Africa-Press – Botswana. The introduction of 24-hour operation at Mamuno Border Post and the use of National Identity Cards (IDs) for cross border travel between Botswana and Namibia are among key achievements of the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs in the past financial year.
Labour and home affairs minister Ms Annah Mokgethi said this when officially opening the ministry’s leadership retreat at the Big Valley Game Lodge near Lobatse on Monday.
She said the two initiatives were geared towards facilitation of ease of cross border movement between Botswana and Namibia.
Further, she pointed that another milestone for the ministry was commencement of the online Societies Re-registration in November 2023. She said the projects were part of strategic areas geared towards reducing turnaround times, and eliminating backlog in some of the services provided by the ministry.
Ms Mokgethi said the use of IDs for cross border travel between Botswana and Namibia was piloted last year at Mamuno/Trans Kalahari Border Post, and later rolled out to Mohembo, Ngoma and Kasane border posts.
She said other strategic projects the ministry aimed to implement in the past financial year included the development of the Online Application and Registration of passports, citizenship, births and deaths.
She added that the ministry wanted to implement the Automated Civil Registration function for marriage registration, change of surname and societies.
Further, she said they wanted to review the minimum wage and labour laws to meet the International Labour Organization (ILO) standards. She, however, said those three projects were still in progress.
“Conclusion of the drafting of the Employment and Labour Relations Bill is in progress and it is envisaged that the Bill will be presented to Parliament in 2024,” she said.
The minister also said the Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of a National Programme on Occupational Hygiene were signed with Debswana, University of Botswana, Botswana Chamber of Mines and Botswana Association of Occupational Hygiene.
“This is to improve technical skills of officials with a view to ensure effective implementation of policies and programmes,” she said.
She said they were however, still facing challenges in implementing some of the commitments, and urged officials to develop solutions to those so that commitments could be implemented without further delays.
Ms Mokgethi further urged officials to remove hindrances and unlock opportunities towards enhanced productivity and improved service delivery in the ministry.
“We need to unlock opportunities for investors, companies, industries and our people who are making meaningful contribution to our national budget.
Reviving productivity and improving service delivery is the government of Botswana’s foremost priority,” she said.
She, therefore, said the theme of the retreat: A re Chencheng: Removing Hindrances and Unlocking Opportunities Towards Enhanced Productivity and Improved Service Delivery, was relevant considering the challenges bedevilling Botswana’s economy.
Speaking at the retreat, Office of the President chief of staff Mr Boyce Sebetela asked the officials to espouse the Reset Agenda in order to achieve effective service delivery.
He said the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs was like an oil of the economy.
He said they should improve their services to enable the country to achieve high-income status.
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