Khama and the new normal

Mmegi Editor | Friday September 9, 2016 11:37

Addressing civil servants recently, Khama said the government’s ongoing budgetary constraints meant the thousands of vacancies known to exist in the civil service, could not be filled with permanent staffers.

The announcement hits particularly hard on unemployed graduate youths, many of whom look at government as simultaneously the employer of choice and also the employer of last resort.

Thanks to structures and policies dating back to independence, government has traditionally been the major employer in the economy, accounting for 53% of all formal sector jobs in the last Statistics Botswana survey.

Unemployment among youths is at frightening levels and juxtaposed against poor service and project delivery, Khama’s announcement that the vacancies will be filled by transient, un-unionised labour, worries across the board.

It also highlights the need to accelerate change in the flawed structure in the economy where government is not only the largest employer, but is also responsible for absorbing output from universities and colleges. That arrangement is patently unsustainable particularly in an era where diamond revenues are forecast to decline rapidly and where the numbers of tertiary education graduates are set increase due to various interventions including greater public funding of private institutions.

Government’s efforts to wean itself off this responsibility, such as through entrepreneurial agencies and greater private sector spending, have evidently been unsuccessful, as unemployment, particularly among youths, remains stubbornly high. The two most promising interventions to this challenge – privatisation and outsourcing – have been ineffective due largely to political hesitance and resistance by stakeholders involved. This is despite the fact that these two interventions could heighten service delivery, lower the public service wage bill and result in sustainable jobs for unemployed youths.

Instead, at present, some departments have an inordinate number of semi-skilled and non-essential employees, costing another department a critical employee such as a nurse or teacher.

It also remains to be seen how effectively government has engaged the informal sector or encouraged its growth beyond cooperatives and vendors. The private sector as well is not without blame. For years, government spending and policies have funded and ring-fenced the private sector, but its ability to absorb graduates and sustain them continues largely dependent on government spending. This is despite government providing arguably one of the most lucrative climates for business to operate in, in Africa.

Labour policies in the private sector, particularly in its darkest recesses such as the factories, are hostile to workers and without scrutiny, many employers inadvertently make government the employer of choice.

Today’s thought

“It's time to stop the spread of government dependency and fight it like the poison it is.” 

–  Mitt Romney