25 Feb 2014

Public officers in the Okavango Sub-district have been urged to be transparent and honest as they go about executing their daily duties.

The call was made by local government and rural development assistant minister, Mr Olebile Gaborone when addressing public officers in Gumare recently.

Mr Gaborone said tendencies such as accepting bribes, favouritism and nepotism should be rooted out of the civil service as they could contribute to the downfall of the country’s economy.

He expressed concern about some public officers, especially those in charge of awarding tenders for receiving bribes, saying instead, public officers should join hands with government in the fight against crime.

Mr Gaborone said such officers also awarded tenders to the same companies even though they were not performing well while some denied locals companies opportunities to supply food rations to destitutes and instead awarded them to companies from afar.

On implementation of projects, he said, officers should look at the priority needs first and cited the example of the newly opened P178 million bus rank project in Gumare.

He said it was not the right time for such kind of a project in gumare and said instead, the money should have been used on other projects such as maintenance of schools for the benefit of the entire sub-district. Furthermore, the assistant minister urged officers to be exemplary in the fight against crime.

He also said there was need to strengthen partnerships among senior and junior officers to enhance speedy and efficient delivery of services in their work place.

Meanwhile, Okavango senior assistant council secretary, Mr Onthatile Molelu explained that they were faced with challenges in the sub-district, which included lack of maintenance of public facilities, shortage of offices and staff accommodation due to funds constraints.

He said due to these constraints, the council had backlogs of maintenance for the past four years. Mr Molelu also expressed concern about bats. The entire sub district’s civil servants are being terrorised at their houses by bats, and this is not healthy, he said.

The Okavango sub council chief also said some officers stayed longer periods in one station, with some going for up to 10 ten years while others acted in posts for a long time without being recommended. ENDS