By: MoF Communication
The Ministry of Finance, through its Directorate of Financial Management Systems and Technology (DFMST), has concluded a two-day stakeholders’ workshop focused on developing a roadmap for the Public Financial Management (PFM) Interoperability Framework in Sierra Leone. The event took place on July 23–24, 2025, at the Sierra Palms Hotel in Freetown.
The workshop brought together senior and technical representatives from key government ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) involved in public finance and digital governance, alongside development partners. The aim was to align efforts toward enhancing interoperability among critical PFM systems.
In his keynote statement, Dr. Simeon Jonjo, Director of DFMST, emphasized that while the Government of Sierra Leone has made significant investments in various digital systems over the past decade, most of these systems operate in isolation without any interconnectivity.
Dr. Jonjo stressed that this fragmentation hampers efficiency, service delivery, and decision-making. He revealed that the Ministry has now adopted a consolidated inter-agency approach to systems interoperability to support data warehousing, business analytics, intelligence, and improved decision-making processes.
He noted that the proposed system would function within a defined framework that operates independently from the daily operations of individual institutions, while granting the government sufficient authority and capacity to implement a national interoperability roadmap.
According to Dr. Jonjo, the implementation of the roadmap is expected to improve government efficiency, reduce operational costs, enhance transparency and accountability, foster better collaboration and service delivery across institutions.
Financial Secretary Matthew Dingie acknowledged and appreciated the World Bank’s support through the Sierra Leone Second Financial Inclusion Project, which has provided the necessary funding for the initiative.
He noted that many government institutions—such as the Ministry of Finance, Accountant General’s Department, National Public Procurement Authority (NPPA), Audit Service, Bank of Sierra Leone, NASSIT, and the National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA) depend heavily on each other for information exchange. However, due to their independent operations and lack of system integration, data sharing is often manual, inconsistent, and unreliable.
Mr. Dingie urged participants to address the legal, technical, and policy-related barriers to system interoperability, which remain major bottlenecks in achieving a unified public financial management ecosystem.
The lead consultant for the roadmap development, Oluwale Pratt CEO of PCL International explained that the PFM Interoperability Roadmap will serve as the strategic policy and governance blueprint for the Government Service Bus (GSB).
He clarified that the roadmap’s focus is limited to interoperability among PFM systems and does not extend to all government systems.
Throughout the workshop, officials from various MDAs shared insights into their institutional efforts toward critical reform initiatives. They also discussed how their systems could contribute to achieving interoperability across Sierra Leone’s PFM landscape.
