BRANDON VAN WYKPRIME minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila on Tuesday said the change of title from permanent secretary to executive director was to do away with the misconception that these officials were permanent.
The government announced last month that permanent secretaries in all ministries will now be known as executive directors.
Kuugongelwa-Amadhila told that the change was to remove the misconception of permanency that had developed due to the word ‘permanent’ in the title ‘permanent secretary’.
She said this was to align the title with other designations in the public service, and that the title change has been effective since it was announced on 28 December 2018.
“This is to align the designation to the function of the position holder, who is the chief administrator at official level,” Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said.
The PM added that the change was also to align the titles with some of the standard international practices.
She stated that it was important to point out that the change was not limited to the designation of the officials appointed on a fixed-term contract.
“This means that executive directors’ performance contracts will strengthen performance monitoring and evaluation,” she said.
The prime minister, however, added that contract appointments do not mean that the officials in question will not be held accountable annually for their performance.
“This will still continue as per the existing performance management system, and failure to meet performance targets will still be dealt with as per existing public service rules,” she noted.
