At a Ministerial Retreat in Bo, President of Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio has acknowledged that his government’s performance over the past year has not met expectations.
“We can really get together and have a shared understanding of what it is and what it means to be able to deliver,” President Bio stated. “With this mindset, I want to register my sincere concern about the performance over the last one year. We have not been truly inspiring as we ought to be. We have to be at our optimum.”
The President’s remarks come at a critical time when Sierra Leone grapples with various socio-economic challenges, including unemployment, infrastructure deficits, and healthcare issues.
Bio noted the need for a united and proactive approach to governance, urging his ministers to align their efforts towards achieving tangible results for the citizens.
During the retreat, which gathered top government officials and ministers, several key issues were discussed, including strategies to boost economic growth and enhance public sector accountability. President Bio stressed the importance of innovation and efficiency in tackling these challenges.
Speaking on the theme: “Deepening Coordination, Collaboration for Accelerated Service Delivery,” the President reminded members of his government that “it is also an opportunity for us to speak hard truths to each other, to allow us to correct and recalibrate our actions to advance the national agenda within the limited timeframe that we have.”
He urged them to know and to bear in mind that the weight of the responsibility they owe to Sierra Leone was great, pointing out that ministers, deputies, and other senior civil servants were called to serve on a contract that “must be fulfilled at all costs”.
“The people of Sierra Leone deserve the best from us,” Bio continued. “We must strive to improve our service delivery and ensure that our policies translate into real benefits for the population.”
“I put this team together because I cannot do this work alone, and I am counting on each of you here to step up. We are in a time of great difficulty, both economically and socially, and the expectations of our people are very high. But unfortunately, my observation is that some team members seem to be going silo, with little dynamism, in solving the extremely complex problems that we are faced with. We must show that commitment to drive change. And this must start today, and now.
“We need to adopt new strategies and think outside the box. Our performance so far has not been up to par, and it is imperative that we change this narrative,” he said.
Source: Sierra Loaded
