MDI Appeals for more Government supportBy Muhammad Bah The Acting Director General of the Management Development Institute (MDI), Mr. Alieu K. Jarju, has appealed for more government support to his Institute. He emphasized the important role MDI plays towards the development of education in the Gambia such as providing trainings for civil servants to enhance better service delivery at work. Mr. Jarju made these statements on Wednesday, 20 May, 2015 while presenting the MDI Activity Report to members of the Public Accounts and Public Enterprises Committee (PAC/PEC) of the National Assembly. According to Jarju, MDI needs additional funds to provide the required skills for the training of the country’s workforce is necessary. He added that MDI was established to assist in providing trainings to meet the skills training needs of government and the private sector. He informed the PAC/PEC Committee that his Institute is affected by the lack of vehicles for transportation, amongst others. Further presenting his report, he said in 2013/2014, the Institute engaged in partnership and resource mobilsation to supplement the revenues received from student tuition fees and government subvention. According to Jarju, the training and upgrading of skills and competencies of civil servants under the Country Programme for Action Plan (CPAP), in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (MOFEA), was implemented. “Department of Financial Management and Accounting (DFMA) is the largest department in the Institute offering about six different courses. In contributing to the actualization of MDI’s broad mandate of training the Gambian civil service and private sector management related areas, the department offers long term programs such as the Association of Certified Charter Accountant (ACCA), the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT), the chartered institute of Purchasing and Supplies (CIPS), the Chartered Institute of Internal Audits (CIIA), the Foundation in Accountancy (FIA-formerly CAT), and the Medium and Enterprise Training (MSEPT),” he said. Concluding the report, the acting MDI DG noted that due to the specialty of certain financial and accounting disciplines, the department rolls out short term tailored made programs to better address these training needs, notably in Financial Strategy, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), International public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), International Audit and Internal Controls. Mr. Lamin Camara, on behalf of the Gambia Public Procurement Authority (GPPA), said MDI was 90% compliant, which denotes substantial compliance. However, MDI will be returning today for the consideration of its report by the PAC/PEC.