'Serving in public service goes beyond monetary gains' <https://mail.google.com/mail/html/compose/static_files/blank_quirks.html#map> Africa <http://observer.gm/africa/news> » Gambia<http://observer.gm/africa/gambia/news> Thursday, December 23, 2010 Dr Njogu L. Bah, the secretary general and head of the Civil Service has told permanent secretaries that serving in the public service is something that goes beyond monetary gains. He said it should be regarded as a privilege for one to serve his own people, and that "no one but ourselves can help usher in meaningful and sustainable development for our dear motherland". SG Bah made these remarks Wednesday at the conference hall of the Paradise Suites Hotel in Kololi, while presiding over the opening of a three-day retreat of all permanent secretaries serving in the various ministries within the government. The retreat is organised for officials to discuss and map out tangible resolutions for the rapid implementation of key national development strategies. During the course of the three-day retreat, the permanent secretaries will discuss on the Civil Service reform of The Gambia and a recap of the Second Cabinet Retreat. They will also be dealing with the national sectoral performance targets as well as the 2010 MDGs status report and the Programme for Accelerated Growth and Employment (PAGE) work in progress. Dr Bah told the permanent secretaries that as top civil servants, they have to serve as role models in terms of output and moral uprightness in the execution of their duties, saying it is a disputable fact that to whom much is given much is equally expected. "Therefore, the responsibility to achieve the sectoral targets rests on our shoulders," he added. The organisation of the retreat, he went on, is a follow-up of the two cabinet retreats that were convened in Kanilai at the invitation of President Jammeh, who has been calling on all sectors to formulate their strategic plans to facilitate the smooth achievement of Vision 2020, the MDGs as well as the PRSP and other national development blueprints. He further pointed out that the retreat is envisaged to serve as a vital complement to building strong block to the past two cabinet retreats. He told the participants that as technicians, the forum will provide them with the ample opportunity to interact and reflect over crosscutting development issues, as well as harmonise and build synergies to ensure vertical integration in the country's wider development endeavours. Also of immense significance, SG Bah reminded the permanent secretaries, is the communiqué that was issued at the last cabinet retreat. "I believe you have all had time to reflect and act on the recommendations which will form part of the deliberations here," he stated. According to him, the analysis of the Poverty Reduction Strategic Paper (PRSP) as the national development strategy framework had indicated some successes, but largely failed to drastically reduce poverty as intended, particularly income poverty. He said the macroeconomic stability that has been achieved over the years could not lead to increase in private investment especially in the labour-intensive areas to reduce unemployment and poverty. While calling on the participants to frankly and objectively discuss not only the successes but also challenges facing national development, SG Bah reminded them that putting together coherent policies, strategies and systems as well as structures and other development tools is a critical move towards the realisation of socio-economic development. He however observed that the most critical of all is attitudinal change, which he described as the "hardest" part of any reform process. "It is incumbent upon you all as accounting officers to figure out reasons for shortcomings," He concluded. For his part, Mod Secka, the permanent secretary, Ministry of Economic Planning and Industrial Development said the retreat comes at a time when The Gambia is entering into the last year of the implementation of the PRSP 2 and working on the finalisation of its successor and the PAGE. He said having completed the mid-term review of the PRSP 2; the retreat will give them the opportunity to redouble their efforts to achieving its objectives. Presenting a paper on the Civil Service reform of The Gambia, Dawda Fadera, the permanent secretary, Personal Management Office (PMO) said government decided to reform the public service because there were huge unskilled civil personnel. The new reform, he said, is a total home grown one, which makes it different from the previous ones. He explained that the new reform touches on providing enhancements for five major national institutions on capacity building and other areas. He revealed that his office is also working on transforming the Management Development Institute (MDI) into a 21st Century learning institution. He explained that this will reduce the burden of government paying huge amounts on overseas learning. PS Fadera also informed the permanent secretaries that his office is currently working with the Migration Development in Africa Scheme (MIDAS) and the International Organisation Migration (IOM) so that skilled Gambians abroad can come and fill some weak capacity gaps in the country. Author: *by Amadou Jallow * -- * ***************************************************************************** GOD BLESS SHEIKH PROFESSOR ALHAGIE YAHYA AJJ JAMMEH* *(PRESIDENT FOR LIFE.)* * * *GOD BLESS THE GAMBIA* * * *GOD BLESS APRC* * * *DOWN WITH THE FAILED OPPOSITION * ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤