12 Jun 2016

The aftermaths of the 2008 economic recession are still being felt eight years on, President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama said this when addressing public officers in Masunga on Thursday.

President Khama said, in fact, the financial slump had worsened the resource constraints that the public service had been grappling with.

He said challenges such as the shortage of office space, staff housing and official vehicles became more pronounced during and after the economic meltdown.

“As a result, government has had a lot of catching up to do to address these problems, and the decision to address staff housing backlog points to government’s commitment to reverse the trend,” he said.

On the appeal for the government to curb the current staff shortage by employing more personnel, Lt Gen. Dr Khama said it would not be prudent to create new vacancies while some existing ones remained unfilled.

Moreover, he said the large size of the public service was also a concern, although government had remained reluctant to trim it down to more manageable figures in the wake of the recession; the reason being to protect workers.   

He stated that while the public service accounted for just six percent of the entire population, public officers’ salaries consumed about 40 percent of government funds; a situation he observed left the bulk of the populace out in the cold.

On the issue of the over-staying of public officers in one station President Khama said the issue had become such a burning issue across the entire public service that he has requested Permanent Secretaries across the ministries to ensure strict adherence to transfer guidelines.

On the shortage of tribal land in the North East District, Lt Gen. Dr Khama said government was following through with efforts to increase tribal land through the purchase of private farms.

He noted however that government has banking on the willingness by private land owners to sell as they cannot be forced to do so.

Tati Land board officials had complained that the shortage of land in the area made it difficult for them to divide land into appropriate zones for various uses.

On the call for government to consider purchasing back-up generators for boarding schools, the president said the move would prove unwise in the long run as power supply was expected to stabilize in the near future.

Lt Gen. Dr Khama said it was government’s view that back-up generators be sourced to help in the provision of essential services such as water reticulation.

Representatives from various ministries including State President, Health, and Lands and Housing had updated the president on the district’s shortage of office space, staff housing, medical supplies, as well as inconsistencies in the application of transfer guidelines.

They also called for the establishment of a sub-land board at Tati Siding to serve customers on the eastern side of Francistown as Masunga was too far for them.

All the mentioned problems affected service delivery in that some key personnel have to serve the district from Francistown, the public officers lamented. ENDS