Top officials and technocrats from government ministries and departments this week are attending a training workshop on efficiency and effectiveness in government systems. It is expected that at the training, the trainees, who include permanent secretaries and directors general, will be in a better position to avoid wastefulness, and check mismanagement and bureaucracy in the workplace, thus improving on service delivery. The training could not be timelier especially since it comes on the heels of a damning Auditor General’s report which faulted many government ministries and departments over mismanagement, corruption and wasteful spending, among others – ills that cost the taxpayer billions of francs. Previously, we have also seen noble projects fall short of delivering intended results because the implementers didn’t understand or at least own the initiatives. Others performed miserably poor due to negligence, mismanagement and/or incompetence and poor. With this kid of training, such situations should be a thing of the past as department heads will be in a better position to design plans that will contribute to the realisation of the country’s growth blueprint EDPRS II and deliver services to the masses. If government technocrats do not understand or actively partake in the achievement of the country’s growth agenda, it will be foolhardy to believe they can mobilise the masses to meaningfully contribute to national development. We hope that by the time the training is concluded, participants will have identified the causes of wastage and unnecessary bureaucracy – which promote inefficiency in their workplace – and immediately proceed to address them accordingly.
