Thursday 21 June 2012

Why we must elect the boss of ECG


I have an idea. In the last one week not a single day passes without power being cut in my house, sometimes for more than four hours at a time. My calls to the ECG "helpline" provided no help at all. Meanwhile, in all probability, the family of the ECG boss would be enjoying air-conditioning and wall-to-wall lighting. Why don't we set targets for bosses of public corporations in the same way that private companies set targets for bosses and their subordinates?

 Think about it this way: I don't know my MP, and I have to look up his name just to remember it. He had only a notional impact on my life. And yet we go to great expense and lengths to elect our MPs whereas people like the ECG boss whose performances have immediate impact on our daily lives are not accountable to us directly. Ministers are supposed to take the political heat for the non-performance of officials in ministries, departments and agencies under their watch but it doesn’t work like that.

My suggestion is that we have to have a say in the appointment of public sector bosses through direct elections. It can be done. However, before we get to direct elections we can have a halfway house situation in which Parliament would vet all top bosses of public corporations so that they go on the record about the benchmarks by which we can judge them.

2 comments:

  1. for the past month lights in my house go off almost daily. something's up!
    we should be able to give them the boot and quickly when officials don't reach their targets. i wish I could tell how this could be operationalized

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  2. Well, that is the unfortunate reality we find ourselves. May be one day, the frustrations of Ghanaians would reach fiver pitch and such suggestions could gain prominence.

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