16 Feb 2017

 Departments of Information Services, Broadcasting Services and Government Printing and Publishing Services leadership has been encouraged to remain steadfast to their professional values as public servants and public service media practitioners.
Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Thato Kwerepe said this addressing the leadership of the three departments yesterday.
He said remaining steadfast on their professional values would continue to earn them respect and ear of their fellow citizens.
“A key to achieving this goal is ensuring that you provide equitable coverage that is also aligned with overarching national priorities as well as the policies and programmes of the government of the day,” he said.
Each minister and ministry, Mr Kwerepe said, had a critical role to deliver on national priorities as reflected in Vision 2036, NDP 11 and government pledge card to Batswana, and thus it was upon the three departments to facilitate their outreach and convey their messages without fear or favour to realise this task.
“We must do this for the simple but powerful reason that in any democracy government not only has a right, but more fundamentally a responsibility to be accountable to its citizenry by continuously providing them with authoritative information,” he said.
Besides conveying news and information of general public interest, he said the leadership should also play a part in realising the nation’s ultimate goal encapsulated in the NDP 11 theme of “Inclusive Growth for the Realisation of Sustainable Employment Creation and Poverty Eradication.
To attain the goal, he said government had committed to make job creation its number one priority, ensure a dignified life for all Batswana through eradication of poverty, increase funding of education and skills development to achieve a competitive as well as an educated and informed nation, eliminate mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS and also to constantly fight corruption in all of its manifestations. Also, he said government was committed to continuous process of developing appropriate policies and programmes to drive the national priorities.
Permanent secretary in the ministry, Ms Kebonye Moepeng thanked the assistant minister for having availed himself for the leadership to share their department issues and challenges with him.
“We thank you assistant minister for this meeting at it has also offered me direction, guidance and feedback on ways of doing things within these departments,” Ms Moepeng, adding “we will continue to do our best amidst challenges to deliver as expected and inform and educate Batswana on government policies and programmes,” she added. ENDS