DPSM failing in service delivery
The Directorate of Public Service Management's (DPSM) greatest challenge is to call all decision makers to shorten the process of procurement in order to speed up service delivery, while guarding against impropriety.
Gaone Machola, the DPSM Director admits that the level of the current service delivery is nothing to write home about.
She pours her heart out as she appeals to all decision makers in coming aboard to ensure those things improve for the better as she leads her team accompanied by representatives from Trade Unions, as well as embarking on a country-wide tour to engage public service employees on HR issues.
Addressing all government decision makers up to the Permanent Secretary level, Machola’s appeal is that civil servants’ performance needs to be improved, as the public service did not do well in TNDP.
"How do we flip this poor performance to high performance," she asked, adding that currently projects that should have started are still at 2.9 percent.
Machola cautioned that part of the poor performance is all because of processes that are not working.
"Secondly when you look at projects and things that we have to do in relation to procurement. We seem to know what procurement processes require. But, when it comes to implementation, it takes so long.
“Which means there is something that we need to do to fix either how we procure the process and ourselves in terms of understanding it how to make it work for us."
She said DPSM is reviewing the Public Service Act, as well as the other Acts which are driven by labour, including, Employment Act, Trade Dispute Act, Trade Unions and Organisations Act.
The three Acts will be consolidated in the Labour and Employment Relations Act and the Public Service. This means instead of having four Acts, they will only be two Acts.
The other change is that DPSM plans to improve the General Orders which are basically the procedure manual for government. The policy that the DPSM has agreed with Unions are now going to be converted into the new General Orders which will carry a different name of Conditions of Service.
"This is the standard and leading practice across many places," she said, adding that having one consolidated document that gives a new outlook of the DPSM will manage the Civil Service efficiently.
Machola said Government is certainly behind compared with the private sector and parastatals, as a result of its size, however, they will be encouraging people to register to receive pay slip and also to register leave applications digitally.
She disclosed that currently government is losing over P1million per year in producing pay slips.