NEW PERFORMANCE CONTRACTS SIGNED AS PRESIDENT

UNCLAS FREETOWN 000174

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR AF/W (JHUNTER/ESPRUILL)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREL SL
SUBJECT: NEW PERFORMANCE CONTRACTS SIGNED AS PRESIDENT
KOROMA CRACKS THE WHIP AGAIN


1. Sierra Leonean President Ernest Bai Koroma renewed his
business-like approach to government on May 7 with a
performance contract signing ceremony for his cabinet
ministers. The recent move, which complements the
President's cabinet reshuffle in late February, underlines
his attempt to strengthen the current administration by
holding its highest officials accountable for their actions.
During the ceremony, Koroma reminded his ministers that his
All People's Party (APC) government would be two years old in
September, and that they would only have two more years to
deliver on the promises they made to the public during the
2007 election.


2. The media hailed the President's introduction of
performance contracts last year, as they were viewed as a
welcome innovation in Africa; however this year's renewal has
failed to garner much media attention. Some of the apathy
can be attributed to the administration's failure to publicly
follow-up on the original contracts. While Koroma made
several statements throughout the year regarding some
ineffective ministries, he chose not to publicly shame
ministers or link the cabinet reshuffle to performance
failures. While the President has said the new contracts set
very high targets for each ministry, the exact details have
been withheld, which has led to speculation that the
government would rather hide the targets rather than deal
with the political fall-out if the targets are unmet, or the
ministers responsible too important politically to dismiss or
disgrace.


3. COMMENT: Despite the non-response from Sierra Leonean
media outlets, Embassy Freetown applauds President Koroma's
effort to ensure some level of accountability at the cabinet
level. While shifting the blame onto lower ministry
officials has traditionally been the norm in Sierra Leonean
politics, the President's address to his ministers stressed,
"You must know everything in your ministries; and at the end
of the day, you'll take praise for the success, and the
responsibility for anything that goes wrong." President
Koroma has appointed former well-regarded UNIDO
representative Joseph Koroma as Minister of Presidential
Affairs to monitor Ministers' performances. With the next
presidential elections looming in 2012, it appears that the
administration will have only themselves to blame if their
performance does not equal its promises.
PERRY