Africa-Press – Gambia. Baboucarr Bouy, The Gambia’s Minister of Public Service, on Monday briefed the National Assembly on ongoing efforts to modernize the country’s civil service, including the updating of personnel files and the digitalization of government records.
Responding to concerns raised in the Auditor General’s 2020 report, Mr. Bouy said the Personnel Management Office (PMO) maintains “thousands” of files, most of which are regularly updated. He noted, however, that it remained unclear which specific files auditors had flagged.
“While we are not sure which particular personnel files are referred to, we take note of the recommendation and will take steps to address the issue,” Mr. Bouy told lawmakers. “PMO is in custody of thousands of personnel files, the vast majority of which are in active circulation and updated.”
The minister highlighted a broader digitization initiative under the Public Administration and Modernization Project, which aims to streamline personnel management and unify data across public institutions. He said the procurement process for a firm to carry out the digitalization had been completed.
“Through the public administration and modernization project, the process of recruiting a firm for this purpose is well underway. In fact, right now it has; that process has been concluded,” he said.
Mr. Bouy also addressed the development of standardized service rules for agencies and subvented institutions. While existing regulations—such as the General Orders and the Civil Service Code of Conduct—serve as a foundation, he said the PMO remains available to help institutions align their internal rules with national standards.
“The general orders, the public service regulations, and the code of conduct essentially exist as generic service rules available for all public institutions to anchor their respective service rules on. Nonetheless, the PMO is available to assist institutions in developing or reviewing their respective service rules and aligning them to the GO, the PSC regulations, and the code of conduct for the civil service,” he said.
On the question of hospital personnel allowances, the minister acknowledged disparities between public hospitals despite recent approvals for payments, including on-call allowances, non-specialty allowances, and risk allowances. He said the Ministry of Public Service is working with the Ministry of Health to harmonize these benefits in an effort to curb attrition in the sector.
“Public hospitals have already been granted approval to pay some specific allowances to their personnel, including on-call duty allowance, no specialty allowance, and risk allowance,” he said. “However, we have recently observed that there are differences in allowances across the public hospitals, which need to be rationalized and harmonized to reduce the current rate of attrition among hospitals. We are happy to report that the Minister of Public Service has already engaged with the Ministry of Health in this regard.”
Mr. Bouy concluded by reaffirming his ministry’s commitment to implementing the Auditor General’s recommendations and advancing reforms across the public service. “We assure you of our commitment to implementing all these recommendations and we want to assure you of our highest consideration,” he said.
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