Using COVID- 19 as a scapegoat for poor service delivery no longer an excuse
But, perhaps, the lack of digitisation is not really surprising. According to the IMD ( International Institute for Management Development) World Digital Competitiveness Report for 2021, Botswana fared poorly in the 64 countries that were sampled and assessed in their ability to take on board and adapt digital technologies that can revolutionise our economy and create jobs. Overall, Botswana was ranked a dismal 63rd with a competitiveness index score of just 33 out of 100.
A clear fail grade! Put simply, the report suggests that we lack the talent, training and education to enable us to compete effectively in a digitised world.
Now, of course, the officers in the Transport offices would blame the delays and other inconveniences experienced by exasperated customers on the usual scapegoat these days – COVID- 19. This can be used to explain away incompetence, indiscipline, absenteeism and all manner of ills in the workplace! And maybe even the weather? But for how much longer are we going to use the pandemic as an excuse? The virus has been around in Botswana for 21 months now, long enough time for government departments, and also private companies, to come up with ways of adapting to the new situation. The pandemic excuse is wearing thin now! It’s time to face reality and deal with poor customer service!
The way that customers are treated by the Department of Transport in Francistown is shameful and humiliating. Shambolic!
I learnt how to drive through a driving school in the UK many years ago. In those days, we undertook a three- in- one test where all three tests – theory, yard and road tests were merged into one long test. For the eye test, the examiner took me out onto the street where I was simply asked to read a vehicle number plate from a distance of 25 metres. Then into the car for the road test. Towards the end of the test, the driver took me into a quiet residential area to carry out the activities that we do in the yard test here – parking, reversing around a corner, three- point turn and hill start.
The examiner then got me to drive along a straight quiet road where he told me that I should do an emergency stop when he slapped his hand on the dashboard. At the end of the road test, he then asked me some twenty oral questions – the theory test. Booking the test was much simpler than here in Francistown – once I had done enough lessons, I simply asked the driving school to book up the test; they did the rest. That took just a few minutes and we had not yet arrived in the digital age!
Recently, Minister of Tertiary Education, Research and Technology has said that the Botswana Digital Innovation Hub ( BDIH) will implement key components of the Smart Bots strategy. Such initiatives will focus on the digital transformation of the public sector which will result in fundamental changes on how services are delivered to customers. Let us hope that we see such changes in the near future when we enter government offices.