Keto Segwai
2 August 2007
Tshabong — The commission on the review of public service salaries and conditions of service kicked off public hearings here on Monday.
The Group A team that is chaired by attorney and UB lecturer, Michael Mothobi, is comprised of former governor of Bank of Botswana, Quill Hermans, Bulgasa representative, Kabo Kote, and Pearl Matome of the Department of Public Service Management (DPSM) and Major General Geoff Thokwane.
Former Clerk of the National Assembly, Alpheus Matlhaku heads the group's secretariat, whose other member is Rapula Okaile.
In its briefing the commission noted that "the public service continues to experience difficulty in attracting, motivating and retaining local personnel with essential skills and value adding competencies at various levels'.
The commission further acknowledges that "for grades below FO, the public service continues to pay between 20 and 30% below market.
The overall aim of the commission is to "review public service salaries and conditions of service in order to make the public service on employer of choice".
Perhaps Keiponye Tlhage of the Botswana Public Employee Union (BOPEU) aptly summed up the civil servants' expectations when he noted that "whanever a commission is set, it raises our hopes".
He however decried the situation whereby the outcome of such commissions are disregarded as happened with the second university. That is tantamount to waste of public funds. The Tshabong submissions were drawn from the central government, Dikgosi, BOPEU, BLLAWU, Manual Workers Union, Kgalagadi District Council, SRCs, clinics, education, Tribal Administration, Tsabong Primary Hospital, Maleshe Village Extension Team, Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Immigration and DBES.
Risk
In Tsabong, various submissions centred on the Remote Areas Service Allowance (RASA), wide gaps between salaries scales, risk allowance, disparities between local and central government employees, pensions and rates of overtime payment. Different presenters emphasised that RASA should be district-specific.
The general feeling is that the revised RASA is "inconsistent in its ratings, and it played down on the hardships in the area," BOPEU argued.
BLLAWU concurred that "life in the district is more expensive compared to other districts as can be proved by observing the cost of the food basket for the destitute. It is not balanced due to the inflated prices of Kgalagadi".
BTU pointed out that "house rentals are higher than those of other districts".
Sentatlheng Tumediso of the tribal administration added that the "cost of living is very high here than in the eastern part of the country". Presenters noted that there are limited service providers such as private doctors, chain shops, and English medium schools.The presenters further argued that hardships associated with underdevelopment make the district unattractive for the civil services.
Posts
As Olivier Mantle of BLLAWU noted, "Kgalagadi has a high staff turn-over and vacancy rate, now at 25 posts. Some of them have been vacant for three years, such as the post of district health specialist".
Kgalagadi employees charge that the RASA review that was carried out two years ago, by the DPSM, had messed up the scheme. Not only has that review introduced inconsistencies but also disregarded the needs of most deserving villages and settlements by removing them from the scheme.
For instance the settlements of Kanaku, Kutuku and Tsoonyane in the Mabutsane sub-district were removed from the RASA scheme. Patrick Moalafi, of the manual workers union in Mabutsane wondered what criteria was used to remove the villages.
All submissions called on government to urgently look into the RASA matter taking cognisance of Kgalagadi's "peculiar" situation. There were complaints about glaring disparities between local and central government employees.
These big organisational disparities impact negatively on the local government service.
Districts
These disparities were notable among district administrative officers. For instance, a district commissioner is graded at E1, while the council secretary and land board secretary are at E2 and D1 respectively. The Tribal Secretary is at D4. The officer commanding of Botswana police is at D3 while local police officer commanding is at D4.
The proposal was that, since these positions are practically the same, their pay band should be standardised.
Lack of uniformity on scales is also evident in the driver cadres. It was further noted that this arrangement would not be unique as all permanent secretaries, save for the PSP and finance, are on par regardless of the ministries they head.
One of the contentious issues that has repeatedly set the commissioners and presenters on a collision course has been that of risk allowance.
Safety
The chair of the commission, Mothobi patiently but firmly tried to explain that "let's share ideas on how safety of the working environment can be improved rather than placing emphasis on introduction of allowances".
While acknowledging that in some cases there could be a need for provision of risk allowance, Mothobi noted that "the problem with risk allowance it's that its hard to quantify".
Kgosi David Tlotlo, presenting on behalf of Dikgosi argued that his cadres need risk allowance "especially after convicting some of these criminals".
Tumediso of the tribal administration attested to this when she caustically noted that "convicted criminals always vow that 're tlaa kopana. Mme ka bomannete re tlaa kopana", she said to roaring laughter from the Tshabong land board hall.
She also said local police and customary court clerks spend days on end out in the farms registering livestock; sometimes up to 5,000 cattle.
She added that it is also risky when local police carry out customary and magistrates' court orders, serving summons and collecting child maintenance fees.
For her part, Maduo Tabengwa of the Tshabong primary hospital highlighted the risky situation in which health workers have to operate. Of particular concern is exposure to health hazards, particularly in the era of HIV/Aids.
The system should be able to complement, support and facilitate effective and efficient operation of the Public Service, and allow it to evolve over time to keep up with socio-economic changes, yet stable enough to assure public officers of their reasonable expectations.
In this respect, government has decided to set up a commission to review, in line with latest developments on the labour market, public service salaries and conditions of service, in order to make the public service an employer of choice.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 Mmegi/The Reporter. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
