She said for public sector institutions to fully contribute to national growth, there was the need for workers to change the way they “do business with its client or the public”.

Speaking at the sixth Imani Ghana Public Sector Leadership Awards in Accra, Ms Degnbol said since there was a widespread disenchantment about public sector workers’ attitude to work, the leadership in those institutions ought to put in place mechanisms to get the best out of such institutions.

About the awards

Imani Public Sector Leadership Award (IPSLA) is an annual public service excellence award organised by Imani Centre for Policy and Education, Ghana. It seeks to reward successful and effective delivery of service by public institutions in Ghana to their stakeholders and publics. The period of review spans September of the previous year to September of the current year.

The award is categorised in two: five Most Inspirational Public Institutions and the five Least Inspirational Public Institutions.

The IPSLA is both a research and an advocacy tool to support ongoing reforms in the public sector and to boost the stature of those pursuing those reforms.

Focus on efficiency

Ms Degnbol said public sector workers must do well to focus on efficiency, especially when dealing with their clients.

She also talked about the need for them to come up with new ways of engaging clients in order to meet their expectations adequately, else they would fade out of relevance.

Awards

In all, 50 public institutions were assessed. The Ministry of Gender and Social Protection emerged the best and most inspirational public sector institution after it scored 67 per cent in the area of transparency and better delivery of its mandate.

The Electoral Commission (EC), the Ministry of Health (MoH), the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) and the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) followed in the second to fifth positions respectively.

The National Sports Authority ended up as the least performing public sector institution, followed by the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General’s Department, the National Youth Authority, Ministry of Youth and Sport and the National Commission on Culture.

A special award was also handed over to the Country Director of UNAIDS, Mr Girmay Haile, for his dedicated service in promoting issues of HIV/AIDS in the country.

All the awardees were presented with a certificate of recognition and other undisclosed packages.

Imani Ghana determined

In an address, the Founder President of the policy think tank, Mr Franklin Cudjoe, said the rationale behind the award scheme was to honour deserving public sector institutions and throw the spotlight on public institutions.

Over the last five editions, he said, most of the institutions had done well to enhance their operations.

"We need public sector institutions to sit up and work hard to meet the expectations of the public and also achieve their mandate,” Mr Cudjoe stressed.

He, therefore, commended all the awardees and urged the non-performing institutions to institute mechanisms to get the best out of them.