18 Nov 2015

Since 2010/2011 financial year, the government has spent more than P24 million on the renovation of some facilities of the Botswana Public Service College (BPSC), as well as the completion of  its auditorium.

This was said by the Assistant Minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mr Dikgang Makgalemele when responding to a question in parliament from Boteti-East MP, Mr Sethomo Lelatisitswe.

The scope of the renovations of the College that was established in 2010 through the transformation of the then Botswana Institute of Administration and Commerce (BIAC), Mr Makgalemele said encompassed; training rooms, staff flats, hostels, gate-house and boom gate.

 These renovations, he said would still had been undertaken even if the institution had not been transformed as the facilities were old and required maintenance. Given that the mandate of BPSC is to provide capacity building for the public service, the Assistant Minster said it was undertaken through the provision of short-term course in public administration and leadership development. So far, he said the College had trained 15 892 public officers across all the levels.

Some of the courses offered by the College, he said included; Executive Leadership Development, Senior Management Development, Middle Management Development, Managing Performance in the Public Service, Employment Relations, Project Management, Customer Service, Supervisory Skills, Report Writing and Work Improvement Team.

In addition, Mr Makgalemele said the College also provided induction for newly employed public officers, as well as Supervisory Induction for officers who had to perform supervisory roles. The College, he said also had an establishment of 136, with 122 staff members in post and 14 vacancies. Of the 122, he said 22 were trainers, 28 were Corporate Support staff, whilst 72 were former Industrial Class cadre.

Some of the College programmes, Mr Makaglemele said had been outsourced to partners, such as; Royal Institute of Public Administration International, Civil Service College of Singapore and Botswana College of Open and Distance Learning.

Additionally, he said the College also had partnership arrangements with the Botswana National Productivity Centre and the Centre for Specialisation in Public Administration Management of the University of Botswana who would also provide other courses.

“With respect to running costs, the College is funded through the normal government funding process for both its recurrent and development expenditure. Currently, government has no intention of converting the College into government accommodation,” he said.

He also added that the training facilities were fully utilized to meet the training needs of the Public Service. The view of government, he said was that “the College should provide In-service training for the Civil Service.”

Mr Lelatisitswe wanted Mr Makgalemele to state; how much the ministry had spent renovating or upgrading former BIAC buildings, now known as the BPSC. Ends