Survey shows increased Satisfaction with Public Service

source: Republic of Botswana (23/8/09): TAUTONA TIMES no 23 of 2009
The Electronic Press Circular of the Office of the President
"Democracy, Development, Dignity and Discipline"

D2) 28/8/09: Survey shows increased Satisfaction with Public Service

The 2009 Public Service Customer Satisfaction Survey was released this week; which showed marked overall improvement compared to the previous, 2005, survey.

According to the 2009 findings, 83% of the public have expressed general satisfaction with the overall service delivery by civil servants, that is rating the service they received as either "Good", "Very Good" or "Excellent".

The result, was revealed by the Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, the Honourable Dr. Margaret Nasha, in remarks made during Sunday's Official Opening the 2009 Public Service Convention in Gaborone.

Minister Nasha, further observed that while 56% of the public were reported to have described the service delivery they received as "good" only 27% rated it as either "very good" or "excellent", adding that: "in today's world, the category worth talking about is one of excellence."

It is in this context that Very Good to Excellent has been set as the "normative benchmark" for the Public Service. In terms of this standard, of the 22 Ministries, Departments and Agencies for which results have been reported, 12 showed improvement, six remained the same and four showed a decline in their scores.

With a score of 58% the office of the Ombudsman came out on top in the "Very Good to Excellent" category, followed by the Office of the President (45%), Auditor General (43%), Independent Elections Commission (41%) and Ministry of Lands and Housing (41%). Each of the top 5 showed significant improvement over their previous, 2005 scores.

The overall 2009 Survey findings for perceptions of "Good" and "Very Good/Excellent" are as follows, with those perceptions falling outside the totals for "Good, Very Good and Excellent" indicate customer satisfaction ratings perceptions of either "Poor" or "Very Poor":

Ministry/Dept. V.G/Excellent + Good = Total
1) Ombudsman 56% 42% 100%
2) Office of the President 45% 39% 84%
3) Auditor General 43% 49% 92%
4) Ind. Elections Comm. 41% 51% 92%
5) Lands & Housing 41% 47% 88%
6) Min., Energy & Water 39% 54% 93%
7) Youth, Sports & Culture 38% 51% 89%
8) Labour & Home Affairs 35% 50% 85%
9) Environ., Wildlife & Tour. 32% 56% 88%
10) Comm., Sci., & Tech. 31% 62% 93%
11) Industrial Court 30% 64% 94%
12) National Assembly 29% 64% 93%
13) Fin. & Dev. Planning 28% 64% 92%
14) Agriculture 26% 63% 89%
15) Trade & Industry 21% 65% 86%
16) Education 21% 53% 74%
17) DPSM 20% 45% 65%
18) Police Service 18% 50% 68%
19) Attorney General 17% 69% 86%
20) BIAC 16% 40% 56%
21) Admin. of Justice 13% 68% 82%
22) NACA 9% 80% 89%
23) Works & Transport 7% 61% 68%
24) Health 6% 58% 64%
Combined Total 27% 56% 83%

The above findings were collected in face to face interviews with a scientific sample of 3,612 customers, i.e. users of public services, carried out between February and April of 2009.


Additional Note:

Notwithstanding the very significant differences in methodology and questions asked, the 2009 Customer Satisfaction results can also be compared and contrasted with the findings of the independent public 2008 Afrobarometer public perception survey for Botswana.

In terms of service delivery, Afrobarometer Survey reported that 80% of Batswana said that Government was doing well or very well in providing Health Services, 84% in providing education, 95% in combating HIV/AIDS, 72% in providing water and sanitation, 75% in reducing crime, 69% in fighting corruption, 66% in providing electricity, 58% in maintaining roads and bridges and 60% in improving the living standards of the poor.

Among the respondents 76% also said that Government was doing well or fairly well handling the economy, while in terms of gender relations, 77% of the public, both male and female, believed that Government was doing well or very well in empowering women.

Batswana also showed strong faith in their legal system and law enforcement agencies with 76% of the respondents agreed that people were rarely or never treated unequally under the law and 72% of Batswana expressing trust in both the courts and police service. With respect to Magistrates and Judges 68% believed that few or none were involved in corruption, with another 24% saying they were not sure.

93% of Batswana said they had never paid a bribe or given a gift to government officials to get a document or permit, while 92% said the same with respect to their dealings with the police.

The Afrobarometer findings were reportedly based a nationally representative probability sample of 1200 adult Batswana living throughout the country.