During his meet the people tour, President Adama Barrow mentioned in one of his speeches that there are some among the civil servants who say that they are neutral. He added that those are people who support the opposition parties.
However, some analysts and activists of good governance have raised concerns about this statement. According to some, such statements have the potential to politicize the civil service which is likely to hamper the performance of their service delivery.
It is of course well-known that it is not possible, or even proper, for all the people to support one party. That is to say, it is not feasible for all the people to belong to the ruling party. That is actually the entire concept of a multiparty democracy.
If that were to be the case then it will certainly jeopardize the democratic gains that the country has registered in the past few years. When there is conflict of interest in the civil service, then the service delivery will certainly be affected with the result that citizens will not get the service they require.
The Constitution of the country has put certain measures in place to protect the rights of the citizens and that is why it is wrong for a government functionary to openly display loyalty to a political party whether it is the ruling party or the opposition.
The neutrality of the civil servants is significant in that it will give every citizen the belief that s/he will receive the needed service without any prejudice. For, otherwise, how will it be possible for citizens to have the confidence that they will receive proper services regardless of whether they support one party or the other?
This is something that should always be kept in view by everyone so that the democratic gains will be strengthened rather than hampered.
