MoH workers raise concern about appointments delay

Some workers at the Ministry of Health (MoH) have raised concern over delay in the appointment of some key management officers at the ministry.

The positions are the Chief Procurement and Supply Chain Manager, Chief Programme Officer (Nursing & Midwifery), Chief Programme Officer (Public Health and Health Promotion), Chief Programme Officer (Allied Health), Chief Programme Officer (External Health Coordination), Director of Research, Statistics and Information Management and Chief Programme Officer (Legal Affairs).

The workers who spoke to the Daily Graphic on condition of anonymity said the various positions were advertised in the dailies in July, 2020, with interviews conducted for shortlisted applicants in October 2020, but the results were yet to be released after more than a year.

“It has been more than a year since the interviews were conducted and up until now, we do not know those who were chosen or those deemed competent enough for the positions,” they said

Such a situation, they said, had led to people occupying the positions in an acting capacity, which according to them was affecting the smooth administration of the ministry.

“Take a look at the position of the Procurement and Supply Chain Manager.

In the midst of COVID-19, where the government through the Ministry of Health is making numerous purchases of vaccines and PPEs, we do not need an acting Manager but rather a substantive one,” they said.

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Checks by the Daily Graphic revealed that on July 16, 2020, an advert was placed in the Ghanaian Times by the MoH and Civil Service Council inviting qualified applicants for the various positions.

The advertisements included the job descriptions of each of the positions, the duties and responsibilities expected of the one occupying the positions, as well as qualifications, experience, knowledge, skills and competencies expected of those vying for the positions.

According to the workers, they know for a fact that the Public Services Commission (PSC) and the Civil Service Council conducted interviews for shortlisted applicants on October 13 and 14, 2020.

They added that per the norm, after interviews, the PSC would make its recommendations within four months for the Office of the Head of the Civil Service to issue appointment letters to the qualified and selected applicant.

“After the interviews, we did not hear anything and all efforts to know why the process has stalled has proved futile.

We hope the delay is not as a result of some political machinations, which will be quite unfortunate.

Per the law, the civil service is not supposed to be tainted with partisan politics,” they added.

Response

In an interview responding to the concern of the workers, the Public Relations Officer of the MoH, Mr Elorm Ametepe, said the appointments were not within the purview of the MoH but rather the PSC.

“The interviews were not conducted by the MoH so the appointments cannot be done by the ministry.

The issue is now at the doorsteps of the Public Services Commission.

The PSC is an independent body, so what the MoH can do is to wait for the outcome from the PSC,” he added.