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The new Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Simon Osei-Mensah has pledged to be time conscious and not attend functions late in all his dealings as a representative of the President in the region.

On Wednesday, the Minister expressed his abhorrence for lateness when he attended an orientation workshop for Assembly Members of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA).

There were just 35 out of the 135 Assembly Member participants at the venue for the programme at 9:30 am when proceedings started.
 
Speaking to the Assembly Members on the new Local Government Act, 2016 (936), the minister expressed concern about lateness and said such attitudes impedes development.

“There is no African time, we have just one world time that we all use… What I believe in is that before any fish starts rotting, it starts from the head. So I being the head and representing the President, I should set a good example for others to emulate. I am going to be time conscious and will never be late”, he added.

He noted that time was a scarce resource that must be used judiciously and with great care adding that he did not believe what had become ‘Ghana Man time; or the usual Ghanaian lateness, adding that a change in such attitude towards punctuality was what was going to help move Ghana forward.

Time book at RCC

Mr Osei-Mensah stated that since he assumed office as the Regional Minister, he has always been to the office before 8am and when it was exactly 8am, he would descend and sign the attendance book for those coming after him to realise that they were late.

Talking to Graphic Online after the programme, the Minister said at his maiden meeting with the staff at the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) he told them about the need to respect and use time judiciously and that he was monitoring those who would be coming late for a period and at the appropriate time take the necessary action.