PS Pateh Jah made this call on Thursday in his office during an exclusive interview with the PMO Information Officer.
“If effective coordination is in place between government institutions, it will help in-terms of coordinating the policies by making sure that the government policies and programmes are implemented as designed in the attainment of the project goals and outcomes which will make sure that service delivery is at the optimal level” PS Jah explained.
Jah stated that many a time, the government development plans are affected because the sectors work independently which cause overlapping activities within government institutions.
PS Jah explained that when the government realised this, they decided to come-up with the Ministry of Public Service, Administrative Reform, Policy Coordination & Delivery.
According to PS Jah, Public Service Ministry is mandated to serve as the overall oversight for the implementation of government policies and programmes.
“We as the new ministry will make sure that the government's development priorities are attainable as enshrined in our mandates,” PS Pateh Jah assured.
He recalled that for the past years, the government came with a number of development plans to make sure that the country attains robust socio-economic development, especially to attain the status of middle-income country.
For us to attain middle income status, he added, we need to work hard, to make sure that the country is seen as a competitive destination of foreign investment so that we can create jobs to improve the lives and the livelihoods of the citizenry.
“As a new ministry, we are currently working on the mandates of the ministry because Personnel Management Office (PMO) and Department of Strategic Policy and Delivery (DSPD) are now coming together to form this new ministry called: ‘Ministry of Public Service, Administrative Reform, Policy Coordination & Delivery.’
PS Jah informed that his sector also is working on the organisational arrangement of the new ministry which includes functional responsibilities of various units under PMO and DSPD.
“We are also working on structures that would make us work to deliver the mandates of the new ministry effectively. As of now, we want to focus on four key areas like: public service delivery, policy coordination, performance management and human resource management,” PS Jah disclosed.
He added that his ministry would continue to do the functions that PMO was doing before, adding that the mandate now is broadened and would continue to formulate human resource policies; continue professional developments; continue to support and design reform processes; and provide periodic reports to the executive, among others.
According to PS Jah, before, civil service was micro-managed by the executive "but in this government, that's not the case because now, civil servants are free to come-up with their new ideas as to how their institutions can be run effectively without interference from the executive."
