Mr Carl Nelson, the Chief Operating Officer GIPC, said even though punctuality was important people needed motivation, capacity building and discipline to ensure the success of the initiative.

Mr Nelson was speaking at the seventh public education forum on the ‘Endorsement of Punctuality,’ by Punctuality Ghana, in Accra.  The public education campaign project dubbed: ‘The Punctuality Ghana Public Education Project’ aims to promote punctuality and effective time management in Ghana and to harness potentials for rapid socio-economic development.

Under the project, which is being implemented by Wise Water Foundation (WWF), a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), a number of programmes would be rolled out in promoting punctuality.

He noted that punctuality and time management had an important role to play in national development and increased productivity. He said if people were not punctual and responsible they could not be productive and therefore urged all to attach much importance to the initiative.

He, therefore, commended the Foundation for the initiative and pledged support for the Punctuality Ghana Public Education Campaign Project to achieve its objectives.Mr Augustine Otoo, the Research and Business Development Officer, said it was important that all areas in society were looked at to enhance the success of the initiative and the country at large.

He said time consciousness should start from childhood so that children could grow with the discipline and urged the country leaders to always set good examples in this regard. He said the campaign was to ensure that time was properly managed to give good results.

Mr Emmanuel Amarquaye, Punctuality Crusader, said the country’s prosperity was locked up in the long bureaucracies that consumed time and money, which needed to be looked at to avoid drawing the country back.He said punctuality was linked to hard and honest work, and urged all Ghanaians to respond to the President’s call by joining the campaign and become disciples of punctuality.

This, when done effectively, he said, would make the country better and more efficient.

Mr Amarquaye said the Foundation in this regard would be building a new mindset of time consciousness couple with productivity into the next generation. “We believe that building the capacity of the next generation to exceed the skills, competence of the current generation must be our future dream for this nation,” he added.

By Samira Larbie/Elsie Appiah-Osei, GNA