06 Aug 2025

The Assistant Minister for State President, Ms Maipelo Mophuting says the payment of scarce skills allowance is an attraction and retention strategy adopted by the government in 2008 for the public service to compete for, attract and retain scarce skills in the labour market.

Answering a question in Parliament yesterday, she explained that the strategy involved the payment of a premium or allowance in addition to the salary for positions requiring scarce skills, with the objective of attracting or retaining professionals with identified scarce skills within the public service.

She further clarified that the process begun with an accounting officer submitting a recommendation for inclusion on the scarce skills occupation list to the government’s scarce skills technical committee, which comprises the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM), employment and manpower planning representatives from the Ministry of Finance.

The assistant minister said submissions were made through the DPSM, clearly demonstrating the criteria: the number of vacancies for the specific type of scarce skilled manpower, the number of non-citizens employed by the government in that specific category, the length of time required to acquire qualifications deemed scarce, the salary gap between government and the wider market for that particular category of scarce skills, and the attrition rate from the public service for that specific category.

Ms Mophuting said that the skills committee was to meet annually to consider the submissions from accounting officers and to review the list of occupations classified as scarce skills. However, she noted that annual reviews had been hindered due to implementation challenges and litigation surrounding the initiative. She added that the implementation of the fan-shaped salary structure was expected to facilitate future reviews of the allowance.

The assistant minister was responding to a question from Maun West MP, Mr Caterpillar Hikuama who had requested the minister to provide information on the specific and current criteria used to determine, which professions qualify for the scarce skills allowance, as well as to explain the process and the body responsible for reviewing and updating the list of eligible professions, including how frequently these reviews are conducted. ENDS