The
Secretary General and Head of the Civil Service, Dawda Fadera, recently
presided over a two-day mid-year retreat for Permanent Secretaries.
Speaking
at the retreat, Mr Fadera declared that the bad political governance of the
past regime had a debilitating effect on macroeconomic stability and management
of the country.
This,
he added, was reflected in the poor fiscal discipline as evidenced by
uncontrolled domestic borrowing to fund government excesses and the frequent
use of supplementary budgets.
He
noted that the retreat was meant to better prepare the sectors and other
relevant stakeholders for a smooth transition from the Programme for
Accelerated Growth and Employment (PAGE) to the National Development Plan (NDP)
in the new dispensation.
“Poor
political and economic governance and declining public-sector effectiveness
have created fundamental challenges for The Gambia as it embarks upon a new
development and democratic trajectory,” he said.
According
to SG Fadera, the retreat was geared towards preparing sectors and other
relevant stakeholders for a smooth transition from PAGE to a National
Development Plan aligned to the new government’s objective of delivering good
governance and accountability.
He
said the two-day retreat gives them the opportunity to engage each other in
active debate over the strategies needed to support development aspirations,
especially the National Development Plan.
He
added that developing coherent policies and strategies, systems and structures
and other development tools was critical to the realisation of socio-economic
development.
For
his part, the permanent secretary of Personal Management Office (PMO), Pateh
Jaw, dilated at length on the significance of the forum.
The
retreat, he added, was meant to bring together senior government officials to
brainstorm on pertaining issues geared towards national development.
