By Wesley Ngwenya
If you went to a state run institution in Zambia, chances are you are going to have a negative experience. A simple question will not be answered by the person at the front desk. They will refer you to another officer who will also refer you to another officer who will tell you to come tomorrow. It is indeed a nightmare to deal with these institutions. Since oftentimes, I have to “do business” with these institutions I have made some observations why they are inefficient.
Political interference is perhaps the biggest stumbling block in making these institutions economically viable. Most state run companies have managing directors who are hired purely because they are MMD party members, supporters or sympathizers. Institutions such as National Housing Authority, Zambia Revenue Authority, Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation and Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission are just a few of the many institutions, in Zambia, headed by people who are MMD party members or supporters.
As long as government continues to interfere in the running of these institutions, through the appointment of senior management we will continue having third class institutions which will be delivering third class products and services. Political interference is a deadly virus in our economic system. The government needs to leave professionals head these organizations. In addition, they need to let the institutions run independently and become competitive on the marketplace.
Lack of accountability both by management and government is a huge problem facing these institutions in our country. The way resources are managed leaves much to be desired. No one seems to be accountable of anything in these government run institutions. By the way, when I talk about resources, I also mean human resource. There seem to be lack of accountability on how human resource is used in these places. I always wonder why there are so many people who are literally doing nothing. Other resources such as cars, fuel, phones and other benefits are abused. There is so much over-expenditure that needs to be urgently controlled.
Inability to execute and make decisions by senior management is a big problem facing our state run institutions. The decision making structure is complex, unclear and lacks consistency. Senior management is afraid to make both critical and simple decisions because they have to consult with government “just in case”. Therefore, decision making process takes overly long. If it is a company that has competitors, it leaves them lag behind while others forge ahead. Even when decisions are made, there is no execution and adherence to agreed upon plan. Things are just left to sort themselves out.
These institutions need to create a simple decision making process where both senior and junior managers need to be given powers to make decisions. In order to do this, the managers (especially juniors) need to be equipped with necessary information so that the turnaround of making decision is shortened. I look forward to be able to go into an office where I am referred to an officer who is able to help me completely without referring me to another officer.
Position driven not performance driven culture is one other thing destroying our state run institutions. People working for state run institutions seem to be obsessed with titles. It is more important to address them with fancy titles than to look at their performance. That is why oftentimes their job descriptions and key result areas are vague. This is also the reason why they end-up over-employing because it takes two or three to do a job that could otherwise be done by one person.
About a year ago, an officer from a government run institution was offered a job by a Non Governmental Organization (NGO). His contract could not be extended because he could not perform. This person had quite a senior position in the government run institution. He never used to do much in this job. He was offered quite a junior job but of course the pay was good. He could not write reports or meet deadlines.
The danger of having people in positions who are doing little or nothing creates a risk of breeding a workforce that is not performance driven. In fact, it promotes laziness. There is need to create measures in order to monitor and evaluate performance for every personnel in the organization.
High management and operational costs make these institutions less competitive. It is difficult for some of them, such as ZESCO, to make profits or let alone break even because their management costs as well as the operational costs are too high. Even when they continue to raise the price of their products they continue to be dysfunctional. These companies need to come up with cutting edge products and improve on delivery. What more if we had competitors on the market would they survive?
Unskilled and de-motivated employees is also a major factor that makes state run institutions inefficient. Most employees in these institutions are stuck to their old ways of doing things. Even in this era of computers they still cannot tune themselves to starting using them—even when they are right there on their desks. They are slow in delivering and there are no signs of this changing anytime soon. They lack cross-organizational experience having only worked with one employer for 20 to 40 years. They are therefore unable to remain innovative for their employers. These employees are de-motivated because there is no motivation from the top. The working conditions for the employees on the ground are terrible.
Nepotism is one virus that has crept all levels of Zambian society. It is in our schools, churches, workplaces, in our cities, rural areas and just about everywhere. It is worse in government and state run companies. Since many of these senior managers are hired using the same virus, they also tend to use the same methods to hire their own.
There is a classic example in the recent government sold ZAMTEL to LAP Green of Libya. A whole extended family lost their jobs. There were uncles, aunties, fathers, sons, daughters, cousins, and nephews—the whole clan. I feel sorry for them although many of them got an unfair advantage over many other Zambians who were qualified and could have performed their lost jobs better perhaps.
Zambia needs a work culture revolution if it has to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 let alone becoming a middle income country by 2030. It should start with our politicians who are purely financially driven as opposed to service driven. Little wonder why we continue getting poorer and poorer 46 years after independence. It is time we turned tables around by introducing new ideas in the system. We need fresh and vibrant young men and women to run our state institutions. We even need fresh young men and women to run government. Last but not the least we need a fresh and young person lead government. Maybe things will move just for once.
