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Prosper Ndlovu
THE quest for quality service delivery is a headache for most governments in developing countries amid increasing demand for transformed operations especially by public institutions.

Zimbabwe is not an exception.

Often citizens are not satisfied with the kind of service they receive from state institutions that are usually accused of lacking customer orientation.

In some instances citizens spend long hours if not days to acquire basic documentation, clearance or certificates forcing some to bribe their way to get quicker service.

This fuels corruption.

The need, therefore, for state entities and other key service providers to discard the business as usual approach and ensure citizens derive value from their services cannot be over emphasised.

Following its resounding victory in the July 2013 harmonised election, the Zanu-PF government crafted an economic blue-print, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset) that seeks to address such concerns among other economic development goals.

The five-year policy thrust covers a broad range of socio-economic issues with quality service delivery, which touches on all aspects of human life, forming the core of the government focus.

It is interesting to note that when the blue-print was launched, President Mugabe stressed that attainment of its desired turnaround outcomes required a “result based” approach.

This results based agenda is built around four strategic clusters that will enable Zimbabwe to achieve economic growth and reposition the country as one of the strongest economies in the region and Africa.

The clusters include food security and nutrition, social services and poverty eradication, infrastructure and utilities, value addition and beneficiation.

“The government ministries and agencies, the private sector and development partners, and the nation at large are therefore called upon to work together in championing the implementation of this results based agenda,” said the President in the foreword to the document.

The Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) has been tasked to coordinate and oversee the implementation process to ensure attainment of set targets of the plan.

Two weeks ago the OPC organised a workshop on public service delivery where it emerged more work needs to be done in the results based front.

The organisers reiterated that the successful implementation of Zim-Asset will be underpinned and guided by the Results Based Management (RBM) system.

“People want quality service delivery and this is key to the government for successful implementation of Zim-Asset. The government departments should set benchmarks on service delivery hence the issue of RBM,” said Ambassador Mary Mubi, a senior director in the OPC. She said it was high time government departments transformed their operations and focused on giving the value for money in terms of output to citizens.

In that regard, Mubi said the government would soon set up complaints platforms such as suggestion boxes in ministries as well as a Presidential hotline to enhance transparency and efficient public service delivery.

This is a serious issue that calls for a paradigm shift for government departments who should pull down entrenched bureaucratic walls that make access to their services difficult for citizens.

There is a growing need for increased information access about services offered by departments and the willingness to prioritise customer service should take centre stage.

During the same meeting Langton Mwaita, also a senior OPC official, said the time has come for public entities to reverse citizens’ frustration over poor service by increasing interaction with them to enhance confidence in government.

He said while citizens appreciate the economic challenges facing the country, they were concerned about the manner in which services were offered.

Mwaita said citizens were interested in speed, simplicity and efficiency of a service and interactive communication where there were challenges.

Indeed some public entities have made strides towards improved service delivery through means such offering services online as is the case with passport forms and decentralisation of liquor licencing.

However, Mwaita said a general lack of coherent and clear strategic planning, urgency and seriousness in the implementation of government plans continues to cripple desired progress.

He said the government was taking the RBM approach seriously to promote accountability and output oriented performance measurement.

Mubi concurred saying the government has drafted a client service charter for the public sector and that it would soon be launching a service delivery compendium to buttress the gains made so far.