The new Charter System in Ghana: the ‘holy grail’ of public service delivery?

Abstract

Public services delivery has been at the forefront of public sector reforms in many countries throughout the past three decades. Invariably, the desire is to do more with less, empower citizens, enhance transparency, and hold public servants accountable. Many countries have therefore developed a number of service delivery mechanisms over the years to achieve this objective. A good example is the Citizen’s Charter System. First developed in the United Kingdom, the idea quickly spread to other developed countries and, more recently, to some developing countries as well. Ghana has followed the lead taken by these countries by developing its own Citizen’s Charter, which is believed to be the ‘holy grail’ of service delivery in the public sector. The article attempts to examine the Citizen’s Charter, evaluate its rationale, and any challenges that may be faced in its implementation. It argues that there are a number of constraints, which the government should have addressed before establishing the Charter. The government’s failure to address these challenges, it is argued, will significantly affect the success of the program. Points for practitioners In the last few decades, governments in both developed and developing countries have been searching for better delivery mechanisms for public services. One such mechanism is the Citizen’s Charter, which has become popular in the developed world as a means of achieving efficient, effective, and accountable service delivery. More recently, it has also become popular in some developing countries. The implementation of a Citizen’s Charter requires a solid understanding of the capacity of a state’s public sector; however, in many developing countries, this sector is characteristically weak. It is important, therefore, for practitioners to understand the limits of the public sector in any given state, and the barrier it may pose to the successful implementation of service delivery mechanisms.

The ‘New Approach’ to Public Sector Reforms in Ghana: A Case of Politics as Usual or a Genuine Attempt at Reform?

“…That led, in 2003, to establishing the Ministry of Public Sector Reform (MPSR) as the main institutional home for administrative reforms (Glover Quartey, ; Wereko, ). Through the MPSR the government developed a Citizen Charter to further build capacity for actual service delivery, while simultaneously ensuring accountability to service recipients (Ohemeng, ). It also attempted to pass a law to introduce a new performance management system (Ohemeng, ).…”

Organizational commitment of public service employees in Ghana: do codes of ethics matter?

“…However, these professional ethics appears to have declined over the years and sections of the public feel that the poor image and identity of Ghana’s public service is reprehensible. For instance, clients who come into contact with public servants witness attitudes and conduct that is considered contemptuous, disrespectful, irritating, frustrating and desperate (Ohemeng, 2010). Attempts to re-engineer the public service led to the passage of the Civil Service Law (i.e.…”

Effective Implementation of a Quality Management Policy in Public Administration

“…In cooperation with other institutions functioning at the subnational level (such as the Association of Cities in Croatia), it could expand its activities from the central to subcentral government units. Even in Spain, where the high degree of autonomy of autonomous communities, provinces, and municipalities does 13 Moreover, context also matters, and the implementation of QM in a particular organisation depends on many different factors, such as organisational culture, leadership, and empowerment of employees (Drewry, 2005, p. 334;Ohemeng, 2010;Pollitt & Bouckaert, 2011, p. 22;Ra & Joo, 2005;Thomassen et al, 2014). not allow administrative supervision on part of the central state, AEVAL provides support to those subcentral government units interested in the implementation of QM practices.…”

“…However, analyses show varying results and effects of QM initiatives and implemented models. Once again, it has been proven that context matters, and that various organisational and external variables have affected the implementation and success of quality reforms (Drewry, 2005, p. 334;Ohemeng, 2010;Pollitt & Bouckaert, 2011, p. 22;Ra & Joo, 2005;Thomassen et al, 2014). Furthermore, in this field, research 1 The CAF (Common Assessment Framework) is a total quality management tool developed as a result of the cooperation of EU ministers responsible for public administration, with the aim of helping public sector organisations to improve their performance (see more at http://www.eipa.eu/en/topic/show/&tid=191).…”