Botswana�s shine dims in global competitiveness- Makgalemele
Mpho Mokwape | Thursday July 23, 2015 12:37
Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Phillip Makgalemele said that as far as labour productivity was concerned, the country was not fairing and competing well with its African counterparts.
Speaking recently at the welcome and farewell dinner of incoming and outgoing board members of the Botswana National Productivity Centre (BNPC), Makgalemele, said the downfall posed a great danger to the economy of the country and its progress.
“We are concerned about our global competitiveness and the most problematic areas for doing business in the country are human resources related and these include a less educated workforce with poor work ethics,” he said.
Makgalemele said for a country to address these challenges, BNPC was already working with public service institutions to implement a work ethic and mindset change project.
“We have also introduced the 10-point agenda as a government service pledge, which we believe will improve the productivity level and the ultimately economic competitiveness,” he said.
He pointed out that the country’s commitment to productivity improvement had also resulted in the establishment of a productivity and work ethic sub-sector of the high level consultative council as a platform to be used to address issues of productivity.
Furthermore, Makgalemele explained that the government had among its priorities, the creation of employment and poverty eradication in order to be able to talk prosperity.
“It is only when people are meaningfully employed and abject poverty has been eliminated that we can talk about prosperity for all.
“It is therefore important for us to achieve these priorities if we seriously want to address issues of productivity and competitiveness.”
He outlined that in that regard, the role of the BNPC as the change agent and entrusted with the responsibility to ensure the attainment of high level of productivity, which is both crucial and critical, is achieved.