02 Jun 2015

Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mr Dikgang Makgalemele, says despite Botswana’s modest progress, challenges such as youth unemployment  and high level of poverty still persist.

Mr Makgalemele said the country was grappling with the challenges of project implementation, monitoring as well as delivery and he lamented that key projects that would otherwise position Botswana strategically and enhance competitiveness were not delivered on time and on budget.

Speaking in Palapye at the Public Service Day commemoration, the assistant minister said it was worrying that some people could still not access services or benefit from government’s many programmes meant for them.

“It remains a big question why some services are not delivered to Batswana despite government’s interventions and policies,” he wondered, adding that voices of discontent regarding poor service delivery throughout his kgotla meetings had been heard.

Mr Makgalemele thus called on the civil servants to be men and women that the country could continue counting on as had been the case for many years.

“This country was built on the backbone of a strong and committed civil service that saw the country scaling unimaginable heights of success,” he reminisced.

He said there was a need for an even stronger and innovative civil service to move the country into the future and beyond, adding that, through stronger partnerships and innovation, food for the hungry would be available; hence the creation of food security and poverty resilience.

Mr Makgalemele also implored the government employees to find ways of assisting those who are in need with shelter to restore their dignity.  He also pleaded with the civil servants to create new engines of economic growth and provide jobs for the youth.

He said quality education was needed to be delivered to Batswana as a long term solution to human empowerment and poverty eradication.

“The energy and creativity of young people should be harnessed to empower them and the necessary programmes to empower women and people living with disability should be delivered,” he said.

He said Botswana’s Competitiveness Report identified opportunities for improvement in the areas of human resources, technological readiness and business sophistication, and that the public service had to be proactive and stand up to the challenge.

He said government commitment and its efficiency of spending had to be matched by outputs of the public servants, adding that as the front liners in the district the public officers from local authorities were the windows through which the whole government and public service was often judged; hence the need for them to tighten the belt. 

He reminded the public servants about the 10-point-agenda and their commitment towards the realization of its key objectives. 

He said where resources had been provided the public officers should ensure that they delivered the expected services to Batswana.

He urged the civil servants to be pro-active in their work and refrain from unnecessary delays which ultimately cost government more money and leave Batswana impoverished.  “The 10-point-agenda is our commitment towards better service delivery to Batswana and it remains your responsibility as public servants,” he said.

He assured the public officers that government remained committed to providing the necessary support for their effective service delivery. 

The objectives of the Public Service Day celebrations were to celebrate the value and the virtue of public service to the community; to highlight the contribution of public service in the development process; to recognize the work of the public servants and to encourage young people to pursue careers in the public sector in resonance to the UN resolutions. 

The theme of the day was ‘Innovating public service delivery to implement the post 2016 development agenda. Ends