08 Jun 2022

Permanent Secretaries (PSs) of government ministries and independent bodies have been urged to design a results-orientated, performance-based and customer-focused system of values in the workplace.

Speaking during the Ministry for State President Performance Management Retreat held here yesterday, the Permanent Secretary to the President, Ms Emma Peloetletse said as leaders, permanent secretaries should lead by example and strive to deliver value to Batswana.

Ms Peloetletse said Batswana were unhappy with the public service’s non-delivery, adding that it was incumbent upon PSs to ensure service delivery took centre-stage.

She encouraged the PSs to set priorities that were national and people-centric.

Ms Peloetletse said the purpose of the retreat was to align rationalisation of the public service implementation machinery to the national transformation agenda, to ensure smooth transition to new mandates.

She added there were new PSs introduced into the system, who needed to be fully on-board.

Furthermore, she said certain major reforms were introduced with a view to improving service delivery.

The PSP said a combination of crises caused by COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine conflict necessitated a re-evaluation of the way government had been doing business.

“We, therefore need to regroup, visit our problem-solving strategies and reset,” she said.

Ms Peloetletse further said the resetting of priorities was also aimed at breaking barriers, removing hurdles and building momentum towards Botswana’s goal of becoming a high-income country.

She encouraged all to make a difference in the positions entrusted to them.

“Leave a legacy to your name,” she urged them.

The two-day retreat, held under the theme: Reclaiming Implementation Excellence, was aimed at creating a shared understanding of the goals of the government rationalisation exercise. It was also meant to develop strategies to ensuring seamless transition to new mandates by the ministry, following the rationalisation exercise, as well as to reflect on and evaluate ways of improving national planning and implementation to achieve the objectives of the Reset and Reclaim Agenda as well as aspirations of Vision 2036. ends