs were becoming clear that this too was not a permanent solution to the problem of unemployment.

Now the word appears to be skills and specialized training but here too, there are bottlenecks. There are reports of thousands of qualified nurses failing to land jobs, years after completing their education. Although nurses are still needed, it is obvious that Government is finding difficult to obtain the resources to employ them.

It should be obvious to all by now that we are aiming at a moveable target. Part of the difficulty is having a clear vision of the kind of country we want to build. This is not the same as saying we want to be middle income by such and such a date. That is not very meaningful.

As a people we will always need goods and services but matching these with our level of skills or developing the right skills to provide what is needed, is the hard part. This needs to be done also taking into account global developments while aiming for a society that strives to at least provide the minimum basics for dignified life for all its citizens.