Ambassador Perry's Speeches

Defense Resource Management Seminar

Distinguished representatives of the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Finance, ladies and gentlemen, good morning.

I am pleased to see such a diverse group of participants at this seminar.  The United States greatly appreciates the cooperation we have had with your organizations in recent years, especially in the time leading up to and beyond the Presidential and Parliamentary elections of 2007.  Without your efforts to ensure the security and stability during that challenging period, the elections would not have been the huge success and model to the rest of the world that they were.

I would like to again congratulate you all on the peaceful and transparent conduct of those elections.  Today I would like to particularly recognize the collaborative efforts involved in the planning and execution of those elections, specifically the pooling of resources to serve a common end.  I encourage you to use the relationships built during the last elections to ensure that the 2008 elections are equally successful.

As government servants, we are all entrusted with the care of our nation’s resources, including money, personnel, and equipment.  The success of our nations depend on our ability to effectively put every available resource to its best possible use.  This is as true in the United States as it is in Sierra Leone.  All nations – rich and poor alike – work to stretch limited resources to get the maximum benefit for the longest possible period of time.  We have the responsibility to guard the resources with which we are entrusted, to see that they are used appropriately and efficiently, to ensure their care and maintenance.  This is true whether the resources in question are financial, physical, or personnel.  All require our attention and our encouragement to meet their potential.

Resource management requires constant decision making.  We must decide which expenses are appropriate and helpful to the mission.  We must choose to develop our employees with training, coaching, and counseling.  We must repair equipment when it is reparable and replace equipment when it has outlasted its usefulness.  Sometimes, those decisions can be very difficult, especially when the welfare of your people is at stake.  It is crucial for the health of the organization, though, to make the tough decisions when necessary and make every effort to lessen the blow.

Over the next two days, you will have a great opportunity to learn, interact with your peers, ask questions, and express your opinions, and I encourage you to do so without reservation.  Sierra Leone is counting on you to safeguard its resources and to maximize their effectiveness.  Use your judgment, act with integrity, and take seriously the responsibilities that fall to you. 

Thank you.