Africa-Press – Eswatini. Prime Minister Cleopas Sipho Dlamini says it is about time government ministries and departments learn to do more with the little that they have.
The premier was speaking yesterday during his visit at the ministry of natural resources and energy. This is one of a number of visits to government offices aimed at helping the PM familiarise himself with the work of government ministries.
During his visits, the heads of departments across the ministries get to tell the head of government about the challenges they face, along with future plans and achievements.
The ministry of natural resources and energy’s heads of departments as well as parastatals under the ministry which include Eswatini Water Services Corporation, Eswatini Electricity Company and Eswatini Energy Regulatory Authority took turns to decry the issue of unfilled vacancies. The ministry’s Principal Secretary Dorcas Dlamini said there were a lot of vacant positions, which were crucial to the operations of the ministry. Dlamini noted that there were some departments that have half of the needed staff, thus making the current employees overworked. Adding, Dlamini said there were critical vacant positions that are important in initiating the many projects mandated to the ministry.
These vacancies were caused by Circular No.3 of 2018, which imposed a hiring freeze and suspended promotions in a bid to reduce government expenditure. At the end of all the departments and the ministry’s parastatals presentation, the prime minister noted all the challenges that had been communicated by everyone. “We have to get used to the idea of doing the most in small numbers,” he said.
The prime minister said he had noted that almost every department complained about shortage of staff and they could not perform to full capacity. He mentioned that in some departments there was no need to add or fill those vacancies as the people who were in the office can do all the work. The premier said, however, civil servants were used to sticking to one task and complain about shortage of staff and being overworked.
The premier said it was high time civil servants learn to do more than one task as long as the work or job descriptions complemented each other.
He pointed out that normally, once a civil servant performed tasks outside of their current job description, they started complaining. Tasks He mentioned that in other countries like in the United States of America (USA), employees do more than one job in a company, which he said could be the same in Eswatini with staff performing tasks that could be performed by three people.
He noted that an officer in the USA would be working in the office, driving themselves to specific locations, among other tasks. He advised that it was about time civil servants familiarised themselves and stopped complaining about being overworked because there are so many changes that were coming as government will be implementing more cost-cutting measures.
The premier said that the ministry of finance was working with government ministries to implement a study which would also evaluate jobs. “Where necessary we will fill in those vacancies or create posts,” he said.
“In cases where the study finds that there are more employees than the job at the establishment, that department would be changed. Therefore, some jobs would be cut and job descriptions changed,” he added.
The PM said that would assist in changing the mind-set of complaining about being understaffed. However, the PM did share the departments’ complaints on shortage of vehicles and fuel. He said it was about time the issue was addressed as it was not wise for government to transport vehicles as well as machinery out of the country whenever it encounters mechanical problems.
“I have been very enlightened about the ministry today. I thought I had clear knowledge about it during the Cabinet retreat that was held last week but today I had an in-depth understanding about the crucial work of the ministry’s vital services provided by it in the everyday life,” he said.
The premier said he was hopeful that the ministry would under Minister Bhembe’s watch execute its mandate across all departments and government will ensure that it is supported in order to minimise the challenges.
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