30 Oct 2017

Principal Intern Officer Mr Omphile Montsho has urged interns to ensure excellent customer service and good behavior saying they are a reflection of their host organisation.

Speaking during a meeting with Botswana National Service Programme, Internship and Graduate Volunteer Scheme participants and their supervisors from the Jwaneng region on Thursday, Mr Montsho said even though they were not employed on permanent basis, they should at all times display a level of responsibility and discipline in the work place.

He cautioned them against corruption, which he said had the potential to destroy their future.

“There had been instances where some people forged their supervisors’ signatures so that they can continue getting the monthly allowance after their term has elapsed. This is fraud and has adverse legal implications if proved,” he said.

Mr Montsho also urged them to desist from active participation in politics to avoid bias in service delivery.

He noted that just like public officers, they had to be neutral and not publicly declare their political affiliations.

“If you are in a public office you have to be neutral so that you serve everybody equally without having to compromise service due to political interests,” he said.

On the issue of overtime, he said where need is, they were allowed to work outside working hours after discussion with the supervisors.

He however noted that there was provision to either be paid in monetary terms or day offs, the discretion of which lies with the supervisors.

He said those who go on trips outside the work station will use the General Purchase Orders (GPOs) instead of being issued with imprest like public officers.

He noted that this disparity came about after challenges to recover imprest from participants in the past.

Furthermore, Mr Montsho urged them to send their confirmation forms on time to avoid late payments of allowances.

“All confirmation forms should reach our office by the 15th of every month to facilitate payment of allowances. Unfortunately we are still having a challenge of late submissions which result in late payments,” he said.

For their part, participants said the process of sending confirmation forms was tedious and sometimes they got lost along the way.

They requested the department to decentralize the service so that all participants in the district could send their forms to the Jwaneng office for easy coordination and prompt payments.

They also pleaded with the host organizations to consider them when internal posts were advertised since they were already part of an organisation. BOPA