09 Jun 2021

The Minister of Environment, Natural Resources, Conservation and Tourism, Ms Philda Kereng says the ministry is obligated to continue delivering under the COVID-19 pandemic conditions. 

Addressing the ministry’s staff in Francistown on Tuesday, Ms Kereng said the ministry was expected to come up with new ways and strategies that could strengthen team work at local level as well as closing the gap of communication between management and lower cadre staff.  

“I am challenging you to change your mindset and think outside the box so that you come up with new ways of doing things,” she said.Minister Kereng further indicated that the ministry’s leadership or executive could not run the ministry in isolation, saying the input of those doing the spade work was also critical. 

She said due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant economic meltdown, government had decided to re-valuate the way it had been doing things.

She said the resetting of priorities aimed at breaking barriers, removing hurdles and building momentum towards Botswana’s goal of becoming a high income country, must be done immediately.

Ms Kereng said the reset mode called for a change in the mindset by adopting new strategies and to put new implementation resources in place with immediate effect, though the government was currently operating on a deficit due to COVID-19. 

She noted that because of the staff’s commitment and dedication, the ministry was doing relatively well in service delivery and appealed to them to minimise their chances of contracting the virus by being extra vigilant and adhering to all health protocols. 

In his welcome remarks, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr Oduetse Koboto said most of the tangible deliverables were  under the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources, Conservation and Tourism which was a wake-up call for its staff to commit themselves to their work.

Dr Koboto said the ministry management would do its best to address their grievances to improve service delivery. 

For their part, staff members complained about lack of office and staff accommodation, stating that they worked in very congested areas. 

Other challenges they raised were shortage of vehicles and staff as well as lack of ITC and camping equipment, especially for wildlife officers. 

They suggested the building of intergraded offices that would house all ministry departments under the ministry for services to  be delivered from one point. 

They also informed the minister that there were skills mismatches in the ministry, which negatively affected service delivery. 

They appealed for senior officers to be placed in appropriate scales; for long term training to be prioritised and the speeding up of overtime payment for shift officers. ends