Africa-Press – Gambia. The Vice President on Monday, July 7 2025 addressed the Permanent Secretaries (PSs) during a three-day retreat currently underway at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Center, Bijilo.
His Excellency, Mohammed B.S. Jallow described the PSs retreat as a strategic gathering that directly links their leadership with the Government’s commitment to delivering meaningful progress for the Gambian people.
“This year’s retreat carries a very focused and timely agenda: reviewing the progress made on the five key deliverables committed to by each minister at the last Cabinet Retreat,” VP Jallow stated.
These deliverables he added, were not aspirational, they were measurable targets aligned to the National Development Plan (NDP) and vetted at the highest level of government.
According to VP Jallow, the five key deliverables reflect their collective promise to deliver in areas such as infrastructure, agriculture, education, health, energy, and institutional reform.
VP Jallow reminded PSs that as they are the principal Accounting Officers within their various institutions, they are responsible for ensuring that these deliverables move from policy to action.
He therefore stated that the PSs retreat is not just a technical review, but a critical accountability mechanism, feeding directly into Cabinet oversight and informing how they track results across government.
The vice president continued that policies can be sound, and leadership can be visionary, but without a professional, disciplined, and optimized civil service, the results would remain out of reach.
“That is why the Government continues to prioritize the optimization of the civil service through digitization, performance management, process reforms, and a stronger culture of accountability. I encourage you to be candid, it is not only in celebrating achievements but by acknowledging bottlenecks and gaps,” VP Jallow highlighted.
According to him, transparency at this level helps them collectively find solutions and adjust where necessary. He added that PSs are not just there to report but to lead delivery from within.
He went further to saying that the retreat is a chance to reaffirm their shared commitment to civil service excellence, to align with Cabinet priorities, and to strengthen the institutional backbone of national development.
Vice President, Mohammed B.S. Jallow finally urged PSs to be rigorous in their reporting, reflective in their learning, and ambitious in their commitment to deliver.
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