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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
AFRICA needs to embrace good governance and innovative ways of doing business to ensure sustainable and reliable service delivery in the wake of the devastating Covid-19 pandemic.

The continent is battling the global pandemic which has reshaped history hence the need to balance between needs of the State and cost cutting measures, Chairperson of the African Union Commission Mr Moussa Faki Mahamat said in a speech read on his behalf by AU Commission Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace And Security, Ambassador Bankole Adeoye on Monday.

He was speaking at the opening ceremony of the 8th Edition of the Africa Public Service Day which is underway here.

“The onset of Covid-19 has brought to the fore systemic weaknesses in the quality-of-service delivery such as water, sanitation, housing, healthcare and infrastructure in previously underserved communities across Africa.

“The efforts to contain the spread of the disease has also highlighted key gaps in capacities, such as manufacturing of face masks, gloves, testing equipment as well as the battle readiness of the public administrative machinery.

“There is therefore, a dire need to find a balance between building a capable State and cost cutting measures, which would require innovations to facilitate effective and efficient service delivery and performance in our countries,” he said.

Mr Mahamat said the Bureau of AU-STC8 in its June 2020 extraordinary meeting adopted a declaration calling on AU member states to

“Ensure that the delivery of public services under Covid-19 restrictions at national level are inspired by the principles of Public Service and Administration as enshrined in the provisions of the African Charter on Values and Principles of Public Service and Administration; and to this end, Member States should engage in experience-sharing and lessons-learning on Covid-19 response strategies anchored on effective and efficient public services’’.

He said good governance is key for effective service delivery and very important for the public service machinery to function well while efficient and effective delivery of basic public services hold the key to the fight against Covid-19 towards aspirations of Agenda 2063 -The Africa We Want.

Mr Mahamat said the conference is an opportunity to explore and share knowledge and experiences on innovations and proffer sustainable solutions by repositioning the African public administration to meet the expectations of citizens and in particular to contribute effectively to meeting the challenges related to Covid-19.

He said the Africa Public Service Day is a strategic event on the AU calendar that emanates from the declaration of Tangier, Morocco conference of 1994.

The objective is to reflect on provision of an enabling environment and platform for public servants to reflect on their achievements, challenges and solutions made in their area of work.

The conference which ends tomorrow is being held under the theme,“Building the Africa we want, through embracing an ethical culture that underpins purpose driven leadership in the Context of a Crisis”.

Host minister, Professor Paul Mavima, who is Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister, said the objective is to unite and commit African countries to the ethos and practice of good governance in the delivery of services to the African population.

He said this is a strategic platform to enable public servants in Africa to interrogate and reflect on the functions of the public service and how to make them better, more effective, efficient and representative.

“The main purpose of the day is to appreciate and recognise the work by public servants in the discharge of their duties to the communities they serve and their contribution to national development and ultimately the prosperity of the African people. This is designed to build public awareness and appreciation of the role of the Public Service in the developmental trajectory.

“We should make sure that, in the discharge of their duties, public servants should be sufficiently remunerated and provided with proper tools to make them effective and protected from job related risks.

“The advent of the Covid-19 pandemic further exacerbated the workplace challenges, which, unfortunately, saw some of our frontline workers losing their lives. It is our role as Governments to honour the public service workers. Of fundamental importance is the need to recognise and reward performance,” said Prof Mavima.-@ncubeleon