26 Oct 2017

Permanent Secretary to the President (PSP) says the role of District Commissioners (DCs) is pivotal in the delivery of government agenda as they are the chain that links all ministries together.

Giving a keynote address at a workshop for DC’s in Gaborone yesterday (October 26), Mr Carter Morupisi said DCs were therefore expected to constantly be on their toes and be fully abreast with issues within their localities.

“You should be able to advice government on the best methodology or approach to take in developing projects and programmes for your locality to ensure effective implementation of projects,” he said.

He said as government ambassadors in their respective areas, it was imperative that DCs provide the linkage between government and the community, do the necessary environmental scanning of where they are, feed back into central government to enable government to make appropriate decisions and programmes specific to their areas and their uniqueness.

“We all know that one of the areas where we are still lagging behind is the Poverty Eradication programme implementation. 

Due to a medley of reasons such as delayed assessment, late training of beneficiaries, project choices for unconducive environments, there has consistently been a backlog and slow progress in terms of return on investment for those projects ultimately funded,” said the PSP.

Mr Morupisi applauded some DCs for working day and night to overcome some of the challenges they faced and continue to provide the necessary guidance to their customers to ensure project success.

“If you all approached poverty eradication and indeed all other government projects with the same zeal and passion; I have no doubt that we will get closer of the realisation of the National Vision 2036 and achieve prosperity for all,” he said.

He noted that government agenda and commitment to the nation had not changed.

“We have pledged to ensure we positively transform the lives of Batswana and ensure their prosperity in all districts. 

We must therefore work tirelessly to make this vision into a lasting reality,” he continued.

Mr Morupisi implored all to implement government’s priority areas. 

I count on each one of you to bring these government commitments closer to your hearts and ensure their realisation. 

This means your deliverable is not only confined to Ministry of Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration portfolio; you have a responsibility to serve all other ministries with the same vigour and efficiency” he said.

Mr Morupisi further said one of the most problematic areas in government was monitoring and evaluation of programmes and projects, for which he said Government Implementation Coordination Office (GICO) had come on board with a monitoring tool.

On another issue, Mr Morupisi highlighted that while the internet had proved to be a great tool to connect ‘us all and know what global trends and best practice is, it is becoming seemingly evident that public officers are abusing this platform’. 

Many continue to use it during working hours, therefore compromising on productivity and completely disregarding our pledge to assist customers speedily and in the  most professional manner.”  

For her part, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Ms Kebonye Moepeng encouraged DCs to timely fill vacant posts in their units because it was hard for her to request for posts from Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM).

“It’s been reported that so far we have 139 vacant posts in DCs’ offices and I recently requested for 405 vacancies from DPSM and this makes it very hard for DPSM to assist me because they point out the vacant posts that we have,” she said.

She indicated that DCs had been given the responsibility to recruit for C-band and below and they should act on that in a timely manner.

Ms Moepeng also encouraged DCs to make recommendations of acting appointments of officers on time to her office to give her enough time to attend to them. ENDS