A better govt in 2016

Mmegi Editor | Friday January 8, 2016 12:21

We will be celebrating our independence day for the 50th time. Some projects are set to be commissioned to coincide with the celebrations to recognise their importance to this nation.

Amid that fanfare, we have observed that there are important things that if left unchecked have potential to contaminate the jolly mood, such as shortage of water, shortage of electricity, long queues in government facilities such as hospitals and other offices.

Last year was the worst year for many people particularly those in the southern side of the country where some households went for eight months without running water in their taps. This has caused some MPs, particularly Ignatius Moswaane to question his government’s commitment to delivering its promise and mandate of providing basic services to the nation. We salute Moswaane on his stance,.

Of course we appreciate that the ongoing El-Nino weather phenomenon has not spared our country and has had an impact on rainfall. We hope that the North-South Carrier project, the only hope we have so far, to access water, will be attended to and repaired once and for all.

Another critical element that has potential to render our golden jubilee irrelevant is the issue of sharing of information with the general public through all platforms available. We have noted that public relations officers (PROs) in government are not very helpful in sharing information with the private sector. There are some departments that are difficult to release information to the private media for reasons never known. We hope that as we celebrate the golden jubilee, permanent secretaries, directors, and other senior government officials will make sure that they release information timely.

We also urge PROs to inform themselves on what is going on in the country by reading news and listening to other radio stations at all times.

Nonetheless, we also take this opportunity to commend those ministries and departments that have regularly and unconditionally shared information with all media practitioners in the country, as they know that such information is for the general public. Some of them held regular briefings, were accessible any time of the day, and voluntarily released information.

We urge the government to adopt, from this year onwards, a policy of mandatory quarterly briefings by all ministries. This will be a big step in achieving one of the pillars set out in the Vision 2016 of a ‘Transparent and Accountable Nation’. We all are witnesses of what secrecy can do to a government.

Today’s thought

“It’s a new challenge to see how people can change your look. I like words like transformation, reinvention, and chameleon. Because one word I don’t like is predictable.”

- Naomi Campbell