Simataa urges CROs to maintain good work ethics

Cabinet secretary George Simataa has called on chief regional officers to maintain good working relationships with regional governors to ensure service delivery is not compromised.

He says clarity around roles is important in the public sector, as governors are not expected to be administrators but policymakers, while chief regional officers (CROs) are expected to administer policies formulated by political heads.

Simataa was speaking at a quarterly meeting between the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and public service accounting officers at Tsumeb on Wednesday.

“However, in the process, the political head will inevitably involve himself in administrative matters, which has a political connotation and content, while politics and administration formally should be separate.”

Simataa said there is a fine line between the two which can easily be breached by both administrators and politicians.

“Unfortunately, there are no standing rules and procedures which guide the behaviour of either of them and which clearly defines their respective roles and expected behaviour.”

He said in the absence of such rules, personalities become a major factor in the success or failure of the interface in managing public services as an instrument of state machinery.

Simataa further addressed the working relationship between executive directors and CROs with political principals, which if not addressed, can derail public service delivery.

“This relationship is commonly known as the political and administrative interface in the literature of public administration and public management. It is important to note that the success of policy development and management depends to a large measure on the effective, meaningful and functional relationship between the political head (in our case, the minister or the chairman of council, or the governor of the region) and the administrative head (the executive director or the CRO) in the public service.

“This interface should be seen in the context of the functional behaviour, attitudes, mindset, power relations and competencies of the elected and appointed officials in the performance of our official duties,” he said.

Simataa noted that when trust and respect do not exist between the two, relationships can deteriorate, which may give rise to the ‘betrayal theory’ and suspicions of what could be referred to by politicians as ‘bureaucratic sabotage’.

“We should avoid that at all times. We should always maintain a good working relationship with our political principals so that service delivery is not compromised. Furthermore, we should also avoid working in silos.”

He said the silo mentality is part of human nature.

“People want to work hard and stay focused on their areas of expertise. However, studies have shown that projects have better results with a collaborative push across offices, ministries and agencies,” he said.

Simataa further implored public servants to take forums seriously.

“We should look at our policy implementation rate and devise measures to address all bottlenecks that hinder the successful implementation of our policies, programmes and projects. These forums should not just be talk shows that yield nothing at the expense of the government. It should be forums that attempt to find solutions to our everyday problems,” he said.