September 16, 2015 By Memunatu Bangura
The Public Service Commission (PSC) of Sierra Leone is committed to ensuring that the public service becomes increasingly integrated and harmonizing various components in the country, said the commission’s Chairman, Dr. Max A. Sesay.
He said the PSC was set up in 1948 by publication in the Sierra Leone Royal Gazette No. 4112 of 16th September, 1948, and that the commission assumed the functions of the Promotions and Transfer Committee, and Appointments Committee.
“The then PSC was non-executive; though it gained executive status with limited powers in 1963, it remained only an advisory body to the then Governor on appointments, promotions and transfers until independence in April 1961,” he said.
Dr. Sesay maintained that the present commission, whose membership was sworn into office on 14th August, 2008, inherited a PSC that had remained impervious to reform and change, compounded by many years of neglect and emasculation by decades of retrogressive fund starvation, poor staffing and weak logistical capacity, thus causing the institution’s consistent incapacity to deliver on its mandate.
He explained that the new membership – being alive to its responsibilities and the new challenges ahead – devoted quality time to interpret what was required of it that will make the commission an integral part of what he referred to as the “Agenda for Reform and Change”. The commission, he said, is promoting change and reform, prescribing good practice policies, providing strategic direction to the rest of the public service and building on constitutional mandate and working collaboratively.
“We are committed to openness, fairness and customer satisfaction in everything we do,” said Dr. Sesay, noting that a proactive campaign was launched to enable the PSC reassert its development relevance and constitutional authority with the primary objective of recasting and repositioning itself in a leading role in public service reform.
He added that since August 2008, the PSC has assiduously worked towards redefining its role and charting out a new direction in fulfillment of its constitutional mandate.