09 Feb 2017

For any organisation to thrive and achieve its vision, purpose and mandate, it must be aligned and anchored on leadership, strategy execution, alignment, risk identification and management as well as monitoring and evaluation.

Speaking at his ministry’s execution leadership retreat, Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Mr Shaw Kgathi said these were the fundamentals of a progressive and regenerative organisation.

He also noted that to achieve effective alignment and growth, the organisation must be alive to its past and current performance.

The minister said robust leadership was needed to integrate and functionalise all elements, adding that true leadership is bestowed on an individual deemed to have knowledge, integrity and authority.

He therefore urged the ministry’s executive team to be in control of their respective organisations and also lead by example.

Minister Kgathi said often times people associate control with negatives, but in practice, leadership control means being in control of vision, resources, teams targets, strategy, execution and results.

The executive leadership retreat, according to the minister, followed a letter to Minister Kgathi from President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama in which he highlighted what he had identified issues and challenges in respect of the ministry’s performance.

In the letter, the President identified backlog and lengthy turnaround time for criminal and civil cases, increase in road accidents and fatalities, stock theft and illicit drug use.

Limited interaction with staff and stakeholders, resistance to doing away with bureaucracy and red tape as well as worsening accidents involving Botswana Police Service and Prisons vehicles and other departments were some of the issues in the letter.

The President also identified limited co-ordination, interface and integration of criminal justice pipeline between the Administration of Justice, the Attorney General’s Chambers, the Directorate of Public Prosecution, police service and the prisons department as a challenge.

Another challenge identified was inadequate execution of development and recurrent budget, committee of supply and maintenance projects, as well as misaligned procurement plans and the actual procurement, resulting in wastage.

Therefore, the minister convened the retreat for purposes of reflection, realignment and resetting targets.

The retreat was aimed at fostering a collective vision and creating good understanding and unity of purpose for the ministry through acknowledgement, recognition and leveraging one another’s role, knowledge and authority. ENDS