‘Stop making people pay for poor service’, Chief of Staff tells public institutions

A mother takes time off work to register her child’s birth. She makes the trip to the registration office, only to learn at the counter that she needs another document. The instruction takes seconds to deliver. For her, it means finding time for another visit and paying to get there again.

Chief of Staff Dr Julius Debrah used that example at a Citizen Experience Workshop in Accra on Wednesday, November 11, to challenge public institutions over the time and money citizens lose when routine services are poorly organised. He urged them to simplify their procedures, give people the information they need before they set out and treat them with dignity when they arrive.

His appeal goes beyond how an officer speaks to someone at the counter. It concerns the entire experience of getting a public service, from finding out which documents to bring to getting a clear explanation when an application cannot be completed. For a person seeking a birth certificate, passport or business permit, a requirement disclosed late can mean another fare, another queue and more time away from work.

Dr. Debrah asked heads of public institutions to examine their procedures from the perspective of the people who use them. He urged them to identify where applicants get held up, remove unnecessary steps and work with other agencies where doing so could reduce the number of visits a citizen needs to make.

That puts a responsibility on the managers who design the process. If an office repeatedly sends applicants away for the same missing document, managers can look at when and where the requirement is communicated. If an application involves several offices, the agencies can review which steps require the applicant to appear in person and where they can coordinate directly. These are practical ways to act on Dr Debrah’s call for institutions to measure performance by how effectively they serve citizens.

Dr. Debrah also called for training and resources for frontline workers so they can resolve routine problems. These are the officers people turn to when a form is unclear, a document is missing or an application has stalled. Their ability to give a clear answer can determine whether someone leaves knowing exactly what to do next or makes another trip with the same problem.

The Vice-Chairperson of the Public Services Commission, Dr. Irene Stella Agyenim-Boateng, said public officers should explain procedures and decisions to citizens. She also called for greater transparency and equal treatment, regardless of a person’s social connections.

For a first-time applicant, that can be as straightforward as being told which document is missing, where to get it and what happens once it is submitted. That information should be available to anyone who asks, including someone who knows nobody in the office.

Professor Robert Ebo Hinson, who co-authored a book on citizen experience with Dr. Debrah, called for incentives to encourage good performance and sanctions where standards fall short. He said leaders of public institutions should demonstrate the conduct they expect from their staff.

The workshop, organised by the Africa Campus of the China Europe International Business School, brought together public sector leaders, academics and other stakeholders to discuss how to improve everyday service. It followed the July launch by Vice-President Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang of Citizen Experience: A Reset for Superior Public and Civil Service Delivery, the book by Dr Debrah and Prof. Hinson.