The PM officially opened a four-day strategic planning workshop, which is attended by the top management cadre including members of the Public Service Commission, consultants from Botswana and staff members of the Polytechnic of Namibia.
"This workshop should prove to be a milestone in productivity and therefore be result oriented, linked to and closely aligned to broader government planning and coordination processes," said Angula.
He cited Vision 2030, the Third National Development Plan, the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Public Private Partnership Policy Framework of the government.
"Vision 2030 states that by the year 2030 Namibia should enjoy prosperity, harmony, peace and political stability. The Third National Development Plan's strategies should be translated into triennial plans indicating resource allocation, ceilings and measurables, time-bound implementation programme objectives of the government," said Angula, who also urged that an evaluation procedure for monitoring activities of the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) be developed.
The main aim of the workshop is to provide better public service delivery, resulting in greater accountability, efficiency and effectiveness.
"An unstructured bureaucracy in the Office of the Prime Minister is one of the key challenges contributing to inefficiency and ineffectiveness," states a document of a preparatory workshop that was held in April this year.
The document that serves as a basis for the workshop discussions and handed to New Era by Frikkie Mouton, director of management service in OPM, states that there is a stereotype that government is an inefficient institution.
"The government is becoming a training institution due to unfavourable working conditions. As a result, there is a high labour turnover. These are some of the issues that require urgent turn-around strategies," states the document.
The June workshop also suggested that more needs to be done to promote E-governance to improve better communication as well as to ensure efficiency.
"The purchase of the latest IT equipment is one of the biggest challenges facing the Public Service, since most of the existing equipment is outdated and cannot offer the necessary support for service delivery.
"Some of the policies and staff rules set by the Public Service Act are setbacks to efficiency and effective service delivery. If the government is to be run efficiently and effectively, then the Public Service Act should be amended," it said.
The workshop for senior personnel ends on Friday.
Autor(en)/Author(s): Frederick Philander
Quelle/Source: AllAfrica, 19.07.2006
