By Evans Dakwa
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has hailed progress made since the coming in of performance based contracts for key government officials in 2021.
Speaking on the occasion of the announcement of top performers in government for the fiscal year 2023 and signing of performance contracts for 2024, the President said his government will continue with the reform agenda until maximum efficiency is attained across all arms of government.
“Since we commenced the performance contracting journey in 2021, there has been progress in the utilisation and institutionalisation of the instrument, across the public sector, Government will, therefore, continue with the reform agenda until our public sector institutions, systems and processes have reached maximum efficiencies, which are commensurate with the service delivery demands and expectations of the people,” said President Mnangagwa.
Challenging public officials to perform, the President stressed have been tailored with key policy areas guiding the development trajectory of the country and the aspirations of the people of Zimbabwe.
“The Performance Contracts have been aligned to priority policy areas that were pronounced after the 2023 Harmonised General Elections. This will ensure that Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are accordingly guided to meet the expectations and aspirations of the people of our great motherland, Zimbabwe.”
The country’s economic development agenda is grounded on a modernisation agenda and in that regard, he highlighted the importance of Information Communication and Technology (ICTs) to the attainment of set goals by the government.
“Undoubtedly, a robust Information Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure backbone, is critical in advancing our multi-pronged Government modernisation agenda.ICTs must, therefore, be leveraged to improve service delivery and reduce malpractices in our public sector. Public sector procedures and systems must be simplified to enable more effective and efficient people centred service delivery, ” he said.
Performance based contracts were introduced by the Second Republic in 2021 to foster a working culture that is hinged on efficiency amongst public servants with measurable set targets availed for all key public officials including Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Local Authorities, Provincial Councils and heads of Parastatals.