Don’t be tied to PS title - Ua-Ndjarakana
Ministry of Information and Communication Technology Permanent Secretary Mbeuta Ua-Ndjarakana says changing the name of the position he currently holds will not be a demotion for him and his fellow permanent secretaries.
This follows an announcement by President Hage Geingob that the title of permanent secretary will likely be changed soon. Is not yet clear what the new title will be, but ‘executive directors’ has been mooted.
Ua-Ndjarakana said yesterday: “Now, when you are a PS, it is like you are sitting permanently at a table and desk, doing nothing but writing. There is no qualitative meaning in the title of PS, if you compare it to being a director or executive director.”
He said permanent secretaries have families, who may be thinking that a title change may mean a demotion. “There is nothing of the sort. We should be as ever-prepared to catch the bull by its horns under the new dispensation, within the same environment that we have been operating in.”
He said the proof of the pudding is not in the title, but in the knowledge, commitment and ethical behavior of an individual.
Ua-Ndjarakana said he welcomes the “positive title change” and his peers in other government departments are urged to do the same. He believes that this will assist the nation in refraining from attaching importance and relevance to a title, but rather to begin to attach importance and relevance to output.
He said the public can do this when they feel that services are being delivered to address their aspirations. “As part of the crop, I am saying we will be symbolically affected by the change of a title or a name of a ministry, but this is not actually the issue. Of course there is meaning to the fact that if somebody is a director there should an understanding that this person will be directing and paving the way.”
WINDHHOEK ELVIS MURARANGANDA
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