Monrovia – Deputy Internal Affairs Minister for Research Planning has stressed the need for improved capacity building at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, aiming at strengthening and providing technicians with the requisite know how for the smooth operation of work at the Ministry.
Report by Willie N. Tokpah – [email protected]
Speaking Thursday with FrontPage Africa at his office in Monrovia, Augustus Zayzay said his department has been down the drain of capacity since his ascendancy, something that has been impeding work at the entity, according to him.
He named the solicitation of necessary empirical research, formulation of programs and the lack of monitoring and evaluation unit as key among factors responsible for setback at his department.
Minister Zayzay revealed that the Ministry is currently training ten persons with various technical skills in program development and management, monitoring and evaluation techniques as well as gender mainstreaming amongst others in an effort to tackle serious problems being faced by his department.
“The training runs up to Saturday and the trainers are international UN Volunteers—those are high-core professionals, some with more than twenty years of experience in development and we tapping on their skills, meaning it is going to cause us anything in terms of paying for the training.”
The Deputy Internal Affairs Minister emphasized the importance for a research evaluation unit to be set up at the ministry that will serve as the backbone for technical activities, saying it is currently his office key focus.
He then registered that the implementation of a de-concentration process is paramount to the decentralization process currently being embarked on by the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the establishment of a New Ministry, the Ministry of Local Government.
“That Ministry will have more technical policies and technical role, so we are initiating this in preparation for that great change,” Minister Zazay asserted.
Minister Zazay at the same time pointed out that capacity building at the Ministry of Internal Affairs as a whole is important for efficiency and productivity owing to the fact that required output cannot be given in the face of limited capacity.
“Like I said, in the case of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, we have a lot going on. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is driving to decentralization and we are anticipating that in the long turn, you’re going to have counties taking care of their own responsibilities in terms of administrative governance and political governance.”
Minister Zazay has also reacted sharply to assertions that government works less and earns more, saying their operations are being executed based on taxes from the citizens and public servants are always in ready to provide the needed services to them, but this cannot be observed if the capacities of the people are not built.
He at the same time placed emphasis on gender mainstreaming at the Ministry of Internal Affairs as a result of what he considers as serious marginalization of women in the country in which the ministry is of no exception.
This, he said, can be attributed to Liberia’s culture and value system but noted that women inclusion is crucial to the country’s national renewal.
