“Civil Servants Have a Great Role in Governance” Says Head of Civil Service

Freetown, July 27 (SLENA) – Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of the Civil Service has said that civil servants have a great role to play in governance and without their participation the full meaning of Government cannot be realized. (Photo: Dr. Surrur (3rd from left) addressing the Participants)

Dr. Ernest Surrur made this statement at the end of a six-day training on ‘Setting Performance Targets and Conducting Appraisal’ for over 70 Professional Cadre in the Western Area organized by the Directorate of Performance Management, Human Resource Management Office (HRMO) on Wednesday 22nd July 2015 at the Civil Service Training College, Tower Hill.

Dr. Surrur pointed out that Civil Servants must be innovative, creative and diligent in performing their functions. “This is a culture that we want to build in the civil service as posterity would hold us accountable if we fail to implement some of these values,” he said.

Head of the Civil Service told the participants that performance management is at the heart of the Civil Service and it is a key instrument to ensure that the Public Service performs.

He informed them that the Civil Service over the past few years has embarked on series of reform initiatives, amongst which is the introduction of performance management which is considered to be critical in attaining the overall goals and objectives of the reform programme.

Dr. Surrur stressed that the Government and the leadership of the Civil Service believe that this laudable initiative will ensure effective and efficient service delivery to all and sundry. He added that without performance management, it would be difficult to pin point the achievements of the public service.

Secretary to the Cabinet urged civil servants to be concerned with little details and customer-focused if they are to achieve the broader mandate of service delivery to the nation.

He said the training has been a significant event on many levels and the leadership of the Civil Service has been very pleased to support it. Dr. Surrur commended the trainees and expressed the hope that they would implement the knowledge gained during the whole exercise.

Director of Budget and HR Planning, HRMO, Ansu Tucker said the training is a strategic component of performance management system that was introduced a few years ago.

Mr. Tucker said the HRMO was very strategic in selecting the participants, noting that as Managers in their respective MDAs, it was necessary for them to understand how the Individual Performance Appraisal System works and the kind of support they are expected to give to their junior staff in delivery on their targets set.

He said the HRMO will monitor the IPAS process and is committed to ensuring that the process is fully implemented for the benefit of all. Mr. Tucker urged the participants to replicate the training in their various MDAs.

Director of Performance Management, HRMO, Usman Conteh stated that targeting the Professional Cadre for the training was deliberate because they are custodians of their departments and therefore they should also be taught how to conduct an appraisal and set targets.

Director Conteh disclosed that the trainees were trained on Rationale for Implementation of IPAS; Concept of Performance Management System and what it seeks to Achieve; Setting of Individual Performance Targets; Performance Monitoring and Evaluation; and Conducting Performance Appraisals.

He pointed out that a good target is one that is smart, realistic, specific, measurable and time bound, adding that such a target would be easy to be implemented, monitored and evaluated.

Credit SLENA

By: Amadu Femoh Sesay-PRO, Cabinet Secretariat

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