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Public Service Commission Undertakes Regional Tours

By: Uakutura Kambaekua

The Public Service Commission (PSC) this week kicked off with regional engagements and networking consultations on the commission’s roles and mandates with regard to employment challenges, solutions and inquiries.

The commissioners’ first stop was the Kunene region on Monday where they engaged various stakeholders  for two days. Here they clarified their functions and the public service rules, while hearing of varied challenges that the regional leadership and politicians are faced with.

PSC Chairperson Salmaan Jacobs told this publication in an onsite interview that they [PSC] deemed it all-important to undertake regional visits to familiarise themselves with the stakeholders on the ground and to be primary witnesses to employment challenges facing the citizenry.

“Not all stakeholders know the Commission and what it stands for, so we actually thought that it is advisable for the commissioners to go out and to engage different stakeholders that we have and to clarify our roles as a Public Service Commission, our mandate and introduce the commission leadership and make it more visible,” Jacobs explained.

According to  him, the public service is faced with an abundance of work-related challenges which differ from region to region hence their visits to the regions to get a clearer picture of what is happening on the ground.

He further noted that gone are the days when the commissioners used to sit in their offices and being fed  issues from the ground. “We are now reaching out, look at what they have and assist.”

Jacobs said the Kunene visit is not necessarily to address current challenges, but rather to engage and listen to concerns before advancing on to finding amicable solutions.

“We did not necessarily come to look for already made solutions, because it is a beginning stage where you first have to hear people out before you go into a stage of providing solutions. So ours is more to listen,” he added.

He stated that stakeholders at times fail to comprehend their roles and should therefore be reminded and the mandate of the PSC explained, as well as how work-related interfaces should be executed..

“Stakeholders sometimes have a problem of understanding their role be it political office bearers or public service administrators. It is for us to come here and discuss and clarify how that interface should take place on the role of political office bearers and administrators,” the PSC Chairperson said.

Jacobs noted that because of misunderstandings and roles misinterpretation that most entities and recruiters are today faced with ongoing conflicts and in-fightings.

“There are always ongoing conflicts or fights because of us (Administrators) not knowing our roles. It is also one thing that we thought was imperative for us to clarify in order to foster a smooth working relationships,” he said.

The Kunene region in the past reported several issues of favouritism, nepotism and tribalism in regard to jobs recruitment, to which the Chairperson stated that throughout the engagements, no such issues were brought forward while also calling on stakeholders to bring forth such issues to the Commission’s attention for review.

Uakutura Kambaekua

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