Failure by some civil servants to discard their old mindsets when discharging responsibilities has been cited as the major stumbling block to efficient public service delivery.

Addressing journalists in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Chief Secretary Philemon Luhanjo said despite making considerable achievements in reforming the public service sector, some civil servants are adamant to change their mindsets from being bosses to public servants.

CS Luhanjo was reflecting on the milestones that the public service management has undergone since independence to to-date, as the country marks 50 years of independence.

“On a serious note I want the public to know that though we have made considerable strides in the public service management sector, we are still grappling with the failure by some civil servants to understand they are servants of the public,” he stressed.

He also pointed out that the widespread complaints of the public over poor services delivered to the public by the government and its departments showed low productivity on the side of civil servants.

“It’s a matter that needs no dispute that civil servants’ productivity is low that is why the public keeps on complaining over poor service delivery,” Luhanjo remarked.

Poor or failure to implement the Client-Service Charter by civil servants is another area that needs improvement, according to Luhanjo. He said despite introducing the charter in all public offices, its implementation is poor.

He said the charter should be made public, if possible, displayed in offices so that the public can hold civil servants accountable upon being violated.

Despite advantages gained from innovations in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), public service management is yet to judiciously exploit such an opportunity, he added.

The chief secretary said the ongoing exercise of Decentralization by Devolution ( D by D) adopted by the government must be taken seriously as the government now pumps a lot of resources to the local government levels where decisions are made.

Luhanjo said currently Tanzania has 442,041 civil servants serving about 43 million people opposed to 17,112 civil servants who served 9.4 million people immediately after independence.