Chief Regional Officers called to share information

Chief Regional Officers need to collaborate and share information if they wish to see their plans realised.

The Head of Public Service and Secretary to Cabinet, Dr. George Simataa, reminded them of this duty to inform during a Chief Regional Officers’ engagement held with the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology at Otjiwarongo.

The meeting was aimed at discussing, among others, decentralisation, government communication, national information and communication technology, and development priorities.

Addressing the CROs, Dr. George Simataa says government employees should not become so focused on their daily work that they lose focus on the bigger picture, which is government service in its entirety.

“Not a ministry, not a directorate, not a particular place in which you work.” As a must, we should remove pylons to prevent the OMAs and the Regional Councils from maximising their budgets in pursuit of service delivery. Communication should not only be necessary, but it should be mandatory. This will ensure that the functions spread across the OMAs and regional offices pick up speed and eliminate duplicate efforts.”

Referring to the Harambee Prosperity Plan, Dr. Simataa told CROs that there is no room for failure and that the nation must pull in one direction.

The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology’s Executive Director, Dr. Audrin Mathe, says the engagement with CROs was aimed at establishing smooth working relations between the Ministry and the regional councils.

especially given that the ministry has decentralised some of its functions to the regions.

“We want to make sure that the work we have given you is smooth, as we have agreed in the MoU that was signed between our two ministers. The other reason why we are here is that you know that work is being made to develop NDP 6. What we are interested in from the regions is to ensure that we understand what ICT looks like 10 years from now from a regional perspective.”

Dr. Mathe says input from the CROs will be consolidated as a contribution to the drafting of NDP 6.