There have been reports that the Service is undertaking an exercise to lay off some Administrative Officers because the sector is bloated and it has resulted in poor quality service delivery within the sector.

The report headlined Local Government Service to lay off workers said the development was announced in a speech read on behalf of Dr Arthur at the third National Conference of Ghana National Association of Local Govt Service Administrators (GALGA) in Tamale in the Northern Region.

But reacting to the reports, Dr Arthur said it was false because the outfit needs an increase in staff strength.

“I was supposed to be at the event but there was a change in plans at the last minute so I couldn’t go. I admit someone spoke on my behalf but I still have the hardcopy of my speech with me and no part in it says anything about layoffs so I am surprised at the publication,” he said on Accra-based Neat FM.

He added employees have performed well with plans underway to increase the staff strength and enable them to deliver on their mandate effectively and efficiently.

“I even wish we would employ more people so we are still engaging the Finance Ministry for financial clearance to employ more spatial planners and horticulturalists but I don’t think our workers are redundant,” he added.

Dr Arthur has, therefore, urged the general public to disregard the reports.

The OHLGS had issued a letter on March 4, 2022, directing all 240 candidates who had been shortlisted for interviews for the position of Director and Analogue positions to pay GHC 6,000.00.

According to the letter which was signed by the Chief Director for the Head of Service, James Oppong Mensah, the amount was going to be used to cater for the training materials, accommodation, feeding, as well as administrative cost of the interview.

Find the original letter which was copied to all Regional Minister, Regional Coordinating Councils, Regional Coordinating Directors, Regional Chief Directors and MMDCEs below:

Following the release of the letter, Adom 106.3 FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem, started probing as a result of which the OHLGS has now issued another letter to immediately suspend the workshop and the earlier grotesque decision.

The new letter dated March 11, 2022, has suspended the decision for broader consultation.

“Following concerns raised by some staff, the Head of Service has directed the immediate suspension of the workshop,” the letter written and signed by Chief Director of OHLGS, Mr Mensah, for Head of Service read.

The letter did not, however, state the nature of the withdrawal except to say that “a new date will be communicated to applicants after a broader consultation on the matter.

Find the new letter below:

The Local Government Service has reacted to claims that it is demanding GH¢6,000 from workers due for promotion.

A letter, signed by the Chief Director, James Oppong Mensah, said the money is meant for organising “a three-day High-Level Residential Refresher Training Workshop to prepare the officers for the impending interview.”

The about 240 workers to be interviewed for the position of Directors and Analogous grades have been asked to pay the money into an Absa Bank Gh Ltd account by Wednesday, March 23, 2022.

Some aggrieved workers, who qualify for the interview, have reportedly accused the Service of milking them dry.

But the Chief Director of the Local Government Service, James Oppong Mensah, in an interview on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem said they have not erred.

He explained that the monies being demanded have been the status quo since they began the promotion training workshop in 2017.

The Local Government Service Chief Director revealed that, they had charged Gh¢5,000 for the previous interview preparation workshop, but this year the hotels had increased their prices so the Service increased the fee for the interviewees.

“This is not the first time we are organising such a workshop so I’m surprised it is all over the media that we are asking workers to pay GH¢6,000,” Mr Mensah stressed.

The Local Government Service Chief Director explained that the promotion workshop is to prepare shortlisted candidates due for promotion interview to be done by the Public Services Commission.

Mr Mensah said participation in the workshop is not compulsory, noting that anyone who is unable to pay the GH¢6,000 will still be part of the candidates to be interviewed.

The directive to pay the money is from the Office of the Head of the Local Government Service (OHLGS), according to a letter sighted by The Fourth Estate.

The letter says the money is meant for organising “a three-day High-Level Residential Refresher Training Workshop to prepare the officers for the impending interview”.

The Local Government Service has directed the candidates to pay the money into an Absa Bank Gh Ltd account by Wednesday, March 23, 2022.

“The amount will be used to cater for the training materials, accommodation, feeding as well as the administrative cost of the interview,” the letter explains.

Some local government service workers are angry about the content of the letter because those to be interviewed take less than Gh¢4,000 home at the end of the month, and the amount being charged was almost twice their monthly salaries.

This country is on Fire

Some employees of the Local Government Service have told The Fourth Estate that the service was using the so-called interview preparation to extort money from employees. According to them, the service knew the employees desperately needed promotion and could not afford to be left out.

“This ought not to be. This is robbery. The last time they did this thing, they took Gh¢4,500 from everyone. They took Gh¢4,500 from each of those who are working as District Coordinating Directors currently before they promoted them to directors. They forced them to pay,” an employee who did not want to be named told The Fourth Estate.

“Later, they took Gh¢5,000 each from another batch of workers. I don’t know what has emboldened them this time to increase that amount to Gh¢6,000 in this Ghana.”

Another official believed that the authorities who instituted the cash-for-seat-promotion scheme did not live through such “an oppressive system” themselves when their promotions were due.

“This is just a way to hide behind something and rob the people. This country is on fire! We need a voice,” she said.

This is not new, Local Government Service reacts

When The Fourth Estate reached out to the Local Government Service on the matter, the Chief Director, James Oppong Mensah, confirmed that the letter was authentic. He said the amount each potential interviewee was supposed to pay was, indeed, Gh¢6,000.

He said the service had charged Gh¢5,000 for the previous interview preparation workshop, but this year the hotels had increased their prices so the Service increased the fee for the interviewees.

When asked about the proposed venue for the training and who the facilitators would be, the Chief Director said he would not disclose that to The Fourth Estate.

He was unhappy that the employees had expressed their disapproval to the media instead of the management of the Local Government Service.

“They should have regard for the Service. Why should they go to a journalist?” he told Manasseh Azure Awuni at the head office of the Local Government Service in Accra.

“It’s not compulsory. They are not under compulsion to pay,” he said, adding that if someone was not able to pay the money and attend the preparation, they would still be allowed to take part in the interview.

When asked whether he did not see the amount being charged as very high, the Chief Director said even if the employees felt it was high, they had to use the right approach. They could have reached out to the Local Government Service for a negotiation, instead of going to the media.

Payment and participation is almost compulsory

Some staff of the Local Government Service, however, say the payment is almost compulsory. They say those who are not able to pay could easily be targeted and victimized.

A planning officer expressed fears things might get worse for his colleagues in the local government service if schemes of this nature were not stopped.

“It doesn’t happen. You don’t have to go and pay for any promotion. Where are they going to get that Gh¢6,000? The truth of it is that it is robbery,” he said.

“Gh¢6,000 multiplied by 240 people; that is one Gh¢1,440,000. That is a lot of money. If people can now go for promotion interview and they have to pay this, where are we taking the country to?”

Deprived communities will bear the brunt

Deprived communities will eventually suffer the “pointless and extortionate” demands directed at the workers who are due for elevation in the Local Government Service, a top-ranking official told The Fourth Estate.

“The net salary of Deputy Directors, after-tax and SSNIT deductions, is not up to Gh¢4,000. And you are asking them to pay Gh¢6,000 for a promotion interview,” he said.

“After they have paid this money and have become Coordinating Directors, they are going to take public funds to pay back the money you unjustifiably took from them for the promotion interview.”

“The job of a District Coordinating Director is to implement government policies and projects― provide water, schools, et cetera. The money that is supposed to be used for water, they are coming to find a way to inflate the contract sums and claim it. The ripple effect will be on the community people. These are the things that corrupt the whole nation, making the cost of everything high. These are the things,” he lamented.

He made the comment while announcing plans for the Service in the coming months.

According to him, in the past five years that he has been in the local government service as the Head, the institution has recruited over 10,000 personnel and there is more to come.

Despite not giving an exact date, he said on Adom TV’s Badwam that more employment of personnel across board, including low service workers will be made in the coming months.

He again revealed that the Ministry of Finance has given clearance for the Service to recruit more Environmental Officers into the institution, especially people who had been unemployed for the past ten years.

“Last year the Ministry of Finance gave us clearance to employ those from the Environmental Officers who completed the three schools of hygiene in Accra, Ho and Tamale and had been in the house for the past ten years to be recruited into the service,” he revealed.

Also, for the first batch of replacement has been made, and some 1700 persons have been employed just last month to start work today.

Dr Ato Arthur is positive that the second batch should be ready in a week.

Speaking on political favour, he explained that the Service is not partisan based and as a head cannot politicize its services.

“For me since the last five years as the head of the service, I don’t do NPP and NDC politics never! I don’t belong to any political party in the service. In the local government we don’t have NPP Head and NDC Head,” he stressed.

He praised President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo for his good work done in the Local Government Services.