Manners, Maketh, Man – So what do we need to change?
The title of this article covers every area of governance and performance management in our daily activities. It is the motto of the Bo Government Secondary school, the most powerful school in Sierra Leone and a school that I attended in 1990s. It is a motto that is impossible to forget because of the emphasis that was put on manners as a value which will lead to virtues. Students are trained in a manner that will enable them to improve their performance, which will enable them to excel in public life and failure to comply to laid down rules and procedures will lead to punishment or disciplinary actions.
In Performance management there is a difference between punishment and disciplinary action as you will see from my case studies below. In our justice system today we are faced with two types of criminals and you can see how one is punished and the second disciplined.
Case studies
- Common Criminals an example of Punishment a petty trader called Mohammed selling at Abacha Street stole a mobile phone costing Le 300,000 from Haja Afsatu, he is arrested detained at Central police station for 2 days and later charged to court. Lawyer Francis Gabbays is the prosecutor and the accused is found guilty, Mohammed is sent to Pademba Road as his bail was refused and for Le 300,000 he spent 3 months in prison.
- White collar criminals an example of disciplinary actions a Barrister and Solicitor Francis embezzle three hundred million Leones of government/tax payers/donor funds, he is invited to Anti Corruption Commission where he is interviewed and whilst waiting he is served coffee. He will be allowed to return home, maybe suspended and continue to receive his salary whilst ACC is investigating. He is later charged to court where he is found guilty, asked to pay fines without jail sentence and most of the consequences will only be specified. The fines will be paid by his colleagues who are also guilty but because of their connection they were not prosecuted.
The above case studies shows bad manners within our justice system and since we do not have a proper database in Sierra Leone to record offenders these white-collar criminals will reappear later in the future to serve in other senior capacity, or even elected to serve as president of the country or members of their family compensated. When I was a student at the Bo School, disciplinary actions where documented completely, in detail specifying actual performance gap and how it was communicated, students are given reasonable time to improve and failure to change will lead to student repeating, suspended or face expulsion. In state governance our leaders find it hard to reshuffle ministers because of fear of losing their support.
Good manners were high on the Agenda and were useful so we grew up knowing when and how to become politically correct, communicate well with our seniors, be transparent and accountable in society. From my Bo school analysis you will notice that good governance truly begins at home and school .Good manners, are an essential component for us to succeed in politics, business, and professions and in our social, cultural and religious lives.
Another group that has refused to be transparent in Sierra Leone are religious and Non Governmental Organisations. Religious groups when I was young and attending Methodist church we will normally get announcement on the amount collected from collections, pledges and donations and how it will be spent at a latter date. Now these pastors argue that their actions are between them and God. In order for a religion to function it must be able to clearly account for its financial and spiritual income and expenditures. Lack of transparency will weaken the trust and belief that followers have in that religion, pastor, imam and NGO.
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
I was informed about the environmental problems that we are facing from minerals companies and transparency in mineral contracts. I was even told that we now have a group in charge in State House. First of all we need to decentralise certain offices from State House, e.g. Office of the Diaspora, OGI and ABC. Since no press release has been made disclosing the terms of reference of this group or this group disclosing payments made by oil and mining companies to government as a means of increasing transparency in Sierra Leone, I have therefore decided to add it to this article to call on them to be transparent as to “Who is who in that group”.
This Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative group should also report how oil and mineral companies activities will affect our environment, and what they are doing to lobby government to preserve our environment by limiting area of operations of these oil and minerals companies. This group should also inform the public about government relationship with such companies and prepare report on environmental and social issues, show the media how they are carrying out checks and balances within the oil and mining sector.
Agenda for Change and Performance Management
First of all the government need to save money by merging Open Government Initiative with Attitudinal Behavioural Change. Use ABC as the training and sensitisation wing.
Agenda for Change is one of the best things that our Chief of State President Ernest Koroma introduced in 2007 and I am happy that performance management is also part of his agenda. However, to win 2012 Elections his agenda need to be clear and share it with the electorates. His agenda and vision would have to confront the realities facing the nation and put them in context. Our Chief of State needs a strong team that is ready to embrace change and new ideas that will help fight corruption and recover us from poverty.
Abraham Lincoln: “Government must be by the people and for the people” and Mohandas Gandhi: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”. Our Chief of State President Ernest Koroma must believe in change, act on it and then we will believe his business vision by the people and for the people.
There are certain people working with our Chief of State that think it hurts to be friendly, informal and accessible to their community and because they now work close to the Chief of State they tend to forget their promises to community and shared values. They should be reminded that a touch of human warmth wins hearts and trust. My friend working with our Chief of State and following his agenda means changing the old system not working it. Leaders do not impress me by trying to be busy, spending all day, everyday at their desks with no time to rest or reflect on their values. Such behaviour destroys trust, friendship, and office morale and affects reputation. If you read you will notice that President Obama plays basketball with his old friends and our Chief of State Ernest Koroma make time to see what is happening in his environment play his usual sport with old friends.
Performance Management cannot be achieved through copy and paste analysis from other Commonwealth countries or based on theories but on observation of what works and does not work in real work places. Performance management cannot be achieved by dictating to employees but can be achieved when employees realize you are on the same side and work together to improve performance.
We need to stop the novelty. People like us that are expert in governance issues are not seduced by the novelty of diplomats offering training or workshops and making fat consultancy payments without first researching on the problems or consulting communities. It is cool for policy advisers to sit and do performance management via structural reform as the first step to get us where we want to go.
At the moment we lack tailored policies on performance and we need to settle the misconception about performance management. Please do not confuse performance appraisal and performance management, believing they are one and the same.
Policy Unit should research on areas that Ministers, Departments and Agencies are not performing, involve employees and citizens as customers in the process, particularly during performance planning, performance reviews and problem solving. Not only will this make the best use of available information but it will help employees and citizens to understand, follow and accept procedures.
Auditors General department, Attorney General and Anti Corruption Commission
Since the Audit report was released by Auditors General department nothing has been done to recover such waste, embezzlement, and mismanagement in Ministry, Departments and Agencies. In United Kingdom one of our major donor’s civil servants, government officials and citizens will have to repay the treasury if they misuse tax payer’s fund.
By Dylan Sogie-Thomas, UK
The author Dylan Sogie-Thomas CFE, CertIA, CertIFR, PG Dip, ACCA Finalist Is a student in Masters in Corporate Governance/Graduate ICSA at the London South Bank University United Kingdom. His research is titled An Overview of Corporate Governance, Accountability and Performance Management in Sierra Leone. sogiethomas@yahoo.com
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