22 Jul 2014

Director general of Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC), Ms Rose Seretse says it is critical that leaders should be able to manage and lead their organisations effectively and efficiently in a rapidly changing public sector environment.

Ms Seretse said this when officially opening a three-day executive training course on enhancing governance and financial administration in Africa, organised by Centre of Specialization in Public Administration and Management –University of Botswana (CESPAM) and the African Association for Public Administration and Management (AAPAM).

She said leaders need to possess the skill sets and competencies which will enable them to understand, address and resolve the increasingly complex challenges and issues they face.Governments around the world are faced with many challenges including financial and budgeting constraints in the effective and management of resources, she said.

“Leadership competency is another important factor that needs to be addressed and enhanced in order to drive visions and strategies of governments and public institutions,” said Ms Seretse.

Botswana, she noted has established various institutions to promote the principles of good governance and ethical behavior, and DCEC is one of such institutions that are mandated to promote and instill transparency and accountability in public institutions.

The course was designed in order to take governments in Africa to greater heights in improving service delivery and to become optimally efficient, effective, fair, transparent and ethical in serving citizens of their respective countries, she said.Director general thanked CESPAM and AAPAM for organising such a meaningful and topical executive course and further urged the participants to use the course training to go and empower others at their organisations.

Participants were empowered with the knowledge and methods to prevent unethical behavior, corruption, understand the principles of accountability, stewardship and financial management and learn practical strategies for managing risks, budget controls and financial reporting

AAPAM is an international professional organisation that promotes best practice, excellence professionalism in public administration and management in Africa through research.

The association is committed to capacity building for development and performance improvement activities in African public administration.CESPAM was established in 2000 and is specifically mandated to provide training for senior executives in the Southern African Development Committee (SADC) public sector.  ENDS