Famara L Jatta: Human resource management for economic development in
The Gambia
Keynote address by Mr Famara L Jatta, Governor of the Central Bank of The Gambia, at the opening
session of the Regional Course on Human Resource Management for Economic Development,
organised by WAIFEM, Banjul, 24-28 July 2006.
* * *
Director General, West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM),
CBG Deputy Governors,
Directors of the Central Bank of The Gambia,
Distinguished Guests,
Course Participants and Facilitators,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
1.0 Introduction
On behalf of the President, His Excellency, Alhaji (Dr.) Col. (Rtd.) Yahya A. J. J. Jammeh, the
government and people of the Republic of The Gambia, it is my honour to welcome all of you to the
opening ceremony of the Regional Course on Human Resource Management for Economic
Development. I would like to specially welcome Dr. Chris Itsede, Director General of the West African
Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM) and his team to our country. To our
visiting facilitators and participants, especially those visiting for the first time, I extend a warm welcome
to you.
2.0 Human capital formation and economic development
Let me start by commending the organizers of this course, the West African Institute for Financial and
Economic Management (WAIFEM) for the initiative. The theme of the course, "Human Resource
Management for Economic Development" could not have been more timely and relevant, coming,
as it were, against the backdrop of growing concern about Africa's large army of the unemployed.
Indeed, one of the most difficult development challenges facing virtually every African country today is
employment creation. Unemployment is indicative of sub-optimal development and utilization of the
stock of human resources in a country. Yet no nation develops without systematically building and
putting into productive use its human capital. Indeed, there is a consensus that the degree of
development of a country is a reflection of the quality and quantum of its human capital. The rapid
economic growth and development of the Asian "tigers" and "dragons" were a direct product of
deliberate and sustained investment in human capital formation by the countries over a period of time.
Using public expenditure as a proxy for investment in human capital accumulation, no Sub-Saharan
African country has met the UNESCO benchmark of 26 per cent of the government's budget as
expenditure on education. Many of the South Asian countries surpass the threshold.
A cardinal objective of economic policy is to ensure full employment. Macroeconomic policy provides a
good opportunity for job creation in Africa. For instance, fiscal policy has a particularly strong impact
on the level of employment in African countries where the public sector is the biggest spender and
employer of labour. Africa's persistence with economic reforms over the years has started yielding
positive returns. For the first time in almost a decade, Africa recorded 4.6 per cent growth in 2004
according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Nevertheless, the growth rate fell
short of the 7 per cent required to achieve the Millennium Development Goal to halve extreme poverty
and hunger by 2015.
3.0 Nature and causes of poverty in Africa
A basic cause of poverty is economic disempowerment which manifests itself in what Nobel Laureate,
A. Sen, (1999), defined as income deprivation and capability deprivation. In Africa, the incidence
of poverty is compounded by political and social strife as well as military conflicts which impede
economic activities. Yet, progress in poverty reduction will only come about through sustained
employment-creating economic growth. In spite of this obvious reality, job creation has not been put in
the forefront of Africa's economic reform agenda. Rather, the pre-occupation has been with
macroeconomic stability.
3.1 Growth without employment
The demand management orientation of the economic reforms invariably occasioned cuts in public
sector employment. As a result, according to a joint study by the International Labour Organisation
and the United Nations Development Programme, new entrants into the labour market ranging from
about 400,000 per annum in Uganda through 700,000 in Tanzania to about 6 million in Nigeria have to
look up to the private sector for jobs. The private sector could hardly absorb up to 5 per cent of the
new entrants. This is why the observed recent robust growth has not been accompanied by a
commensurate growth in employment and poverty reduction. One reason for this is that the growth
has been driven mainly by the extractive sector which empirically has a low employment generating
capacity. Perhaps more fundamentally, employment creation has not been strongly mainstreamed in
the poverty reduction strategies and development programmes of African countries.
4.0 Towards embedding employment in macropolicy
Various strategies have been advocated for African countries to mainstream employment in the
macroeconomic policy framework. I will limit my remarks to a few of them. The logical starting point
would be for a country to identify its entry points for employment in its macropolicy framework. This
would involve linking employment generation to sectoral priorities. Formulation of employment-riendly
policies with appropriative incentives is a critical element in the process of mainstreaming employment
in macropolicy. The final stage involves the mobilization and effective use of resources for
employment creation; this includes domestic resources and external aid.
Critics of globalization have blamed the process for constraining employment creation largely due to
the adoption of liberalized investment policies. My take on this is that African countries should
mainstream their employment creation policy in the Bilateral Investment Agreements (BIA) they
negotiate with foreign investors. The adoption of employment-friendly technology is also a sustainable
way to tackle the employment challenge. As much as is practicable, it makes sense for African
countries to adopt labour-intensive techniques of production, especially in the construction of large
public works and infrastructure. This is a tested approach which has been successfully used time and
again to reduce employment in many countries including today's industrialized countries. There is no
reason to fear that it would not work in Africa.
5.0 Role of the human resource manager
While it is important that at the macro level, appropriate policies should be adopted to enhance
employment creation, it is equally imperative that at the micro level, human resource managers take
necessary measures to ensure efficient and effective utilization of their organization's most valuable
asset - the stock of human resource. Studies have shown a positive correlation between a well trained
and motivated workforce and productivity. Although it is total factor productivity that determines the
level of national output in the long run, and hence the per capita income, the contribution of the human
resource component to total factor productivity is indubitable. As a human resource manager, you
must recognize your role as a critical link in this process and see yourself as a change agent in a
complex web of actions and feedback. One of the strategies usually adopted by the human resource
manager to raise and sustain productivity is to match training interventions to organization culture and
management style. It is for you to understand the strategic objectives of your organization and adopt
an approach to human resource management most appropriate to its goals.
6.0 Conclusion
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Looking at the caliber of facilitators and the work programme before you, I have no doubt that all the
issues lined up for discussion will be dealt with competently. I urge you all to take full advantage of this
programme to share your practical experiences with one another even as you further sharpen your
insights into the issues through interaction with the expert team of resource persons.
I know you have a crowded training programme ahead of you and are anxious to set the ball rolling.
Before I leave you to proceed with the technical aspects of the course, I would like to invite you all,
especially our foreign guests, to take time out of your busy schedule to visit the many tourist
attractions and to feel at home.
It is now my honour and privilege to declare this course open.
I thank you for your kind attention.