ASSESSMENT OF THE RECRUITMENT AND POSTING PROCESSES OF FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICERS IN THE GAMBIAN FOREIGN SERVICE, 2017 – 2023

Author: Alpha Manka

ABSTRACT

This study assesses the recruitment and posting processes within the Gambian Foreign Service in the past six years, that is, from 2017 to 2023. It specifically investigates the methods used in the recruitment as well as the posting processes in the country’s Foreign Service and its Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) with the view to determine whether the recruitment and posting processes comply with established regulations. It also examines the implications of the current mode of recruitment and appointment of the country’s foreign service officers. Further, it explores the challenges confronting the recruitment and posting processes in the country’s foreign service and suggested ways of tackling them.

The research made several key findings. First, it reveals that the recruitment and posting processes in the Gambia’s Foreign Service do not substantially comply with the existing rules and regulations. Based on participants’ responses and evidence in existing literature, it is revealed that the existing rules and regulations that regulate the recruitment and posting processing of FSOs are flaunted by authorities responsible. This way, many unqualified people find their way into the sensitive foreign service job. Also, the study finds out that the regulations guiding the recruitment process and posting of FSOs were insufficiently strong to address these lapses. The implications of this are that the Gambia’s foreign service undoubted under performed during the period under review.

For this study, combination of primary and secondary data was utilized. For primary data, both questionnaire and interviews were used to generate relevant information from selected key informants and interviewees (KIIs) using purposive sampling. Of the selected 12 participants, 10 were interviewed, while 2 were administered with questionnaires. Those interviewed were drawn from the Gambian National Assembly, that is, serving members in the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Banjul (2 KIIs), lecturers from the Department of Political Science, the University of The Gambia (2 KIIs), personnel who are mostly senior civil servants of the Gambian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) (2 KIIs), Permanent Secretary of Personal Management Office, PMO (1 KII), Gambian politicians with expertise on the country’s foreign policy (2 KIIs), and former Gambian diplomat (1 KII). Of those administered question, they were drawn from Gambian Academic and Citizen Abroad (1 KII) and former Permanent Secretary of MOFA (1 KII). Secondary data were sourced from textbooks, journal articles, internet materials and other archival sources. While data collected from primary source were analyzed using thematic and content analysis, secondary data were analyzed descriptively.

The study concludes that the insufficiency of policy document guiding the recruitment and posting of foreign service officers in the Gambian Foreign Service did not only contribute to compromised recruitment and posting process but also created a foreign service that did not perform optimally in setting both foreign policy goals for the country and accomplishing them.

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