By Ghana is Africa’s most outstanding country in this year’s Africa Public Sector Awards (APSA) which recently held in at the Radisson Blu Hotel & Convention Centre, Kigali, Rwanda.
The West African country of 20 million people lived up to its recent World Bank’s rating at the 2018 edition of the Africa Public Sector Conference & Awards (APSCA) to cart away over eight (8) awards in an award ceremony that drew audience from more than a dozen African countries including South Africa, Nigeria, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, among others.
APSCA Panel: How can the public sector in Africa be more serviced-focused?
Earlier in the day, at the Africa Public Sector Conference, stakeholders drawn from across the continent had discussed how Africa could tackle corruption in public procurement as well as how the public sector could be more serviced focused.
Bureaucracy remains a major hurdle to driving service in real-time and becoming performance orientated, said CEO of Rwanda Governance Board, Professor Anastase Shyaka at one of the plenary sessions.
While the panel recognised that political interference significantly interferes in how due diligence is applied in the procurement process across many African countries, the human element to ensure compliance to performance contracts still requires a lot of motivation. Public servants who manage procurement process are often underpaid thus exposing them to temptation that invariably compromise the procurement process, said Managing Director, Electricity Company of Ghana, Mr. Samuel Boakye-Appiah.
“Motivation of staff is critical. Performance must have a corresponding relationship with motivation and remuneration,” said Chief Executive Officer of the Public Procurement Authority of Ghana, Mr. Agyenim Boateng Adjei. The public sector needs innovation that is tied to delivering service, said Mr. Akin Naphtal, CEO of Instinctwave, organisers of the APSCA event.
Awards
In the award ceremony to sign off the event later in the evening, Ghana stole the show with an award haul to underscore the rising profile of Ghana’s public sector in global performance index. Outstanding Contribution to Public Service Procurement went to Chief Executive Officer of the Public Procurement Authority (of Ghana), Mr. Agyenim Boateng Adjei; Excellence in Electricity Service Delivery went to Electricity Company of Ghana; Excellence in Public Procurement & Best Practice Award was similarly won by the Public Procurement Authority of Ghana while the Africa Public Sector CEO of the Year went to the Managing Director, Electricity Company of Ghana, Mr. Samuel Boakye-Appiah to cap up the winning streak for the Ghanaians.
South Africa grabbed the Outstanding Woman in Public Service Award which went to the country’s Minister of Public Service and Administration, Ms Ayanda Dlodlo while Rwanda took the Most Outstanding Country award in Public Procurement.
But Ghana was not done yet. The Special Recognition for Promoting Gender Equality went to Ghana’s Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Hon. Otiko Afisa Djaba. Ghana’s First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo- Addo took the Excellence in Empowering Women & Children Award home while the country’s Ministry for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ghana grabbed the Outstanding Contribution to Gender & Children Rights. Also the Lifetime Achievement Award went to Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs in Ghana, Professor Margaret Kobia,.
“The Africa Public Sector Conference & Awards (APSCA) 2018 is designed to be the meeting point for thought leaders in public and private sectors to discuss cross-continent opportunities and partnerships, share insights on strategies, policies and best practices that will drive efficient and smarter public services delivery in Africa,” said Naphtal in Kigali. The APSA is supported by Knowhow Media International Limited, publishers of IT Edge News.
