Sierra Leone – The Director-General of the Cabinet of Liberia, Hon. Nathaniel T. Kwabo, is leading a high-level interministerial delegation on a one-week study tour in Sierra Leone to learn more about the country’s PMS.
The tour, which runs from February 24 to March 1, 2025, brings together important government officials from Liberia, including employees of the Cabinet Office and representatives from the Ministry of Finance, Civil Service Agency, and Governance Commission institutions that are instrumental in putting Liberia’s PMCS into action.
The study tour comes after President Joseph Nyumah Boakai launched the country’s Performance Management and Compliance System (PMCS) as part of efforts to improve accountability, transparency, and service delivery across government institutions.
The PMCS, managed by the Office of the Director-General of the Cabinet, the PMCS is designed to promote a performance-driven culture in the public sector, ensuring that ministries, agencies, and commissions align their work with national development priorities. About 90 institutions have signed performance contracts for the 2024 cycle and are actively implementing their assigned targets.
The visit to Sierra Leone provides an opportunity for knowledge exchange, partnership building, and the identification of best practices that Liberia can adopt to enhance its own system.
The first day of the study tour began with a high-level meeting between the Liberian delegation and the Office of the Chief Minister of Sierra Leone, followed by strategic discussions with the leadership of the Sierra Leone Cabinet Secretariat. Throughout the day, the delegation engaged with senior government officials, directors, and technical experts, gaining firsthand insights into Sierra Leone’s approach to performance management.
During the official opening ceremony, Hon. Kwabo expressed gratitude to the Government of Sierra Leone for its warm reception and reaffirmed Liberia’s commitment to learning from Sierra Leone’s experience. Sierra Leonean officials, in turn, welcomed the delegation and assured them of full cooperation to ensure a productive exchange.
Presentations and discussions during the first day focused on the structure and implementation of Sierra Leone’s PMCS. Officials from the Chief Minister’s Office and the Cabinet Secretariat provided an overview of the planning, monitoring, and evaluation aspects of the system, emphasizing the need for strong political will in driving compliance and institutional accountability.
The role of the President’s Delivery Unit was also highlighted, particularly its synergy with the Chief Minister’s Office in ensuring that ministries and agencies meet their performance targets. The discussions further explored how the PMCS is integrated into Sierra Leone’s national budget planning, with the Ministry of Finance playing a key role in linking performance objectives to budget allocations.
The sessions underscored the importance of citizen engagement in making the PMCS a success and ensuring that government institutions remain responsive to national development goals.
One of the key takeaways from the first day was the critical role of strong political will in driving successful performance management reforms. Sierra Leone’s experience highlighted that firm presidential leadership, well-defined institutional mandates, and robust enforcement mechanisms are essential for ensuring compliance and accountability.
The structured alignment of institutional performance management and employee performance management was identified as a key factor in ensuring that government institutions and individual employees are held accountable for their contributions to national development goals. Additionally, the integration of PMCS into the national budgeting framework was emphasized as a best practice, ensuring that performance targets are directly linked to resource allocation and financial planning, a model that Liberia can explore to strengthen its own system.
Over the next few days, several meetings and presentations will be held covering performance management tools, tracking systems, compliance enforcement, and institutional accountability. Sessions will examine how Sierra Leone’s PMCS aligns with national development strategies, how performance monitoring data is collected and analyzed, and how performance contracts are designed and enforced.
The delegation will also visit various government institutions to observe the system in practice and engage with public officials on implementation challenges and solutions.
A field visit to a municipality will further provide insights into how the PMCS functions at the decentralized level, particularly in ensuring that service delivery at the local level aligns with national performance targets.
The study tour will conclude with a reflection session where the Liberian delegation will consolidate key lessons learned and explore opportunities for continued engagement between the two countries.
As Liberia moves forward in strengthening its PMCS, this collaboration with Sierra Leone represents a valuable step toward institutionalizing a culture of performance-driven governance.
The Office of the Director-General of the Cabinet remains committed to ensuring that Liberia’s public sector operates with transparency, efficiency, and accountability, delivering meaningful outcomes for all Liberians.
Credit: Vasta Jenaweh Tarlue
