Sierra Leone - Ghana Exchange

In January 2012 a delegation from the Sierra Leone Cabinet Secretariat made a week-long visit to the Cabinet Secretariat of Ghana. The delegation was led by the (then) Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of the Civil Service, Mr Sahr George Pessima. The visit was arranged by the African Cabinet Government Network and funded by UNDP from the IBSA Fund.

The delegation was hosted by the Ghana Cabinet Secretary, who arranged meetings with a range of Government officials, including H.E. the Vice President of Ghana (now President) and a number of Cabinet Ministers. The Sierra Leone delegation also attended a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government, Legal and Security, as well as workshops with the Ghana Cabinet Secretariat on many aspects of the Cabinet system, including drafting of Cabinet minutes, public communication of decisions, role of the secretariat in the implementation of decisions and steps to improve the quality of policy proposals and implementation reports to Cabinet.

The Cabinet secretariats reported that the visit was a “resounding success” and strongly recommended further visits of this type. The visit highlighted the need to substantially revise the Sierra Leone Cabinet Procedures Manual, which had not been revised since 1998. The new Manual will be heavily influenced by the experience sharing in Ghana. The two secretariats also recommended a series of workshops for the middle-level cadre in the civil service on Cabinet management, policy formulation and implementation targeting.