A senior government official criticised Ghana’s entrenched culture of lateness on Thursday at the launch of National Productivity Week 2026 in Accra, warning it carries a measurable economic cost.
Deputy Chief of Staff for Administration Nana Oye Bampoe-Addo, delivering the keynote address on behalf of Chief of Staff Julius Debrah, called for immediate reforms in public sector work ethics and performance monitoring. She argued that sustainable growth would remain out of reach without stronger accountability systems and genuine changes in workplace behaviour.
“The Ghana man time is not a joke. It comes at a cost,” she said.
The launch was organised by the Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI) under the theme: Transforming Mindsets, Driving Efficiency: The MDPI Approach to Sustainable Productivity for Ghana’s Economic Growth.
Speaker of Parliament Alban Kingsford Bagbin told the gathering that mindset transformation is foundational to national development. He urged workers across both the public and private sectors to embrace discipline, punctuality, and accountability, stressing that leaders must model those values before expecting them from others.
Minister for Labour, Jobs and Employment Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo described productivity as the cornerstone of economic transformation and job creation. He outlined a government reset agenda covering workplace reorientation, skills development, and institutional reform, and confirmed that the legislative framework governing the MDPI is currently under review to improve its flexibility and operational efficiency.
National Productivity Week 2026 runs from May 18 to 22, with policy dialogues, public education campaigns, capacity-building programmes, and health screenings planned nationwide.
