The vice president and minister of Women's Affairs, Her Excellency Aja Dr Isatou Njie-Saidy, yesterday afternoon, shortly after her engagement with the Nigerian Foreign Affairs minister, proceeded to the Corinthia Atlantic Hotel in Banjul, where she presided over the civil service reform theatre show.

Also in attendance were the Speaker of the National Assembly, Honourable Elizabeth Renner, ministers, National Assembly members, senior government officials, amongst others. Organised by the Personnel Management Office, with support from the United Nation Development Programme, and the Spanish Democratic Governance Thematic Trust Fund, the theatre show was meant to highlight events taking place in the civil service sector of the country, with the view of sensitizing the audience so as to ensure a modern and efficient civil service system in the country.

A series of drama episodes were played to the audience by the Nova Scotia Gambia Association, highlighting not only the exact picture of malpractices and unprofessional in the civil service, but also laxity and cross negligence taking place in the civil service, which vibrancy speaks volumes of the prospect of the country. Reacting to the theatre show initiative, Vice President Njie-Saidy thanked the Personnel Management Office for the 'wonderful' initiative, noting that the move is in line with a previous reform just before the advent of the Second Republic when the World Bank visited and came up with the civil service reform.

"The study was done and what they discovered was that The Gambia civil service had gone down. It was ok after the independence, but for a while it went down because of the sort of attitudes that we saw in the drama that was presented," noted the vice president, while further indicating that there were a lot of inefficiency, nepotism, amongst a host of others that were discovered at that time in the sector.

As a result, according to the vice president, the government of The Gambia with support from partners came up with what they call civil service reform. This, she added was not implemented before until when the Second Republic came. During the Second Republic, she indicated that a lot of studies were done, noting that with the political will of the government, President Jammeh pushed for a reform of the civil service once and for all.

With the political will already in place and support from the goodwill partners of the government, the vice president expressed hope for a positive result in the civil service reform. Being touched by the theatre that was presented to the audience, Dr Njie-Saidy emphasized the need for it to be and ongoing initiative that could be also done in the local language, describing it as critical. In ensuring a vibrant civil service, the vice president maintained that the general public has a role to play.

The Gambia's vice president concluded her reaction reiterating the need for and effective civil service, noting that it is the heart of the government that offers services to all sectors in the country. Also reacting to the initiative, the speaker of the National Assembly, Honourable Elizabeth Renner, thanked the PMO for such an idea, describing the sketch as educative. Such sketches, according to Speaker Renner could be developed in other areas such as the phenomenon of illegal migration so as to avail the opportunity for the youths to learn.

According to her, such a move will be part of the civil service reform process. Speaker Renner went on to delve into attitudinal change that will ensure dedication and commitment to responsibility. Dr Njogu Bah, secretary to cabinet, who deputized for the Secretary general and head of civil service commended the participants for honoring their invitation. The Cabinet secretary used the opportunity to call for attitudinal change so as to ensure responsible civil service.