13 Oct 2013

The director of the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM), Mr Carter Morupisi says government would not like to see a situation where people are served or employed basing on their political party affiliations. Therefore, he stressed the importance of remaining apolitical.

He was speaking during President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama’s meeting with public officers at Tati Siding on October 10. On other issues, the DPSM director pointed out that there had been three different studies done by local and international organisations on service delivery and they all revealed that public officers were not time conscious when providing services to the public resulting in people often waiting for a long time to get help.  

Mr Morupisi cited bureaucracy as one of the factors that led to poor service delivery. He appealed to all government employees to improve their service standards and address unnecessary delays that affected timeliness.

Meanwhile, President Khama said government was aware that there had not been any salary increment over the past few years due to the recession and the economy which had not been doing well. He expressed concern that unions, despite being aware of this situation, had been giving workers different information, a situation which also affected negotiations.

“Some of your unions disrupt salary negotiations by turning the negotiations into a political arena and often there is no progress at the Bargaining Council,” he said.

The President said public officers had raised concern that promotions had also become stagnant, adding that such a situation could prevail if there were no posts. However, he advised departments that people should not be promoted based on seniority but on performance and good conduct.

“A person might be senior in office based on the number of years he or she has worked, but performance wise not doing so well compared to one with fewer years,” he added.

President Khama also noted that promotions and training plans should follow the same procedure with officers nominated based on their performance. Ends