Public Services and National Development:

Ideas for Post Crisis Recovery:

The Case of Zimbabwe.By

Commissioner Tendai R. W. Bare.

Contents.

• Introduction and conceptual Framework

• Context and Background– The Role of Public Service 19080-1997

– Effects of expansion

– Effects of Bureaucracy

– Poor Image of Public Officials

• The Public Service Reform Programme (PSRP) 1997-2002

• Public Service Reform Programme 2002-2008.

• Improving Human Resources Management– Coordination of the reform

– Civic Participation

– Gender mainstreaming

– Monitoring and evaluation

• Status of the Reform

• Analysis of the Zimbabwe Public Service 2002-2008

• Conclusions and recommendations.– Some suggestion and recommendation for the Public Service

Introduction and conceptual

Framework

• Origins of the Public Service in Africa

• Use of public service to translate polices to

service delivery

• The public service human resources

• Principles of public services delivery _ the UN

framework

Role of Public Service in Zimbabwe

Context

•At independence in 1980, the country inherited a colonial British administration with socio-

economic disparities in favour of a colonial minority and urban areas, against the blacks and

rural areas respectively.

•Central to national development was the issue of land ownership, which was at the core of

the national liberation struggle and skewed in favour of the minority population

•Through the public service administrative machinery, programmes to repair, maintain as

well as construct new public infrastructure, increase agricultural and marketing, particularly

in the marginalized rural areas, were put in place

•The government was compelled to develop policies that would meet expectations of the

citizens and adopt administrative structures that would deliver on the national agenda in

many areas of development supported by the international donor community resources.

•This donor-recipient relationship meant that government was not always able to develop

and employ its own policies due to imposed strictures and shortages of specialist skills to

promote that development.

THE ROLE OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE 1980 – 1997

•In order to accelerate national development and acceptance of the public service by the majority,

the then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe issued a directive of 1981, that Africanised the public

service

•The directive was resisted by not only the entrenched white officials who considered it a threat to

their positions but also black civil servants as well who were part of the colonial administration.

•The public service was therefore transformed to deliver services that were in tune with the new

social and economic environment

•Massive infrastructure development was undertaken in building and staffing schools, and

hospitals both in urban and rural areas with emphasis on the rural community

•The human development indices improved and expanded.

•Extensive training was devoted to community development and agricultural extension services

seen as key to promoting popular participation in development and raising agricultural

productivity respectively.

Effects of Public Service expansion

Year Primary

schools

Teachers Pupils

enrolled

Secondary

Schools

Teachers Student

enrolment

1980 2 411 28 455 819 566 177 22 107 66 215

1999 4 723 59 973 2 460 323 1 548 30 572 834 880

2004 5 007 69 461 2 464 862 1 680 37 871 866 399

2005 4 830 66 186 2 531 508 1 606 35 894 861 343

2006 4 842 66 220 2 493 260 1 642 36 175 883 267

2007 5 056 69 858 2 256 318 1 803 37 631 863 267

Source: Ministry of Education Sport and Culture 2007

•By the late 1990s the public service had grown to 192 000 from 10 570.

•Most of the rural infrastructure such as dams, weirs, boreholes, clinics, feeder roads and small

business damaged during the war were rehabilitated and new construction took place

•The schedule above illustrates the strides made by the new government in education whereas

before independence only three percent of black children attended secondary education

Graph A : Growth of employees in Public Administration

Growth of Public Sector Employees in Public Administration 1980 - 2004

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Year

Number of Employees (In Thousands)

Source Central Statistics Office, July 2009

Graph B : Growth of employees in the Health Sector

Growth of Public Sector Employees in Health 1980 - 2004

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Year

Number of Employees (In Thousands)

Source Central Statistics Officer, July 2009

Graph C : Growth of employees in the Education Sector

Growth of Public Sector Employees in Education 1980 - 2004

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Year

Number of Employe

es (In Thousa

nds)

Source, Central Statistical Officer, July 2009

Effects of Bureaucracy

•The Kavran review

•Lack of performance management

•Arrogance and poor attitude to work

•High staff turnover

•A bloated centralised and secretive bureaucracy

•Non transparency

•Poor communication of decisions

•Inaccessible to the public

•Over complicated rules and procedures

•Overlap and duplication of functions

Poor image of the Public service.• The projected poor image of the public service precipitated public distrust of

government officials.

• The Inspectorate and Audit Agency of the Public Service Commission reported in 2007 on several cases of abuse of state resources by provincial and district political leadership by using fraudulent documents to acquire agricultural inputs at the Grain Marketing Board (GMB).

• It was against the background of liberalising the economy that frequent labour and public servants strikes emerged due to job losses occasioned by a receding economy and corruption.

• The administrative restructuring that introduced cost cutting measures in order to reduce the budget deficit led to further social dissatisfaction in society, as retrenched civil servants also joined the unemployed labour force with no alternative means of income.

• These developments negatively affected the ability of the public service to sustain high quality services to the public with reduced human resources and budgets.

• The situation demonstrated the gaps that exist between policy makers and implementers in carrying out major reforms.

The Public Service Reform programme 1997 2002• The economic reforms undertaken in the early 1990s had adverse effects on society

• Further measures were therefore required that would restore quality service

• This was articulated in the Zimbabwe Programme for Economic and Social Transformation ZIMPREST 1996 – 2000.

• This was to be achieved through modernising and re-orientation of public service to focus on results by installing public management systems that focus on results

• Ongoing reforms continued to outsource non-essential services such as cleaning and catering and laundry services to the private sector. Subcontracting reduced posts by 10520

• Some government departments were commercialised, such as – custom and exercise, now designated as the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority ZIMRA, and

– printing and stationery, Printflow.

• To improve governance and engagement of a disgruntled civil society in policy design and implementation was effected through the National Economic Consultative Forum (NECF), launched in Parliament in 1997

PUBLIC SERVICE REFORM PROGRAMME 2002-2008 -I

KEY POLICY MEASURES

• Monetary Policy Statement October 2005

– Establishment of inter-bank foreign exchange market to replace the auction system

– Subsidized leading to parastatals and strategic sectors

• National Economic Development Priority Plan NEDPP April 2006

– Creation of various committees and task forces.

– No specific policy and institutional actions.

– Monetary and ex-change rate policies un-addressed.

• Monetary Policy Statement July 2006

– 60 percent devaluation of Zimbabwe dollar against the US dollar.

– Fixed exchange rate

– Launch of economic reforms phase I and introduction of new set of bank notes to replace old ones.

– Relaxation of gold trading policy.

– Subsidized lending to parastatals and strategic sectors.

• Monetary Policy Statement January 2007

– Introduction of Economic Stabilization Strategy a comprehensive reform plan consisting of fiscal discipline monetary tightening, privatization of parastatals etc.

– Termination of all quasi-fiscal activities by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

Source: World Bank Zimbabwe Interim Strategy 2008 -2009

PUBLIC SERVICE REFORM PROGRAMME 2002-2008 (CONT.)

While the first phase of public service reforms discussed above focused on downsizing, and cost saving measure to reduce the wage bill and public expenditure measures to improve performance, the second phase concentrated on “enhanced performance and service delivery and promoting good governance”. (Government of Zimbabwe 1998:120).

•However, whilst the public service reforms advocated for commercialization and or privatization of parastatals in order to instil fiscal discipline the first three key policy measures in Box 11, contradicted this position by continued subsidized lending to parastatals.

•These frequent policy changes amply demonstrate uncertainties and an impression of unpredictable policy environment

•The measure of the public service performance is a function of the policy environment including its capacity to carryout high quality policy-making functions and implementation.

•The public service performance capability is developed through restructuring of existing institutions, introduction of modern management systems and enhancing the capacity of individual public service staff.

•To this end in 2005, the public service reform instituted performance management system (PMS) in order to improve service delivery

•Permanent Secretaries were expected to conduct regular performance reviews of their staff in order to ensure that the intended objectives were met

PUBLIC SERVICE REFORM PROGRAMME 2002-2008 (Cont.)

• Improving Human Resources Management– During this period, also a code of conduct was introduced and cascaded in all ministries.

– An Information Communication Technology (ICT) with complete human resources information management system (HRIMS) was introduced

– Recruitment and promotion to the public service was professionalized

– HIV/AIDS and gender were mainstreamed into government policies and programmes.

• Coordination of Reforms– change management units were established in each ministry and coordinated at the Public Service

Commission

• Civic Participation– Involvement of civic organization in policy and programme design in order to enhance public

responsiveness and accountability component is conducted through the NECF. The client charter is also used

• A Gender mainstreaming– Gender mainstreaming mechanism was put in place in all ministries and treated as a key result area

• Monitoring and Evaluation– Monitoring and Evaluation Department Unit in the Office of the President and Cabinet was set up

ANALYSIS OF THE ZIMBABWE PUBLIC SERVICE 2002 -2008

• A strategic management approach is necessary that would link the public service reforms to the government’s economic and social policies.

• Political uncertainty has also contributed to an unstable policy environment to the overall programme goal of creating an enabling environment for reforms.

• Reform policies and systems have been put in place and implemented under extraordinary circumstances and operational environment. This, in a way, reflects government’s commitment to have in place, a performing and responsive government machinery

• The other observed weakness is in the Public Finance Management Information System (PFMIS) and Human Resources Management Information System (HRMIS)

• On HIV/AIDS, though awareness has increased, lack of data on affected public service personnel, to reveal the impact of the programmes on prevalence rates access to treatment remains problematic due to privacy laws

• Central to effective implementation of the reforms are the roles of the permanent secretaries. As accounting officers, they should provide leadership and lead the process. It is not clear to what extend this role is recognized in the programme and whether they themselves perceive and accept this role

• The Public reforms themselves, it has been observed, do not necessarily lead to poverty reduction, economic growth and economic empowerment and the government recognized this in the ZIMPREST

• Perhaps the Integrated Results Based Management System (IRBMS) launched in February 2005 after three years of planning and putting in place electronic enabling monitoring and evaluation mechanism, piloting for quick wins may provide a solution for reconfiguring the reforms in a holistic fashion.

CONCLUSIONs

• The paper has attempted to show how the public service as the government secretariat is a key player in the production and delivery of public goods.

• However, in the absence of a strong command centre that coordinates, provides the momentum and political direction, mobilizes and allocate resources the intended outcomes and benefits of the reforms may not be met.

• The reforms approved by Cabinet and if followed through by the incoming all inclusive government now in place and if adequately budgeted to sequentially implement and integrate reforms and evaluated for impact and results, have the potential effect of transforming the public service into a high performing organization

• Of the 13 target departments for cost recovery 11 (85%) have been implemented and 7 (54%) have been commercialized. Of the commercialized departments, ZINWA stands out as struggling to take off primarily due to the socio-political environment

• Government has demonstrated the political will towards the reforms through its decision to include the involvement of various interest groups

Some Suggestions and Recommendations for the Public Service

Some Suggestions and Recommendations for the Public Service (cont)

• 7. A service-wide introduction of ICT for public service management and service delivery..

• 8. Strengthen and capacitate the ZIPAM to refocus its mandate to develop and deliver innovative training programmes that enhance public service performance by requesting the parent ministry to assist with funding.

• 9. Develop the public service capacity to monitor and evaluate reforms in order to provide evidence on which to re-strategize the reform process.

• 10. To enhance accountability conduct regular customer surveys in order to assess the conduct of public official in service delivery and that service offered are accessible and meet client needs.

• 11. Strengthen the gender mainstream mechanisms in order to reach the 30 percent target of women in decision making by 2015.

• 12. Sustain the trust generated by the NECF in contributing to policies and strategies formulation for economic stabilization that would generate wealth and alleviate poverty by availing the necessary resource for it to commission, as necessary specialized studies.

• 13. Sustain the commercialization of the remaining government departments benchmarked and guided by those operating viably.

• 14. To improve the Minister Permanent Secretary interface, conduct retreat and or workshops that strengthen this relationship.

Thank you for your attention