Speaking at the 8th Nathan Anan Quao Lecture and Excellence Awards 2025, organised by the Civil and Local Government Staff Association (CLOGSAG) in Accra, he said the Civil Service must be insulated from partisanship and political interference. 

Dr Appiah emphasised that public administration should be grounded in meritocratic recruitment, equal rights, impartiality, and structured to function effectively within a multi-party democracy. 

He said that such reforms would ensure competence, independence, and non-partisanship in the delivery of public services. Dr Appiah noted that Ghana’s Civil Service outperformed those of Indonesia and South Korea in the early post-independence years but had since fallen behind due to weakened institutional structures. 

He explained that countries with advanced Civil Service systems either established merit-based structures before adopting multi-party democracy or operated under systems that protected the bureaucracy from political influence. “We need to create a competent, non-partisan, impartial and effective civil service to help every government in power to bring development to the citizens, especially as our elected Presidents are expected to perform magic with the limited four-year tenure,” he said.

Dr Appiah stressed that while qualifications were important, the focus should be on leadership and capacity-building rather than certificates alone. “It’s not just a matter of the certificates, it’s about their values, their capacity and their competence for trying to do the job. And unless we take seriously the call to make our civil service training more effective, we will not be able to get there,” he said.

 Dr. Appiah called for a stronger civil service training school to build leadership and technical capacity. “Leadership is not God-given, leadership is learned and leaders must be trained on how to lead,” he added. 

Mr. Isaac Bampoe Addo, Executive Secretary of CLOGSAG, expressed concern over government’s disregard for Article 195 of the Constitution and the Presidential Transition Act, 2012 (Act 845), warning that it undermined good governance principles such as transparency, accountability, and rule of law. “These principles aim to build trust and ensure that the public services operate ethically and effectively. These concerns, if not addressed, will affect Ghana’s Public-Private Partnership initiative,” he said. 

Nana Oye Bampoe Addo, Deputy Chief of Staff, said the ongoing Constitutional Review Process offered an opportunity to strengthen and insulate the mandates of the public service, local government, and civil service. She noted that the Office of the President had submitted a memorandum from a committee comprising representatives from the Trade Union Congress, Public Service, and Civil Service to the Constitutional Review Committee. Madam Addo clarified that President Mahama had acted within the law in appointing Chief Executive Officers for state agencies, stating that “under the presumptive principle, the powers of the President were legally carried out substantially and procedurally.”

Ciitations and awards were presented to outstanding civil servants at the Lecture. Dr Evans Agbeme Dzikum, who has served for four decades, was adjudged the overall best and received the Nathan Anan Quao Award for Excellence in Leadership. Other recipients were honoured for selflessness, professionalism, and leadership.

 The late Nathan Anan Quao was a distinguished diplomat and civil servant who served under successive governments from Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s era through to the late 1990s, upholding values of impartiality, competence, and transparency.