CITIZEN CHARTER COMMITTEE SET UP (PAGE 22)

Story: Kwame Asiedu Marfo, Sekondi

THE Western Regional Secretariat of the Lands Commission has set up a 10-member citizens charter committee to oversee the implementation of the New Citizen Charter of the Lands Commission.
The committee has a Principal State Attorney, Mr S.K. Kumatia, as its chairman. The other members of the committee are Mrs Ruth Appiah, a lands officer; Mr Christopher A. Atanga, the Assistant Lands Officer; Mr Alex K. Antoah, Chief Technical Officer; Ms Sarah Alhassan, Senior Accountant; and Ms Vida Keh, a Senior Executive Officer, all of the different departments of the Western Region Lands Commission.
The rest are Ms Rose Serebour, a stenographer secretary; Mr Matthew Botchwey, a higher executive director; Mr Augustine Boateng, a higher revenue officer; and Mr A.K. Ofosu-Djan, Assistant Lands Officer.
Speaking at the inauguration of the committee and signing of the charter in Sekondi, the Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission, Alhaji I. H. Baryeh, noted that the ceremony looked small but very big in content.
“It is a very big innovation brought into the system to ensure that the public service deliver in a timeous manner,” he said.
Alhaji Baryeh explained that the charter was basically a brief public document that provided essential information on the services or functions of an institution and the manner in which such services could be accessed efficiently and promptly.
“The underlying assumption of the charter is that once people have knowledge about what was expected from an institution, they would be able to hold them accountable for fair, prompt, efficient and courteous service,” he stated.
Alhaji Baryeh recalled that on October 24, 2007, President J.A. John Agyekum Kufuor inaugurated the Citizens Charter for the land sector agencies.
Those land agencies, he said, were the Lands Commission, the Land Title Registry, the Land Valuation Board, the Survey Department, the Town and Country Planning Department and the Administrator of Stool Lands.
Mr Baryeh said the inauguration was given a further boost by a presidential order, that charter units should be established in all government departments and ministries by December 31, 2007.
He emphasised that the inauguration of the Citizens Charter for the entire land sector agencies on the premises of the Lands Commission by President Kufuor, placed on the commission the responsibility to deliver excellence and efficient service.
“It is in the light of this gesture from the President, that the management of the Lands Commission has decided that regional charter committees should be set up this year; and monitoring of these committees be carried out in ensuing years to ascertain the impact the committees will have on the general service delivery of the commission,” he added.
The executive secretary said the charter standards would serve as performance appraisal guide for officers of the commission.
“Members of this committee are, therefore, expected to perform their duties conscientiously to meet the tenets set out in the charter,” he said.
The National Chairman of the Lands Commission, Mr Eustace Nee-Armah Kumi-Bruce, who swore in members of the committee, said the committee would propel the Lands Commission forward to be friendly, proactive and service oriented.
The Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr Philip Kwesi Nkrumah, noted that the inauguration of the charter committee would enhance efficiency in public service delivery.
He said the setting up of the committee by the commission showed an institution that was ready to deliver, adding that “we all have duties to perform to make the initiative work”.
The Chairman of the committee, Mr S. K. Kumatia, called for a change of attitude and mentality towards duty to help improve on service delivery.
He also urged staff of the committee to improve on their relationship with the public/clients to enable them to achieve their target and justify the establishment of the committee.