President Mills is embarking on a personal crusade to encourage Ghanaians to change their attitude to time.

He says punctuality will help draw investors into the country.

Addressing the opening session of the Ghana Investment Forum, the president expressed his displeasure at the late start of the programme.

“I think that we better do things differently, because…capital will move into the areas where it is most comfortable. And what contributes to the comfort [is] regularity, timeliness, honesty, transparency, etc.,” President Mills told participants at the forum.

The programme might have started too early for some people including the US Ambassador to Ghana, Donald Teitelbaum, who was late for the event and was disallowed entry into the venue.

Several other invited dignitaries and journalists were reportedly locked out because they were late.

In his opening remarks, President Mills said Ghana cannot attract investment if citizens continue to be tardy.

President Mills is said to be a stickler for time and he never shows up late for events.

A few months ago he warned ministers of state to be punctual for Cabinet meetings.

Sources say most Cabinet meetings have started on time. But that doesn’t seem to be the case at the lower levels of governance.

From Kumasi, Joy News correspondent Elton John-Brobbey reports that the Ashanti Regional Minister, Kofi Poku-Manu, has threatened to sanction District Chief Executives who show up late for meetings with him.

This was after he had waited for more than an hour for the DCEs to show up for a meeting.

He said the attitude of the DCEs and other public officers to time management is getting poorer for which he believes there is no justification.

“I feel very disappointed that you should attend such an important programme late; I’m not going to mince words over this, I’m very particular about punctuality and I want to urge my district chief executives,…next time you’re late I’ll ask you to leave,” Mr Poku-Manu told his subordinates.


Source: Joy News/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana