The Minister of Public Service, Administrative Reform, Policy Coordination & Delivery, presided over a two-day Planning Retreat at Sindola Safari Hotel in Kanilai, Foni Kansala District in West Coast Region.
The retreat, which ended on Friday, August 19 afforded the Senior Management Team (SMT) the opportunity to plan for activities to be undertaken by new Ministry for the rest of the year.
Declaring the retreat opened, Minister of Public Service, Baboucarr O. Joof described the retreat as timely, and that it marked the conclusion of the ministry’s integration process.
“When I was appointed as the Minister, I set up a task-force in early July to look into the scope of the new Ministry based on a concept note which President Barrow handed over to me immediately after my appointment as Minister,” Minister Joof informed his SMT.
This task force he added, defined the mandate of the Ministry, outlined its functional responsibilities and proposed institutional structure of the Ministry.
He said the Public Service Act 1991 and the Constitution of the Republic of The Gambia were reviewed in order to establish the mandate of the new ministry.
He said Personnel Management Office (PMO), Department of Strategic Policy and Delivery (DSPD) and National Records Service (NRS) are integrated into the institutional structure of the new ministry and will cease to exist in their current forms.
“All powers in the Ministry will now be handled by me (Minister). My permanent secretaries and deputy permanent secretaries will provide technical details within the sector,” the Minister declared as an outcome of the forum.
He went on: “According to Public Service procedures, all correspondents, communication, administration of personnel and other issues will now be addressed to the new Ministry instead of PMO and DSPD”.
He said the new ministry will take decisions instead of PMO, and that the PMO letter head and its stamp will also change to reflect the new institutional arrangement.
“The task force has now established the scope of the Ministry, functions of the various entities within the Ministry and also came up with a proposed structure for the ministry of how it will deliver the mandate based on the concept note along-side with the resources it has at hand,” he informed SMT members.
Mr Joof therefore advised the Ministry’s SMT members to look into the content of their work-plan from the then PMO and DPSD, while urging them to come out ready and get the new Ministry running.
