Your Excellency, the Vice President, Honourable Cabinet Ministers, Secretary to Cabinet and Head of the Civil Service, Senior Government Officials,

It is my delight to welcome you, once again, to this venue for another important Cabinet Retreat.

When we met in January of this year, under the theme, Delivering for Results, I declared 2025 the “Year of Results” and maintained that the test of this government does not rest entirely on well-designed plans, but on performance and impact.

We committed ourselves to the people of this country and to each other that delivery would be at the centre of our work and that every Cabinet decision would lead to significant impact on the ground.

Today, we are here to reaffirm that commitment, conscious that although we have made much progress nationally, we still have a long road ahead.

By all indications, we are on track to achieving universal energy access by the end of the year 2025. With satisfaction also, we are currently overseeing the steady rollout of an aggressive onslaught to develop new road infrastructure across the country.

These are real signposts of progress, but I must emphasise that there is a lot more to do. Our citizens are aware of the impressive pace of development in the country, but their expectations clearly outweigh our accomplishments. They want more results, at a quicker pace, and in every corner of the land and, without compromise, they expect us to deliver.

Reverting to the last Cabinet retreat, every Minister presented five priority deliverables for attainment this year. They were not wish lists, but formal commitments endorsed at the highest level of government.

To mention a few examples, the Ministry of Health committed to deliver six new health posts and introduce PCR testing and sequencing, whilst the Ministry of Energy committed to finalise new energy and petroleum policies and expand village-level electricity access. On the other hand, the Ministry of Transport opted to construct hundreds of kilometres of road infrastructure in key regions.

Because each Ministry bears responsibility for a critical aspect of our national development agenda, we must hold Ministers accountable for all the deliverables pertaining to their various institutions.

As agreed, Cabinet documented five (5) clear deliverables per Ministry at the last retreat, and we expect full implementation of each of them within the agreed timeframe. All Ministries are aware of the deliverables and deliberated upon them at the recent Permanent Secretaries’ retreat.

This retreat is to serve as a progress marker, and we look forward to detailed progress updates from each Ministry on each of their priority areas.

Honourable Members of Cabinet, It is quite encouraging that we have successfully improved Cabinet procedures, re-introduced structure into our work, and have a more engaging decision-making process, aided by improved delivery mechanisms.

Nonetheless, this is not enough. As a government, we must blend form and function, for good governance is meaningful only when it leads to real outcomes. I advise that we remain focused on the people we serve and strengthen our coordination efforts further, deepen our accountability mechanisms, and deliver with urgency and integrity.

In addition, I ask that we utilise this retreat to renew our collective commitment to working as colleagues, discharging our responsibilities with honour, and, most importantly, meeting the expectations and needs of the Gambian people.

As a matter of principle, let us make each Cabinet retreat go down on record, upon evaluation, as one of substance, action, and impact. In conclusion, I wish that we have a successful retreat and pray that God continues to bless us and the nation at large. Thank you for your attention.