“They should exhibit high sense of professionalism and patriotism that is the only way this country can move forward,” he said.
“They should be the people who will make the difference, who will bring about change. The people who will ensure that the nation as a whole gets the best benefit from this PPP intervention,” Nana Agyekum Dwamena added.
According to the Head of the Civil Service, “The policies are there, well-articulated, the approval process are well streamlined but it is the people who will make a lot of difference” if Ghana’s PPP agenda must flourish.
He disclosed this in an interview with journalists at the sideline of the launch of the first basic Public Private Partnership (PPP) course in Accra on Tuesday.
Speaking at the launch, Director of the Public Investment Division of the Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Magdalene Apenteng, reiterated government’s commitment to adopt PPP as an option to leverage private sector funding for infrastructure development.
This, she said, has led to the development of and launching of Ghana PPP policy in June and October in 2011 respectively.
According to her, the PPP program is the key to government’s development agenda to accelerate the development and the provision of critical infrastructure apart from serving as a vehicle to promote the indigenous Ghanaian private sector as well as deepen its involvement in the overall development of the country.
Mrs. Apenteng said, “government sees the engagement of the Civil Service Training Center in the first Basic PPP training course as ‘extremely significant’ because this networking will be of great help as we develop PPPs in the country”.
The launch of the course also witnessed the opening of the first ever 4-day capacity building training in PPP program for Civil Service staff members drawn from various Municipal Department and Agencies across the country.
The participants would be taken through the topics: The Importance and Relevance of the PPP Concept, Types of the PPP Models & Limitations and the PPP Cycle and Process.
The beneficiaries, who are expected to serve as trainer of trainees in PPP capacity building workshops after the completion of the 4-day intensive training in PPPs, will also have the chance to tour the Teshie Desalination project to observe the proceedings as far as work on Ghana’s PPP agenda is gradually progressing.
For her part, Mrs. Dora Dei-Tumi, Principal of the Civil Service Training Center, expressed delight about the PPP agenda so far which most developing countries of the world including Africa are using to turn around infrastructure deficits but identified lack of capacity building for the public sector workers has been the main obstacle for the implementation of PPP projects.
She described the Basic PPP Course as the first step in building the capacity of various stakeholders involved in generating ideas for PPPs project across Ghana.
The course defines activities usually involved in PPP project development, implementation and management. It has been purposely developed as a general course for understanding the entire PPP process.
Meanwhile, Head of Civil Service, Nana Agyekum Dwamena has admonished the participants to focus their attention on acquiring all the relevant skills emanating from the 4-days training course so they can also impart it to others after the training.
He charged them to be actively engaged in the PPP processes involved in order to make it flourish.
PPPs can be described as a contractual arrangement between a public entity and a private sector with clear agreement on shared objectives for the provision of public infrastructure and services traditionally provided by the public sector.
By Joseph Kobla Wemakor|Accra, Ghana
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