RUNDU – Africa Public Service Day (APSD) was celebrated at the Rundu Sport Stadium on Monday under the theme “African Charter on Values and Principles of the Public Service and Administration: A Tool for Enhancing Government in the Open Government Era.”
APSD honours all the men and women whose responsibility is to serve the people of Africa.
The Pan African Conference of Ministers in 2001 declared 23 June as Africa Public Service Day.
The Mayor of Rundu, Hilka Leevi, said she believed the theme under which the 2014 APSD event was celebrated was indeed “timely”.
“There is no doubt that if we are to improve the quality of service in our public institutions, we need to relook the values and principles that are supposed to govern and regulate the behaviour of civil servants. I am particularly happy to note that we have qualified individuals on the week-long programme that will help us deepen our understanding, our commitment and dedication towards improvement of our services,” she said.
Speaking at the same event, the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Department of Public Service Management in the Office of the Prime Minister, Etienne Maritz, praised the idea of taking the event out of the city.
“The Africa Public Service Day aims to acknowledge the contribution of the public service,” said Maritz.
“Among these, I would like to mention the showcasing of innovations, the rewarding of excellence, the motivation of public servants to encourage creative solutions to our collective challenges, the recognition of professionalism, the introduction of initiatives to raise the image of the public service, the drive to enhance trust in government, and to deliberate on efforts to collect, document and share best practices across the African continent,” Maritz said.
He added: “We need to reflect, celebrate, interrogate and plot future action in the context of this year’s Africa Public Service Day theme.”
“I urge you to answer the following questions: What have we done with the African Charter? What can we do better with this tool? How can we use the challenges which we have experienced to improve what we do? And, finally, how can we use the African Charter for the betterment of Namibia and our continent as a whole?” he said.
Also speaking at the occasion, the Deputy Prime Minister Marko Hausiku said the celebration marked another milestone in the central government’s efforts to take service to the people.
He said the APSD offers a unique opportunity to reflect on the functions of public service, its mission, objectives, programme projects, successes and challenges. Hausiku motivated and encouraged public servants to continue the good work and come up with new initiatives and innovations.
Hausiku said said that based on Namibia’s track record as a nation over the last 24 years it was clear the country “has made adequate policy and legislative provisions to ensure open government.”
“However the most valuable change we can make as public/civil servants is to ask ourselves whether we actively live up to the challenge of quality service delivery; whether we do engage citizens in the formulation, planning and implementation of projects and programmes; and whether we monitor and evaluate our programmes with a view to incorporate the lessons learnt in our ongoing activities.,” said Hausiku.
By John Muyamba