Africa-Press – Botswana. Cabinet ministers have been urged to encourage openness in the work place and ensure that labour related issues are not discussed behind closed doors.
Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Mmusi Kgafela thus advised during the official opening of a two-day Institute for Labour and Employment Studies (ILES) second annual labour conference in Gaborone recently.
He said courts of law were required to conduct cases in the open, therefore, ‘it is fair for this practice to be extended to offices.
Mr Kgafela acknowledged that most offices were small, but said the introduction of live streaming of labour cases could come in handy.
Live streaming, he said, could promote openness and fairness, adding that his position was largely influenced by views of the former United States president John F. Kennedy when addressing the association of media in New York in 1961.
Mr Kgafela said the late president emphasised that secrecy was repugnant to an open democratic society.
“Electorate should not be relegated only to the vote, but they should take active part in administration of the government they have voted in and for them to effectively do so, it must be open for them to see what gets done in offices so as to critic and applaud,” said the minister
Mr Kgafela said he was working on this initiative though there was resistance in some quarters because the country had a culture of working behind closed doors.
In other issues, Mr Kgafela said overtime payment in the public service was a burden on government fiscals, especially that it was difficult for accounting officers to monitor it, given the vastness of the public service.
Meanwhile, executive head of human resources at Debswana Diamond Mining Company, Ms Matlhogonolo Mponang, called for fairness, equity and parity in the work place.
Ms Mponang said theft crippled government coffers, adding that it also impacted on development projects.
Ms Mponang said governance was critical to the country’s economic agenda, saying that when investors came into the country, their interest was the governance goal, which she said ought to be carefully addressed.
She said the working environment should be characterised by diversity, mentioning that people should exchange positions overtime as opposed to one group of people occupying top positions.
She said with time the arrangement bred innovative solutions and mouth-watering solutions for the country’s developmental agenda.
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