October 6, 2021
BY MOHAMED M. SESAY
In their budget presentation for the fiscal year 2022, the Director General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Prince Cole has yesterday the 4th of October 2021, debriefed for the need to have a Foreign Service Policy Since the country does not have any.
Prince Cole intimated that the important of the Foreign Service Policy is to design the operation and conduct of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He added that in order to address the aspect of one sim or two sim syndrome, he said the Ministry is currently on the process of creating a Directorate for the diaspora noting that, there is no way the country can develop without support from the diaspora.
He also pleaded for support for the establishment of Foreign Service Academy adding that, one cannot operate an academy without the necessary supports. He said they are in the process of developing the required infrastructure for the establishment of the Foreign Academy and that by July 2022, he said they would have completed establishing the Foreign Service Academy
He also informed that the Ministry is set to establish the Foreign Academy. He added that the only way to make the work of the Foreign Staff effective and efficient requires a specialized foreign entity that will be responsible to train diplomatic staff. He furthered that the establishment of an effective Foreign Service Commission will enhance the Ministry to be very effective and efficient in its line of duty at diplomatic level. He advised for the establishment of the Foreign Service Commission to stand aloof from that of the Civil Service Commission.
Prince Cole also disclosed that the living condition of Diplomatic Staff is very much appalling. He said the cost of living is much skyrocketed for certain countries and the economies of some countries are not the same and the standard of living for some diplomats is also not the same. He said what they do at the Ministry is to randomly allocate resources to the Foreign Mission irrespective of the variation in the cost of living in some countries. He therefore, considered such as financially unfair to most of the foreign diplomats.
“So we are in the process of developing condition of service for our diplomatic staff in order to improve the welfare of our diplomatic staff in their respective foreign missions” he assured.
He concluded by highlighting some of their challenges ranging from inadequacy of resources, late disbursement of funds by the Ministry of Finance, logistical supports in terms of vehicles for the staff at the Ministry, accommodation for Foreign Diplomats among others as the country spends huge amount of money on renting houses for the Foreign Mission.