Your Excellency, the Vice President,

Honourable Cabinet Ministers,

Senior Government Officials,

Today provides another opportunity for Cabinet to reflect and deliberate on working collectively and more effectively to boost results. To  succeed, we must ensure, as an outcome of this retreat, that every decision and action taken by this august body translates into tangible improvements for the people of The Gambia.

The theme for this retreat, Delivering for Results, therefore, sets broad parameters for this high-level platform to explore additional ways of harnessing our shared commitment to attain the appreciable levels of progress and development our beloved nation deserves.

During the recent 2024 Meet the People Tour, I listened attentively to the people’s increased expectations for roads, water, electricity, and improved livelihoods. These expectations have been heightened by the consistency of the tangible results being achieved by this administration, which all communities across the country have recognised. As expectations are met in one community, they emerge in others.

The challenge for us now is not only rising to the occasion, but also surpassing the people’s expectations.  I have confidence in our ability to drive ambitious targets and deliver satisfactory livelihood advances for all citizens, but this depends chiefly on how farther we apply ourselves to the tasks at hand.

As outlined in our laws, Cabinet is at the apex of our governance structure, with the Constitution defining its unique advisory role to the President on government policies. Consequently, government performance hinges considerably on the composition and quality of the Cabinet. 

At this level, you have two primary roles: the first is to facilitate coordinated decision-making processes, and the second is to keep track of decisions and actions to ensure that they are followed through. Clearly, then, it is not an overstatement to say that a well-functioning Cabinet is critical to the future of the country.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is well-established that the years of dictatorship significantly eroded the role of Cabinet in our governance structure. Cabinet meetings were few and far between, and policies and procedures guiding Cabinet deliberations were almost lost from institutional memory.

Since my administration came into office, reviving the collective decision-making structures of Cabinet has been central to our governance reform process. As a result, Cabinet functions and performance are now of greater consequence. This is manifested in the consistent frequency of   Cabinet meetings, better tracking of complex decisions and initiatives, increased output arising from the number of matters tabled for consideration, and in better-quality decisions. All these are characteristics of good administration. With satisfaction, therefore, my government’s development programmes are continually yielding substantial results, most notably in delivering major improvements on road, hospital, energy, school, and water infrastructure development, to name a few examples.

Honourable members of Cabinet, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, despite the marked improvements on Cabinet’s administrative functions, I expect increased efficiency and higher performance levels from this august body on policy and programme delivery.

I enjoin you to play a more impactful role in shaping and driving innovative initiatives for this administration to deliver better from now onwards.

This is especially relevant, given the renewed focus on “delivering results” on all government projects, against which are set targets for each of you. The declaration of 2025 as the “Year of Results” must now resonate across all sectors.  Every genuine professional knows that better plans lead to easier plan execution and, subsequently, better results. Thus, a more functional Cabinet that approves better coordinated and robustly planned initiatives would better deliver sustained national development initiatives.

Taking cue from this, we need noticeable improvements on the quality of Papers submitted to Cabinet to allow for insightful deliberations and, ultimately, proper follow-through actions on decisions.

This is attainable if we imbed in our functions the improvements outlined in our guiding documents, particularly the Revised Cabinet Manual. Cabinet Ministers need to be familiar with the manual to guarantee adherence to the standards outlined therein. So, I find it quite appropriate that the focus of this retreat is on improving Cabinet processes and planning.

It is through an efficient Cabinet that the government can deliver the proposed one thousand, two hundred (1,200) kilometres of roads, ensure universal energy access by the end of 2025, and deliver a high value-adding port infrastructure to reposition the country as the leading trading hub of the region.

To this end, your attention to detail and commitment to quality is essential to positively alter the lives and livelihoods of our citizens.

Ladies and gentlemen, the task before us is huge, but so is our collective strength. Let this retreat serve as a platform to leverage our diverse skills, experiences, and perspectives in order to foster more effective collaboration and efficiency. Underlying this must be a clear vision of optimising Cabinet functions in the interest of the nation.

In the days ahead, let us engage in open and constructive dialogue, seek innovative solutions, and align our priorities with the aspirations of the people. We can, and we have to, run a more responsive and effective government that delivers on the promises made to the Gambian people. In view of all these, a key policy resolution of this retreat is that our collective responsibility is to ensure that every decision, every policy, and every action we take should contribute to the betterment of the lives of the Gambian people.

To succeed, let us harness our individual strengths, collaborate, and collectively optimise our efforts to deliver the progress our people expect. This should be guided by the targets we set in our plans and continually measured by the expected outputs and outcomes we approve or agree upon.

This requires further that we hold ourselves accountable and assess performance objectively to ascertain and provide qualitative and quantitative evidence of the progress and development we register. Together, we must deliver and work with our people to build a prospering and united Gambia, and you have to be the pace setters in your various institutions.

Through your units, directorates, divisions, management structures, administrative teams, and other structural arrangements, fuse transparency and accountability into whatever you do. Insist on procedure and involve all concerned persons in the daily business of your institutions without compromising on confidentiality, where necessary. Remember that the strength of government depends on the strength of our institutions, and the renewed strength of our institutions would give renewed impetus to Cabinet and augment government operations and achievements.  

I thank all of you for the good work done so far and look forward to the resolutions of this retreat and the report on their subsequent follow-ups.

Thank you for your attention.