Reset button is neither reform

When I was a young man in my 20s I worked in an industrial environment where we ran a system that was designed to produce a specific product through multiple system inputs from various individual engineering components that constitute the whole system. We used a control system to influence and direct inputs from various components to respond in unison. During those days the control system was dominantly hardwired with multiple of electrical cable with only a few electronic parts where the decision making was basically centred around a gadget called a RELAY. Once the system has been designed, installed and commissioned to operate as desired and designed and has passed the test run stages, it would be accepted that the system has been SET to operate in a particular way to deliver the desired output and the system can now be used to operate at full speed. As I matured into that environment I became part of the team that designed and commissioned such systems. Technology has now changed with the advent of the microchip which is now the control hub of ICT, hard wired relays are now becoming obsolete.

It was part of the greater strategic and engineering planning that once in a while some intermittent system failures would occur and these would be spontaneous due to unavoidable engineering environmental issues such as system overloads; system earth faults; or system power fluctuation responses which would then trigger a failure ( system down). In those days in the design of the control system, there was a RESET button which would be activated to restore the system healthy. At this point I would seek the reader’s utmost indulgence because when the reset button is pressed, one would not be repairing anything because there are no damaged parts; one would not be reconfiguring anything because the system is not malfunctioning or underperforming; one would not have to rewire anything because all components are in order and the system configuration is also in order. The only thing to do here is to re- energise the system by just pressing a RESET button which will then restore power supply to the intact system that will then run as designed, installed ( as built) and commissioned.

Now as time goes on challenges will emerge in the system with some components experiencing wear and tear, operational fatigue and thus a need to repair, replace or refurbish old with new. There will be other issues of product changes and technological upgrades. These will require a revisit to the system configuration and hence, redesigning; improving; transforming or enhancements to address recurring short falls that render the system none resilient due to emerging challenges. This will be a transit process to upgrade and reengineer the system to be responsive to new challenges. In corporate world it could be called restructuring, transformation or repositioning the organisation. This cannot be called a resetting, as in RESET, one is not bringing in any new inputs at all and neither is one making any slight change to the system, reset is basically to restore to normalcy.

Of recent our government has crafted a RESET agenda to address both emerging and recurring challenges but from what I have said above the reset button may not be the inappropriate one because in the narrative government is bringing a whole plethora of changes in issues such as performance, public service efficiency; governance, mindset, digitalisation and issues of health to mention but a few. All these changes are bringing an enhancement to the current system and there is nothing wrong with that, in fact it becomes the best thing to do when systems tend to fail its expected deliverables. In industrial/ engineering situation when system components become obsolete it will be wise to replace with new ones and where there is redundancy it will be best to reconfigure the system to remove costly clumsy components. In the corporate world, we talk of restructuring which is done to thrust companies into next levels of prosperity. In public institutions such as government we would talk of right sizing to avoid magnanimous public wage bill. All these are appropriate agendas at disposal of any organisation that seeks to optimise its resources to deliver on its mandate efficiently.

Every citizen of this country will totally agree with HE ( Masisi) that a lot needs to be done to change mindset of those in public service as well as the public itself for government cannot transform the civil service while the public remains drowned in the entitlement mirage.

These mind sets must be real changes and all- encompassing but when you hear a government official still referring to his staff as “bongwanake” one wonders if others’ minds will really change. I have never heard anybody from private sector calling their staff “bongwanake”, in private companies subordinates are normally referred to as “our staff; our teams; our workmates” etc. Civil servants are public assets in the greater scheme of things including those in leadership positions and should not be addressed from a personal perspective but rather as team mates to resist old style teacherstudent mind set. I know some claimants to conservationism may say that calling someone ngwanake is a sign of respect to which I will counter- argue and state that respect at workplace is when your staff’s welfare and dignity are top class, this is in contrast to what we see with our teachers and nurses just to quote a few whose welfare remains in withering state.

So as government wants to switch onto a transformative agenda or drive, for all intents and purpose it means there is something not right in the current public setup and both repairs and retooling need to be done and one cannot but agree more. If this is true then a RESET button will not take us there as reset is a mere restart assuming the system is intact. If one is to be asked, “when should government reset then” I would imagine some examples are when government revisits work performance standards it has set for itself and comply accordingly. Reset button will be activated when government revisits Key Performing Areas and the Key Performance Indicators it has set for itself to ensure they are realised since traditionally Batswana set themselves goals when planning. When those charged with set public governance issues start to account without fail is then that the reset button is activated. The reset button is activated when the much talked about zero tolerance to corruption we set for ourselves becomes a reality, for Batswana are originally law abiding people and they hate greed and thieving public assets.

The day poverty eradication that government has set for itself many years ago becomes a reality will be another tick box for reset agenda. The day our leaders desist from kgotla handouts will start the reset agenda as traditionally Batswana are capable of providing for themselves.

Another very interesting example is where a political party has set up its manifesto to captain the national aspirations in a particular direction and hence voted into power. Once in power deliverables are at variance with the manifesto that citizens voted for, obviously it is here that we need a reset. I reason that once voted into power there is only one vision that should drive government strategies and this vision should resound and reverberate down the lane into all ministries. A situation where the party in power crafts a vision and then ministries and their departments by extension have different visions is a legitimate call for RESET. ( Go boela ko marakanelong). I have seen almost all government’s departments have their own visions as “being a leader in this and a leader in that” but if one looks at the vision or mission of the party in power there is no mention of “being a leader” but rather there are clear achievable goals, this is where pressing a RESET button will be appropriate because what was being envisaged within the manifesto is now being derailed at the tail end by government ministries.

It has become such a common thing in this country to see every organisation aspiring to be a leader in x and a leader in y yet they have no clue as to who will be trailing behind them, who their competitors are, let alone who is ahead of them. When America says it is a leader in the global economy, it knows the GDP of each and every nation and what is driving that GDP, when America say