By Joseph A. Kamanda
Sierra Leone governance system has in the last two to three years now characterised by series of diversion tactics that have to do with engaging the public with issues that are of no benefits to the country.
The White Paper recommendations of the Commissions of Inquiry has somehow succeeded in shifting public attentions from our much anticipated Lungi Bridge which was expected in September this year. Why was that eclipsed by the cat and mouse chase of past government officials especially former president Dr Ernest Bai Koroma by the Anti-Corruption and the Sierra Leone Police now for what they call ‘money laundry’, while the public is anxiously waiting to walk on the much publicised Lungi Bridge as it was promised by President Julius Maada Bio.
The authorities claimed such were outstanding issues that were not investigated by the COI and thus have to push the ACC to go after the former president to provide answers for even what he has no knowledge about, so that the outcome of those findings can be catalogued as gains made by the government in closed to three years now.
Last Thursday 8th October, 2020 was the scheduled date for the ACC to interview the former president, for which the government provided a water tight security in the northern headquarter town of Makeni amid receptions of traditional masked dancers, who were accused of interrupting the anti-graft commission’s work. But can I just ask whether the approaches of the security forces and the ACC were actually appropriate and peaceful, considering the recent nightmare experience of Makeni had gone through in the hands of happy trigger police personnel, in an operation that took the lives of citizens of that peaceful community only to relocate a thermal plant.
The conduct of those charged with what was scheduled to be conducted in Makeni fell below expectations of the people like the underperformance of entire public and civil service under the present dispensations, where in no progress is being realized simply because of the incompetence of those charged with the task of service delivery. They hardly perform admirably. Rather the public sector continues to have so many untrained and qualify personnel to a point that first public servant had earlier this year raised concern about the lack of capacity of his workers and therefore called on all for efficient service delivery. That since January is yet to come until thy Kingdom come.
The level of incompetence manifesting itself in the civil service under the political administrative leadership of the governing Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) has lately not position government on a fine footing it terms of public sector delivery, especially on the mandate of who actually does what.
As at now, the sector requires major reforms because it is presently embattled with gross capacity deficiencies across the board, little or no standards, lack of free hand by expert civil servants to recruit the right personnel for public sector jobs, simply because of unavoidable political interferences by politicians of the ruling party.
Since April 4th 2018 when power change hands to date, the civil service and the public sector as a whole has been seeing drastically degenerating into a very poor performance due to continuous trend of hateful and massive dismissals of professional civil servants whom the incumbent government perceived as staff that were recruited by the last All People’s Congress (APC). They are being dismissed and went with all the knowledge they acquired from training funded government coffers.
They had therefore replaced them with grossly unserviceable ruling SLPP supporters and members who lack the required capacity to serve the country public sector. And most of those being prematurely recruited by the system based on their political patronage are either on studies in public universities or completely lack the knowhow to serve and deliver of the terms of references of their jobs. But they are being forcefully placed because of political patronage to the ruling SLPP. That is a high place corruption as it is now adversely affecting the progress and growth of the public sector.
The fact that they couldn’t in any live up to the expectations of their various TORs as required by the what used to be the directives and supervisions of directorate of the Establishment Secretary, now Director General, Human Resources Management Office who is charged with the task of hiring and firing of civil /public servant based on their qualifications and credential capacities for specific jobs.
That seems to have been completely wiped off in ministries departments and agencies under the current administration as everything has been concealed by partisan politics recruitment of the ruling SLPP loyalists irrespective of their level of capacity to handle such tasks.
As at now professionals who served the last political administration of the APC, are nowhere to be found in the public sector, and those who are presently serving as heads of departments and agencies, virtually lack what it takes to deliver on their mandates as civil servants due to the lack of the requisite professional knowledge, which is why standards in the public sector continue to be falling, as if Sierra Leone was never left with a structural template by our colonial masters.
Offices as the seat of power, the Office of the President, House of Parliament of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Ministry of Finance including the long list of MDAs are unacceptably not performing in their various offices as expected. Not even the chief minister Prof. David can boast of having the required capacity to handle public sector of Sierra Leone. He finds is difficult to monitor, assess and evaluate ministries departments and agencies, compared to his predecessors. What else has change since the sun set?
Though I had actually not wanted to name names but I have to by way of correcting the wrong doings on the existing lack of institutional knowledge in the public sector management are currently manifested in the very outputs of those occupying offices ie, as in President Bio’s weak speeches, the outputs heads of departments and agencies, operating mainly in policy issues aspects in the Office of the President, such as the Public Private Partnership, Performance Management and Service Delivery Directorate, the State House Communications Unit, the Strategic Communications Unit, the Ministry of Information and Communications with virtually no strategy, as well as the overall public sector under the political leadership the President Bio and the ruling SLPP are not presenting the country in a good fate not to talk of professionalism. All we care about now are wild chases for what we didn’t work for.
All of these, along with so many other baggage within the weak public sector in the government are rendering the present administration in a very bad light in the eyes of the international systems much as best practices are concerned, especially when development partners including the Department for International Development, European Union, United Nations Development Programmes and the entire UN country are always helping Government in rebuilding democratic and state institutions.
The more reasons government should have maintained high level of standards and competence in managing the country’s public sector, rather than continue to be placing square pegs in round holes to please ruling SLPP members, supporters and closed allies to the presidency and the powers that be, in the name of unprofessional nomenclatures of this is their time and political patronage must take them through.
And for a developing nation like ours, it is sad that the legacies of the last administration particularly in the public sector are being eroded and destroyed by the existing state of affairs. A completely retrogression and a phenomenon that is constantly reversing the country, as effectiveness of civil servants are now things of the past, despite the huge financial rewards they continue to receive from the consolidate revenue fund at the expense of tax payers’, without value for money.
One thing actually needs to reinforced by the government is that value for money, which by all means must be fully ensured by public servant irrespective of the office the individuals hold in departments or agencies. And no matter the structural makeup of a public entity, quality service delivery, professionalism and high level of competence must the hallmarks of the public sector/service. With that fully in place then we start to talk about good governance and professional public sector backed by integrity, and not politically recruited public service that has in the last two years plus and continuing to deceive President Bio and the SLPP administration.
Mr President it is not that you should not offer jobs to your party members, supporters, and your closed allies as well as family members just that they must be professionally competent and impartially recruited meeting all professional criteria of a job devoid of political, regional, tribal among series of sentiments before such people can be placed on highly professional public sector jobs.
By so doing Sierra Leone’s past glories in professional public sector performance and service delivery will be restored once more and the question of why governing of a weak public sector will be a thing of the past.
