President Bio conducts mid-term performance evaluation of his New Direction Government

Sierra Leone Telegraph: 12 October 2020:

Last Friday, president Dr Julius Maada Bio told government officials at a one-day seminar, on “Midterm Performance and Evaluation of the New Direction Government”, that his government will cater for every Sierra Leonean through an inclusive governance model that leaves no one behind.

Speaking at the Freetown International Conference Centre in Bintumani Hotel, he emphasised that the performance evaluation would provide the platform to engage all ministers, deputy ministers and resident ministers in very frank ways, adding that such a constructive dialogue would give a clear mandate for the change that would transform the country.

The president also stated that he wants his government to have an effective synergy between the performance management of government service delivery and the monitoring and evaluation of service delivery across government, in a way that would impact on the lives of people.

“With the sense of purpose and clarity after two and half years, I am confident that we have made significant progress on the delivery of our commitments to the people of Sierra Leone, notwithstanding the very adverse problems and challenges posed by COVID 19 pandemic.

“I am informed that this Medium-Term Evaluation Ministerial Retreat organised by the Office of the Chief Minister is aimed at taking an introspection of our tangible interventions as a Government linked to the Manifesto Commitments and Medium-Term National Development Framework. It will also be helpful to discuss what has been delivered outside the Manifesto Commitment and yet still what has not been delivered. I wish you fruitful deliberations,” President Bio said.

Chief Minister, Professor David Francis, said in his opening remarks that the aim of the midterm performance and evaluation is to review the progress that would have been recorded, and the access and challenges to work together to improve on their delivery outcomes.

He added that he looks forward to the performance results for the people of Sierra Leone, and informed delegates that government performance review is an international best practice not common in Africa.

He said that the dialogue would create a platform to collectively assess the continued relevance of ministries and departmental interventions and strategies, and to determine whether they were fit for purpose in their delivery for the people of Sierra Leone.

“Your Excellency, I see this as an opportunity to provide you with tangible evidence, facts and figures of the extent to which you have delivered on your Manifesto Commitments just in two and half years,” he noted.

It is expected that there will be a cabinet reshuffle following the performance review.

15 Comments

  1. Special Agent Young 4na – good to hear you are home brother to chill out and also take care of some business; With a mind as keen as yours out there I have no doubts that we will be hearing nothing but authentic super-duper news coming from you. Feels good to be home bro, where the skies above clearly remember who you are doesn’t it? Home – a place where the majestic earth can easily recall how many times you fell on her gentle face as a child yet never giving up until you were finally able to stand gallantly on our own? What a blessing!

    Again, I am quite sure the encounters, meeting of old friends and acquaintances never seem to end, and memories of happy days gone by keep on resurfacing in your thoughts like dolphins leaping happily out of the deep blue sea, only to disappear briefly, and then reappear with joy again as they continue to entertain and swim. Enjoy brother and take good care of yourself. My regards to your family and friends – tell them a Stargazer wishes them well!

  2. Alright settle down kids, playtime is over – Good morning everyone!(class of Truth replies)Good morning Madam Reality Check! The teacher is not satisfied, so she admonishes a few of the students; Young 4na will you please find your
    sit, and Alimamy put those headphones away before I am forced to seize them from you; And Sahr will you and Saidu stop drumming on those tables you guys are driving me crazy.

    Finally when everyone had settled down, and everything was as quiet as an empty football stadium, Madam Reality Check calmly stood up and spoke with a smile; “Now Class I will like to hear what you kids think about the Presidents performance in office thus far” (everyone begins to giggle and Saidu stands up) “Madam”, he said with a broad suspicious grin; “We have all deliberated on the Presidents lacklustre performance and came up with a collective response we would like to share” And then Madam Reality Check in complete and utter elation replied; “Quite ingenious kids, come on lets hear your response to Mr President”; And without further ado the children gathered themselves around a portrait of the most disagreeable person ever born in Sierra Leone, Maada Bio, and singing, shouting, clapping their hands in Unison – “BOOOOOOOOOOO!!(lol) Old soldier without a mission – BOOOOOOO! hahahaha” – settle down please said the Teacher! hahahaha – settle down!

  3. I personally believe that President Bio should start organizing meetings on the first week of every month at the best Hotel meeting hall in Freetown in order to continue boosting the moral of the ministers and head of parastatals that have transformed our country from Austerity to the road of prosperity. Sierra Leone is on the verge of countries like Cape Verde or Barbados with better Human Capital Development even though these two countries cannot boast of any natural resources as Sierra Leone.

    The Free quality education is the foundation for the total transformation of our beloved country, followed by the current Health development that is taking place which continues to save many lives during this COVID 19 pandemic. During the monthly meetings, they should re-evaluate the progress of all the attendees and choose the employees of the month amongst the ministers and head of parastatals and recognized them with a Plaque and a bonus check with a reasonable amount. This is best method as compared to the corrupt APC government where the lifetime leader gave his ministers the License to Steal with impunity which eventually brought our country to Austerity. May the Almighty continue to bless President Bio, Vice President Jalloh and Chief Minister Francis for their leadership skills.

  4. Serious stuff. See how knackered those Bio SLPP kakistocracy blokes in those pictures look. Those blokes are not interested in anything other than wasting tax payers’ money. But wait a minute. Why is President Bio still very unpopular and former President Ernest Bai Koroma very popular? With all the New Direction, the free quality education, the promise to build the Lungi Bridge, the diagnostic center of excellence, the MIT class technical university in Kono, the several trips overseas, the mid and half term performance evaluation, the COI, the white paper etc, still lagging behind the Leader of the APC in terms of popularity?

    Another point of observation. Was the corruption they are whining about during the former APC era good corruption and that of President Bio bad corruption? Our economy and GDP growth during the past APC regime, frankly speaking was in a better shape than what we have under the Bio SLPP kakistocracy. Bottom line, former President Ernest Bai Koroma was enjoying the sweet of office which the Bio SLPP kakistocracy are jealous of, because they can’t govern to receive the same sweet of office privileges. They say, when the Fox can’t reach the grapes, it says, they are sour.

    Who cares if businessmen and women, companies or whoever tips former government officials with money or build mansions for them because they are handsome, beautiful or good-looking? What I care about is the waste of taxpayers money on such so called evaluation retreats. A word for a wise is quite sufficient. God bless our country.

    • That’s why Kono is the least developed district in Sierra Leone, because of people like you. Your leaders from Kono, and now someone who has power to educate through writing is perpetuating absolute stupidity like you, don’t care if former leaders were corrupt show your in-depth ignorance and lack of sense to what is good and bad. Brother stop the bleeding of ignorance for a cup of palm wine and butty and see how Kono people can wake up and do something for themselves through critical thinking and not writing dumb articles like you just did.

  5. It is common in management for executives and directors to meet to determine whether their goals and objectives have been met and to see how they can improve their performance. Putin of Russia holds very honest and public meetings with his cabinet officials for this same reasons. My only recommendation to the government is that the retreat be televised, have some independent media moderators and take some comments from the informed public. Good step in the right direction hopefully it truly leads to a new direction

  6. My advice to Mr president in assessing his mid-term performance of his team must reflect the perception surveys recently conducted by the two highly esteemed non-governmental organisations. Please Mr president correlate the MDAs performance indicators conducted by the chief minister and that of the perception surveys. Through this cross you might observe the variance/diversions between the two reports.

    I am kindly appealing to you Mr president of the clandestine/diabolic nature of your chief minister in strengthening his position/power by eliminating others like Professor Aiah Kpakima who was rated the least performer in his previous performance indicators of the MDAs. If the ministry of higher/Tertiary Education in the current SLPP led administration govt is not as corrupt or ineffective in the people perception survey recently published, then if it contrasts with that of the chief minister’s then remember you are elected by the masses and listen to their wishes/desires.

  7. Why all these retreats since President Bio assumed office? They are a waste of time and money. Sierra Leone, may I remind the President and his chief minister is a small country – just under twenty eight thousand square miles. If President Bio is a hands on leader he should know at any moment whether policy goals are being met or not. We hear about all these loans and grants given to the country targeting specific sectors but then we see no progress. In such a gathering the President and his chief minister should tell us, for example, how the government has applied the grants and loans given to it to improve the agriculture sector. The nation is tired of hollow and empty rhetoric, colourful though it may be.

    The problem with Maada Bio is that he has managed to create an unwieldy government – too many ministers and simple hangers on. This makes it impossible for him to see anything to enable him to take action. And his chief minister, whose functions remain a mystery, is in the news most of the time for the wrong reasons. If the basic role of the chief minister is to coordinate all ministerial activities a retreat is not needed. David Francis should keep the President constantly informed about the performance of ministers. So if the President wants to know what happened to the money given to us by donors to improve agriculture the chief minister should be able to show all the practical manifestations of the funds otherwise the minister is not only shown the exit signs but investigated too.

    I find it strange that both the President and his chief minister did not mention anything about their anti corruption policy in their remarks. Did I miss something. The President should have at least told the nation what the government hopes to do with the trillions of Leones which should start flowing in shortly as former ministers and others start returning to us what they had stolen. Most of them are in the country since the Attorney-general has clipped their feathers to stop them from flying away.

  8. Can we have performance spreadsheet for each ministry- Overview is enough as this will enhance our confidence in the Government

  9. Thank you his EXCELLENCY PRESIDENT BRIG.MADAA BIO.I thank God that finally my choice did not let me down. I prayed and advocated through my own ” little way” for former president Koroma and he let me down but more sadly he let the people of Sierra Leone down even awfully. The two things I take from this article are that you are willing to do everything to include EVERYONE in your help. Not leaving anyone behind.

    I wish some will learn from your model, Leaving people behind especially those in DIRE NEED is a sin to God. There is a reason why it is stressed that whatever you do to the least of my children, you do as to me. The other thing I am very pleased to read is that you will evaluate the RELEVANCE of some of the ministries to the benefit of the people of Sierra Leone. AWESOME!

  10. This is more like public relations exercise, lacking in purpose and a sense of direction. The questions Sierra Leoneans want to ask your ministers, and all the public officials that are supposed to be the servant of the people, are – what have you president Bio and your ministers achieved in a way of bringing meaningful change to the lives of ordinary people since your one direction government came to power in little over two years ago? Youth unemployment is all time high. There is a tense atmosphere in the country between APC and SLPP supporters. Sometimes you will be forgiven to think we are talking about politics, more like diehard football hooligans. The gap between the haves and have nots is wider than the river crossing between Lungi international airport and the Freetown metropolis.

    Apart from your flagship free education, which is by all means welcome, what other policy statements in your manifesto that you can point out to the public that voted for you, and say to them, so far this is my promise I made and promise my government is working on to deliver. The questions then become, are struggling Sierra Leonean families better off today or worse off since you came to power? Has child poverty gone down or up? What is the correct infant mortality rate compared to three years ago? How many school buildings that are not fit for purpose have been refurbished? How many road construction have your government undertaken and completed? Has the energy sector improved or we are still waiting for Bumbuna hydro electric dam to come in full operation. How many health centres have you commissioned. ?How many farming equipment has your government issued to our local farmers to help them produce good yield? Have you managed to bring the country together as one people striving for the common good?

    Yes Covid19 in other era would have caused our economy to shrink, but our country that use to boast of being a bread basket in the 70s capable of feeding her people and even exporting rice, is now a basket case, or the sick man of West Africa. And through your tribalistic and misguided policies, doesn’t make for a bright future for our country. May God bless Sierra-Leone.

    • Abraham, you’re spot on, all mere waste of tax payers money. First , why not have the meeting at State House or at the VP’s office. Ask for the cost of that eating meeting and you’ll know why its being held with such frequencies and at that location. It’s all a farce, nothing more.

  11. Now This:” With a sense of Purpose and clarity after two and half years, I am confident that we have made significant progress on the delivery of our commitments to the people of Sierra Leone.”(lol) Delusions! Delusions, and a false sense of accomplishment that totally conflicts with the reality on the ground. Your totally inept government has accomplished nothing Sir…Be sincere and ‘MAN UP’ for not being a responsible, pragmatic visionary leader that our nation desperately needs right now. Losers on an endless losing streak that’s who your ministers are and will always continue to be – live with it!(lol)

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