Addressing members of the Fourth Estate, then newly elected President of the Republic of Botswana, Duma Boko, on November 4, made a promise about the public service he was inheriting from the previous administration. “We are going to run an agile government,” he volunteered this detail to news scribes in the garden of the Ministry of State President.
A weak private sector has meant that, over the six decades of our existence, we have been a public service-driven economy, employing the majority of our citizens' workforce. The greatest benefit that has turned out to be a curse on the end-customer is the job security that public servants have. Even with changes introduced after 2008 to place senior public servants on fixed contracts, nothing has changed the comfort level they enjoy compared to their counterparts employed in the private sector. Therefore, any reforms to bring agility in one shape or form to the public service would always be sweet music to our ears.
