No Performance Management In Government

DEAR Mr Prime Minister, could you please explain to Namibia, but especially to us, the hundreds of people trained during 2006 and 2007 in the PMS (Performance Management System for the Public Service), what happened to the PMS?

Why did your Office stop it 18 months ago? It was supposed to be THE major transformation project for the Public Service – to change attitudes and behaviours towards improved service delivery, a system to guide and align corporate, unit and individual performance, based on strategic plans. The widely accepted PMS Framework and Toolkit were developed, many Internal Facilitators trained in Windhoek and in the North, Ministerial Implementation Teams were formed and trained, pilot ministries appointed …. and then, all of a sudden, the plug was pulled by OPM. The ‘bath’ was filling up and ready to overflow to ‘flood’ the public service with a system to measure, manage and improve performance, but then the plug was pulled. Your Office could not/did not want to explain this. Some said OPM is changing gears; others said that OPM is restructuring and creating new positions and forming new units; others said that the new leadership in the Office of the Prime Minister do not believe in PMS. But then again, PMS is part of NDP3 and the President mentions it annually in his speeches. So you see the confusion amongst us being involved in PMS as well as the nation. I believe that Namibia has lost a golden opportunity to develop and implement its own and unique performance management system (although it was not perfect, it could have been used over the last 18 months and improved during implementation). OPM probably has lost valuable expertise and the millions invested are probably wasted. South Africa has now realised the need for something like the PMS by creating a new performance management unit in the Office of the President. So please Mr Prime Minister, tell us what happened to the Namibian PMS. I believe we are ready to support your office again – those of us in the Public Service and our private sector partners. Why? Because we believe that a PMS is urgently needed in our central, regional and local governments.PMSerVia e-mailNote: Name and address provided. – Ed