26 Sep 2022

North West District Council has been commended for promoting better life for communities and for constantly bringing services closer to people.

Speaking during an Open Day themed “Accelerating service delivery for an improved socio-economic development’ Botswana Savings Bank (BSB) Maun branch manager, Ms Rachel Tlouetsile said service delivery remained the fundamental aspect of council as it existed to provide social services to the people.

She hailed the council for embracing the ministry of Local Government and Rural Development new tagline ‘closer, faster and better’ which called for bringing quality services closer to stakeholders with speed.

The theme of the event, she said was a direct reflection on the mandate of council which was to provide basic infrastructure and social services and economic development through various government programmes and projects.

In addition, she said the theme reinforced council’s commitment towards ensuring that people’s needs and aspirations were fully considered in the delivery of public services.

Ms Tloutsile noted that council was tasked with a huge responsibility which called for all stakeholders to come on board and improve the quality of life for all through effective and efficient delivery of services.

She appreciated that through the event, council did not only showcase its products and services but it took its mandate to the community of Ngamiland at large.

“This is an information sharing platform where the public will have a chance to get all the necessary information they need concerning all government departments. I would like to congratulate council for carrying out this initiative as this is another way to gauge their service levels since they had called customers to give an honest assessment on the services offered,” she added.

For his part, council secretary Mr Motlogelwa Thuso said the event would afford members of the public to access services closer and get firsthand information on available government programmes.

The council, he said pride itself with making strides in enhancing effective local governance and putting people first as their aim was to develop and improve the livelihoods of the community they served.

“We exist to foster local democracy and governance while also promoting social welfare and economic empowerment of our people,” he added.

Mr Thuso also informed the gathering about decentralization meant to facilitate development programmes and services at local level. He explained that government had taken a decision to upgrade Okavango sub district to a fully-fledged council while Maun Administrative Authority would be merged with district headquarters.

The decision, he said was a welcome development as it meant to enhance citizen participation by transferring decision making powers and resources to local government.

It was also aligned to government efforts to bring services closer to the people, he added.

Giving vote of thanks, council chairman, Mr Kebareeditse Ntsogotlho said council had made a pledge to the people to offer a total commitment towards achieving socio-economic prosperity and they could only achieve that through timely provision of service to the people.

Events, like Open day, he said were ideal to attain a desired destination as they brought different stakeholders to share information, products and services closer.

He also thanked BSB for working closely with council in improving the lives of the community. ENDS