Madame speaker,

It was only five days ago, that we gathered here, to witness yet again, a very significant event in our National Calendar, that is the state opening, of this August Assembly by His Excellency the President of the Republic Professor Dr. Alhaji Yahya AJJ Jammeh.  

May I seize this opportunity first and foremost, to express our congratulations to you Madam Speaker, and through you to the Honorable Members of this Assembly, for the great success of this magnificent National event.  By the same token, it is also with great pleasure and honour that I humbly stand before you today to formally present  a very important policy instrument; a strategy to reform, develop, and modernise  the Civil   service of this country.

Madam Speaker, the administrative apparatus we inherited after Independence, many would agree, was the best in the subregion, if not in Africa.  Based on the model of weber, with rationality, neutrality and professionalism, as its hallmarks; after forty-four (44) years of nation building, it has faced tremendous challenges and constraints in a rapidly changing political, economic and social environment.  The expansion of services and consequent increase in demands impacted negatively on the system and personnel to the extent that efficiency, morale, professionalism, and quality delivery of services to the public are seriously compromised.  For a country to develop   and prosper this situation is deemed unacceptable and must be changed; not change for change sake, but change for very good reasons.  This together with the desire to garner  a robust civil service as the engine  to drive our poverty reduction strategy programme II, meet our millennium development goals and vision 2020 objectives, is the raison d’etre  for government to design such a vital instrument, for change, which is now being laid before you.

Madam Speaker, as Members of this Assembly can recall, The Gambia has indeed been undertaking   public service reforms since the   80s and 90s, following the recommendations of the SECAL report. These reforms however, have not been without challenges.  Some of the major challenges experienced relate to inadequate funding, lack of effective monitoring and evaluation systems and inadequate leadership capacities to ensure effective and timely, implementation of programmes.  In any case, we must also admit that they served as a catalyst   for a wider scope of reform.  Having taken stock of past constraints and failures, government is now committed to a new phase of civil service reform, formulated in a home-grown fashion.

Madam Speaker, this strategy is the joint work of our own experts in collaboration with our development partners since 2006 to diagnose inherent problems within the service.  Together with its governance, financial framework and general guidelines it had been approved by Cabinet at its 5th meeting, reference CP (08) 64 of 13 November 2008 with the exception of the pay proposals.  However, as an interim measure, His Excellency the President had approved the allocation of D50m to be shared by all grades with D30 million for grads 1-6, and D20 million for grades 7 to fixed grades.  Further directives relative to its implementation were issued at subsequent cabinet meetings on the 19 and 27 November 2008, 4 December 2008 and 22 January 2009.

In the same vein, since the strategy is in many respects a contract between government (the employer),and public officials (the employee),a directive was also given for it to be submitted to the National Assembly for information and endorsement as stipulated in Chapter VI page 28, paragraph 6.7 of the document, as full government ownership and sustained political leadership are critical success factors for the reforms.  This need for a compact between the political leadership and the civil service in return for increased pay and benefits should further encourage the latter to improve performance and increase productivity.  Consequently, you as representatives of the people, and civil society for that matter, have the legitimate right to add your voice to a subject matter of such priority and Importance. It is precisely in this context that this policy instrument is being drawn to your close attention.

Madam Speaker, the ultimate goal of this reform initiative is to build a learn, well numerated, motivated, efficient, capable, accountable and responsive civil service, with adequate resources and strengthened capacities to formulate policies, rationally allocate scarce resources and deliver efficient and quality service to the public. The essence of the Strategy therefore highlights the urgent need for equitable and sustainable policies to provide for the following: a stringent recruitment regime, cost effective retention strategy, salary and allowance reform, robust performance management system, comprehensive training policy, effective succession planning mechanism, and a revised pension scheme to provide for a competent and professional civil service under the direction of the Secretary General, coordination of the Permanent Secretary PMO and collaboration with the PSC. To this end the following four programmes have been highlighted in Chapter V, pages 13 to 24 to achieve these strategic objectives: Personnel Management policies, processes and capabilities, Pay Reform, Performance Management and Policy Management.

Madam Speaker, with regard to the implementation Arrangements, Cabinet had also approved the governance and management structure as illustrated in Chapter V1, Figure 3, page 26 of the document.

The Secretary General’s role will be to provide direction and oversight of the Civil Service reform strategy to ensure that government’s reform objectives are being diligently pursued. She will advise The President directly and  by virtue of her status as a full member of Cabinet, she will provide an essential conduit between the political leadership and the bureaucracy.

A full time Civil Service Reform (CSR) Unit will be established which will be directly accountable to the Secretary General and serve as Secretariat to the Public Service Board which is chaired by the Secretary General. You may wish to refer to Chapter V1, paragraph 6.3, page 27 for its Terms of Reference.

The Project Management Unit, currently at PMO would, in the interim serve as the CSR Unit (to avoid duplication) as its functions/terms of reference are practically identical to that  of the PSRCDB. The strategy, which has taken account of fiscal cost and sustainability also provides the framework for donor coordination and financing. It will therefore be jointly finance  by government and external donors who will make their contribution in a basket fund, disbursement of which would be triggered by conditions set in their joint Development Policy Operation or Budget Support/Policy Matrix. The general consensus with our development partners is that this is an opportune time for reform, given the clear need for change and the greater fiscal space provided by the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and the Multilateral Debt Relief initiative (MDRI).

This strategy and its implementation had been fully costed and the total package is US$ 9.6m, with the Spanish Government through the UN Democratic Governance Thematic Trust Fund, providing US$ 1.8M. I am glad to inform you, Madam Speaker, that government had already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with UNDP on 30 November 2007 with regard to this initial allocation. About US$770,000.00 has since 19 February 2009 been provided for disbursement. For details and the annual breakdown of the total cost see ANNEXA at the last page of the document.

Madam Speaker, you will observe that Pension Reform has been excluded from this Strategy as this matter is still at the formulation stage.

I urge this Honourable Assembly to recognise that whilst this Strategy seeks to serve as a corrective measure to ensure that efficient service delivery and good governance is further enhanced, it also serves, not as a static policy framework but a vibrant and dynamic instrument to enable our civil service keep pace with rapid change and development in the modern world. Therefore, there is room for it to evolve and be reformulated over time in close collaboration with all stakeholders.

Madam Speaker, to recap, I must emphasise that the main objectives of the reform strategy is to motivate, empower and retain, given the deterioration in standards and quality in the past three decades. The essence of the reform to provide quality, value and the provision of core human resource capital, able to formulate, design, analyse, evaluate and implement policies and projects for modernization and development. With reform, particularly pay reform, we also seek motivation, commitment and professionalism in a conducive and friendly environment; the primary aim being to empower dedicated individuals to provide efficient and professional service within a friendly and conducive environment. By doing so government seeks to make the work place more pleasant and less stressful to employee and the general public served; this would increase productivity and thereby guarantee and secure the welfare of the state and the well being of its nationals.

Finally, before taking my seat, I cannot but seize this opportunity to thank all those who have contributed in one way or another in drafting this document and piloting it through to this stage. In this regard we must commend highly the Secretary General/Head of the Civil Service and Chairperson of the PSCDB for her excellent supervision, direction and guidance; the Permanent Secretary PMO and staff for their effective coordination, sincere commitment, ceaseless efforts and follow ups, the Consultants for their expertise and wise counsel, our development partners, especially the UNDP, WB, DFID, CFTC, AFDB, EU, the government of Spain and the U.K. for their keen interest and invaluable support.

Similarly, Madam Speaker, permit me, on behalf of all these stakeholders and on my own behalf, as Secretary of State responsible for the Civil Service, to express our sincere appreciation and gratitude to H.E. The President, Professor Alhaji  Yahya A.J.J Jammeh  for his keen interest in this matter and the visionary/strategic leadership he provides to motivate and empower public officials irrespective of gender, tribe, creed, or affiliation. Indeed it would be an understatement to say that without his leadership, understanding and benevolence, this initiative would have died a premature death like its predecessors in the 80s and 90s. We therefore thank him greatly for this and wish him long life, peace, prosperity and God’s blessing.

Madam Speaker, in commending this policy Instrument to you I now have the honour and pleasure to lay "The Civil Service Reform Strategy of the Republic of The Gambia 2008-2011" in this Honourable Assembly for information   and endorsement.

Madame Speaker, I beg to move