01 Apr 2019

Government is committed to strengthening project management, monitoring and evaluation structures, says Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Nonofo Molefhi.

Mr Molefhi admitted that the implementation of government programmes and projects continued to be a challenge with cost overruns, delayed completion and poor quality.

He attributed the challenges to lack of capacity in project management and technical skills across the public service as well as lack of integration of monitoring and evaluation into the broader public sector management practices.

 He said the overall development expenditure stood at 58 per cent as at January 31, 2019, adding that his office would coordinate and provide strategic leadership on project management and best practice, project prioritisation, develop project management standards and capabilities for effective and efficient delivery of projects across the public service.

“Government has developed a National Monitoring and Evaluation System (NMES) that is being implemented to address challenges experienced in the implementation of government projects, and there are generic services that cut across all ministries to develop a re-engineer service standards to remove redundant processes,” he said.

Furthermore, Mr Molefhi reiterated government’s commitment to deliver efficient services to citizens, saying it was evidenced by the development of infrastructure and provision of qualified staff.

 He said some of the major factors that contributed to inadequate service delivery included strained financial resources.

Mr Molefhi noted that the 2013 customer satisfaction survey observed that manual processes compromised delivery of some services hence all services had since been automated such as vehicle licensing and national registration. 

He said the provision of 13^th cheque was priority for performance management purposes, and was not meant to address financial challenges faced by public officers.

 “It must be further noted that the public service is currently implementing a reward menu that provides monetary and non-monetary rewards for selected categories of performance, which are awarded on annual basis at ministry and national level,” he said.

 He said government was reviewing the public service remuneration and performance management systems with a view to linking pay to performance as well as enabling a proper implementation of performance based rewards.

Francistown West MP, Mr Ignatius Moswaane had asked the minister if he was aware that project implementation and monitoring in all ministries had deteriorated resulting in government utilising only 34 per cent of the development budget.

Mr Moswaane had also asked the minister if he was aware that there were no service standards available in all government departments, and to also explain the cause of poor service delivery in all government offices.

He also inquired whether government would consider introducing the 13^th cheque for public servants as motivation given that they faced serious financial challenges, especially during the December/January period. ENDS