Deputy Director General of Budget,
Ministry of Budget, GUINEA
Could you please introduce yourself and tell us about your background, and what public service means to you?
I am Dr. Mamadou Barry, an economist by training. I currently serve as Executive Secretary of the Technical Unit for Programme Monitoring and Public Finance Reform at the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Budget. Previously, I held positions as Deputy Director General of the Budget, National Director in charge of Public-Private Partnerships, and Country Representative for Search for Common Ground in Guinea and Niger. I am also an Associate Professor of Economics, hold a doctorate, and have authored several publications in the fields of development and public finance.
Public service means far more to me than a professional career. From childhood, I found myself questioning the causes of poverty in African countries and the differences between poor, emerging and developed nations. This questioning shaped my adolescence and my academic choices, first history, then literature, before economics always driven by the same ambition: to understand the mechanisms that explain the wealth of nations.
Through my studies and experiences, I became convinced that the State plays a central role in the economic and social transformation of countries like Guinea. It is the State that makes it possible to build solid institutions, ensure quality governance, and guarantee the effective implementation of public policies.
What first drew you to public service, and what motivates you to continue your commitment today?
Even before thinking about public service, the child I was simply wanted to help solve common problems. That sense of responsibility was shaped by my father’s example, a man deeply committed to serving his community, and led me early on toward community involvement and work within non-profit organisations, always with the same drive: to be useful to the collective.
Public service thus emerged naturally as the continuation of that commitment. I gradually became convinced that the State is best placed to create the necessary infrastructure, reduce economic uncertainty, strengthen trust, uphold rights, and build a governance framework conducive to investment and collective progress.
It is this conviction that guides my commitment today: to contribute, at my level, to the socioeconomic transformation of our country and to the lasting improvement of our citizens’ living conditions.
As an emerging public leader, what does leadership in public service mean to you, and how does it shape the way you serve?
Being a servant and remaining one. Being useful, supporting colleagues, facilitating the delivery of services to citizens, contributing to the reform of the State, and inspiring the next generation.
Which values or standards are non-negotiable for you when serving the public?
The values that matter most to me are: service to the nation and here I am not speaking of the State, I am speaking of citizens; the defence of diversity; and the principle of doing no harm.
Can you share one specific change, reform or initiative that you have helped to shape in public service, and why does it matter to you?
I would like to speak about the budget execution chain for decentralised State services in Guinea, known as SONOYAH (meaning “Ease” in Soussou) which I helped establish in my capacity as Deputy Director General of the Budget.
SONOYAH is an extension, rolled out across each prefecture, of the “Chaîne dépenses” application, enabling decentralised services to execute their expenditures directly under the authority of Governors and Prefects, in the same way ministries and central institutions do.
Before SONOYAH, expenditures for decentralised services were processed manually, leading to abnormally long delays, loss of financial information, and difficulties in tracking and reporting on budget execution.
Since January 2025, credit execution has been carried out through SONOYAH. This reform accelerates the execution of credits, enables interconnection between budgetary and accounting systems, improves public finance management, allows real-time expenditure monitoring by all stakeholders involved : Ministers, Governors, Prefects, financial teams, service providers and ensures the traceability and reporting of financial information.
This major reform enables the State to guarantee the effectiveness of public spending directed toward communities at the grassroots level across the country.
When you think about delivery and impact, what does meaningful public service success look like for the citizens you serve?
A public service delivered respectfully to citizens, with as little of their time wasted as possible.
