By Awa Macalo
After a two-day discussions with government officials, recommendations were made by various ministries to improve performance of public officials.
Drawing a curtain on the cabinet retreat, VP Badara Alieu Joof told colleagues to up their games and that the public will judge them on performance, not presentations or speeches at the conclave.
“We have frank discussions at the level of groups, dispassionately, color-blindly, and professionally to come up with strategic things that would address some of the pressing issues in the short-term, in the medium-term and the long-term to alleviate some of the concerns of the Gambian people.
“My hope and the success of this retreat would not be judged by the presentations, by the statements, or by the discussions, but by what we do hereafter. So much potential, but little performance. This time, there should be so much intellectual potential and so much practical performance for the realization of our goals to justify the monies we have spent here for these two days,” the vice president said.
VP Joof added that a paper will be presented to the cabinet later this month for endorsement, which will encompass how to improve efficiency and effectiveness in public service.
“When the cabinet endorses it, the steps that we have outlined here, we will go into immediate implementation. Three months down the line, five months down the line if at this level, but at the level of cabinet, we should be able to look back with the ministry of public services together, with the office of the vice president in consultation with the respective sectors, to ask for performance indicators. How far have you gone in your respective ministries in implementing the recommendations of this retreat, and report to the executive as a whole? If there are constraints, you let us know. And on the basis of that, we will be able to trace our steps again and see how we could recalibrate things to have maximum implementation for maximum impact for the Gambian people,” he said.
