OMUTHIYA - Oshikoto Regional Council chairperson Samuel Shivute has urged regional councillors, heads of department and other stakeholders to understand and internalise the customer service charter for them to deal with customers professionally.

He made the plea during the official launch of the council’s customer service charter at Omuthiya on Wednesday.

Shivute emphasised the importance of making information contained in the charter available to all customers at grassroots level.

He said as public servants, councillors are required to be open, ethical, responsible, accountable and dedicated to the public they serve. “To achieve such a goal, the regional council, with the assistance of the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), formulated the customer service charter, which is a guiding document that sets out specific standards of service we promised to deliver to our customers,” he stated.

Shivute also requested that the charter be translated into local languages to ensure better understanding by customers regarding the services they can expect and claim.

Roberto Mwilima, the deputy director in the OPM’s Directorate of Performance Improvement, explained that the customer service charter aligns with the African Charter enforced in July 2016.

He said all offices, ministries, agencies and regional councils have been directed to develop strategic and annual plans, as well as customer service charters, by the OPM. The OPM started engaging the regional council in 2018. They submitted their first draft in 2020, and the OPM reviewed their customer service charter in 2023.

“The customer service charter promotes and endorses quality service and sets out standards of service at all levels, thus enhancing the good image of the public service in the eyes of citizens and inhabitants,” Mwilima explained.

- Nampa