She said, she was not expecting everybody to follow a particular political party but as public servants or civil servants, they were mandated to support the government to achieve its development agenda for the general well-being of the people.

Ms Abayage said this at separate interactions with the staff of the Builsa South, Builsa North and Kassena Nankana municipal assemblies.

The interactions formed part of the minister’s week-long tour of the 15 district and municipal assemblies in the region.

The visit was to enable her to formally introduce herself to the people, interact with constituency executives of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), inspect ongoing projects and acquaint herself with some of the challenges in the various districts.

Ms Abayage noted that as a regional minister, she wore both the administrative and NPP caps, hence during such visits, she was expected to also touch base with members of the party, as well as assess the development agenda of the government since it won power in 2016.

She further pointed out that she was aware of the challenges being faced by civil and public servants, saying “measures would be put in place to address such problems”.

Neutrality

The Regional Coordinating Director, Alhaji Mahamadu Azonko, entreated staff of the various district assemblies to be neutral in the performance of their duties, adding that while political heads provided leadership, the civil and public servants provided management.

He, therefore, stressed the need for those who wanted to engage in partisan politics to resign from their current positions because “the neutrality of our public service is unshakeable".

Alhaji Azonko further revealed that three public servants in the region had been interdicted because they engaged in various offences that breached their code of conduct.

Workers

During separate open forums, some staff members at the Builsa South, Builsa North and Kassena Nankana municipal assemblies expressed concern about the inability of some of the departments under the district assemblies to get the needed funding to perform their work effectively.

Others also mentioned delayed promotions and low remuneration as some of the challenges they faced in their work.

Tour
The minister was accompanied on the tour by the district chief executives of the Builsa South, Builsa North and Kassena Nankana municipalities, Messrs Daniel Gariba, David Afoko and William Aduum.

She inspected the Navrongo recreational centre which has a 5,000-seater capacity International Federation of Association Football (FIFA)-standard sports stadium, as well as other ongoing projects.