Reduce number of ministries

Sir,

There is leadership bankruptcy in Eswatini manifested by the decisions taken on the operations of many public organisations hence the absence of progress in the country. The current situation has exposed the directionless of the system of governance.

This is the time where tough and unpopular decisions have to be taken and religiously implemented. As a country, we should simply swallow our pride and not wait for other countries to decide for us.

Advice

As usual, the Tinkhundla System of government is known for resisting taking initiative advice while things are still manageable and only moving at the last dangerous moment. Under the prevailing financial conditions faced by government, why not reduce the number of ministries?

The main problem of Eswatini is that emaSwati, especially those in power quickly learn how to shift goal posts and blame soft targets. These people do not differentiate between the failures of the Tinkhundla System and the individuals running the system of government. The system puts so much emphasis on individual merit and the collective is an afterthought and never a guarantee.

Worried

While government is worried about the wage bill and the huge number of civil servants, it defeats logic for them to employ personnel for the armed forces and in some cases extend the employment of certain public officials who have reached the retirement age. Age and early voluntary retirement, if properly applied could systematically reduce the number of civil servants and encourage the junior officers to work hard for promotion.

Damage

Some regional administrators in the country are retirees and this must most certainly demoralise those they lead who have many more years to go before retiring. The danger and damage of this practice should not be ignored but it should be corrected. Stubbornness and or arrogance in this practice may develop into cracks within critical organs of government.