The Permanent Secretary explained that the purpose of bringing together senior management staff was to uplift standards and refresh their memories on the day to day administration in their respective offices. He described this activity as an In-Service Training which aims at increasing effectiveness and professionalism in the civil service.

“I have observed that almost every staff is guilty in addressing a letter to me,” he said, adding “my intention is to ensure the correct mode of correspondence is done and therefore the need for this training.”

According to him, there is a distinction between a Memorandum and a Minute Paper but most of the staff confuse a Minute Paper with a Memorandum. He said a memo is written to other MDAs whilst a Minute Paper is addressed to staff within the Ministry.

Regarding the format, AL Sorie said that all Memos should be referenced, dated, and must have a subject matter that is consistent with the content of the correspondence.

On his part, the Monitoring and Evaluation Manager, Youth in Fisheries Project, Abu Thoronka asked whether it was appropriate for one to write for his immediate superior and also sign for him. The Permanent Secretary said it is wrong to sign for the PS without his approval. He said the Civil Service Code forbids that and punitive action will always be taken against defaulters.

The Permanent Secretary called on all staff to be supportive to achieve the overall objective of the Ministry. He assured more refreshers training will be provided to build the capacity of the staff.