By Makutu Manneh
Baboucarr Bouy, the Minister of Public Service, Administrative Reform, Policy Coordination and Delivery, has said a government review has identified overlapping responsibilities among some public institutions, prompting efforts to merge agencies and streamline the civil service.
Speaking at the second season of the Mansa Kunda Ministerial Town Hall, which focused on public service delivery, administrative reform, and efforts to improve efficiency and accountability in government, Mr. Bouy said his ministry had conducted a functional analysis of public institutions as part of a broader effort to rationalize government structures.
“We have also observed that there are some inefficiencies, especially in the area of role duplication as far as some institutions are concerned,” Mr. Bouy said. “That’s why we have conducted an exercise that we considered as functional analysis of the different institutions.”
According to the minister, the review found that some institutions perform overlapping functions, creating inefficiencies within the public service. He said the government had identified several institutions for consolidation and that some mergers had already been completed.
“That is the kind of rationalization we are doing so that you don’t increase the number of institutions unnecessarily,” he said.
Mr. Bouy also compared the size of The Gambia’s civil service with that of Botswana, saying the two countries have similar population figures but significantly different numbers of public employees.
He said Botswana has about 160,000 civil servants, while The Gambia’s July payroll recorded 50,303.
The minister said the functional analysis is intended to clarify institutional mandates, reduce duplication, and ensure that government agencies are structured to deliver public services more efficiently.
The exercise forms part of the government’s broader administrative reform agenda aimed at improving the performance, efficiency, and accountability of the public sector.
Comments are closed.