Introduction - UNDP The Gambia

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• inadequate information on
disbursements provided to line
departments of state during budget
execution
• proliferation of below-the-line accounts,
which are generally not transparent, not
accounted for or monitored by the
Directorate of the Treasury
• ineffectiveness of the Auditor-General’s
Department.
Public reporting on government effectiveness
and efficiency is fundamental to good
governance and accountability and sound
public sector management. Allegations of
fraud, embezzlement, theft, tampering of
cheques and receipt books have on many
occasions been established by the Auditor-
General’s Department, leading to prosecution
and dismissals.
Unfortunately, the office currently faces
severe constraints, which seriously reduce its
impact and effectiveness. These constraints
include:
• acute shortage of qualified professional
staff
• lack of material resources and equipment
• late completion of audited accounts.
The absence of good governance practices is
the cause of many of the problems of the
public service – problems impeding
efficiency, productivity and progress.
To address the weaknesses identified in the
public service, The Gambia may seek to
emulate recent measures adopted in the public
services of Ghana and Uganda. In these
countries, it is generally accepted that public
services, like those in the private sector, are
products to be tested against the needs of
service users. This shift in emphasis has been
encouraged by a conscious reshaping of the
work culture to achieve customer
orientation. Customer care training in
comprehensive complaint procedures ensures
that service users are seen as active, freely
choosing customers rather than passive
recipients of monopolistically provided state
services.
Civil service agencies in Ghana and Uganda
no longer behave as self-serving bureaucrats
who treat their customers, clients and
stakeholders as secondary priorities. Public
complaints units have been established in
these countries since 1995 to ensure that
services are customer-friendly and
transparent.
To address the weaknesses identified in the
public service, The Gambia may seek to
emulate recent measures adopted in the public
services of Ghana and Uganda. In these
countries, it is generally accepted that public
services, like those in the private sector, are
products to be tested against the needs of
service users.
For the past ten years reports, on the audited
accounts of the public service have not been
presented to the National Assembly, which
violates the provisions of the Constitution.
3 Good governance is open. The
business of Government should be open to
scrutiny by the public and by the elected
representatives. Public officials should
explain their decisions and actions to the
public and information about government
business should be readily available. In the
public service of The Gambia, information
sharing with the public on the activities and
business of Government is very limited; this
has been a persistent complaint, even at the
level of the National Assembly.
In 1998, nine important Ghanian service
delivery institutions (including the Passport
Office, Land Title Registry, Registrar
General’s Department) were assisted by the
Office of the Head of the Civil Service
(OHCS) of Ghana to develop standards for
service delivery and printing brochures which
explain their services to the public. The
brochures contain information about:
• services provided by the institutions
• procedures for making use of the
services
• standards of service to be expected by
the public, eg procedures, costs and
time scales for processing, registering
and issuing various documents
• procedures for making complaints.
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Building Capacity for the Attainment of the Millennium Development Goals in The Gambia National Human Development Report 2005
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