Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah this morning cautioned her staff against being oblivious to technology.
"In our Government, emails are not yet recognised as official correspondence, so please remember that the signature of the Minister, PS or Head of Department is required to make any correspondence count as official Government information. No matter how useful these tools are, an official record must exist of any information of the Ministry. Information sent or received via email must be printed and filed. This does not mean that I am not encouraging staff to use the new tools at their disposal, but to keep in mind that official records must exist. I know the Post Office remains an agency we can use to send our mails, but before the letter is posted, a copy can be emailed or faxed, more particular if the matter is urgent."
Speaking during the general staff meeting today, she further revealed expenditure cuts in overtime, procurement of services and travel.
"The need to streamline activities towards existing budgetary constraints cannot be over-emphasised. The call to reorganize work priorities is a national priority in order to significantly reduce the budget deficit, particularly in government spending, and also to enable a good portion of our budget to feed the sectors that have an immediate impact on poverty eradication," she said.
This comes after the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources also cut on overtime payments this week.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the cost of compensation towards overtime, has been noticeably high, and is an aspect which must be governed through the legislative provisions enshrined in the Labour Act, Act No. 11 of 2007. 
"It must be understood that the provisions exist primarily to ensure that employees are protected in terms of carrying out duties at the workplace during normal work hours, whilst ensuring that sufficient rest is attained in-between and after normal work hours and over the weekends. Overtime should therefore only be performed in cases of absolute necessity, where completion of work would otherwise not be possible during normal working hours due to unforeseen circumstances, or as an emergency measure."

She furthered that from now onwards, overtime will no longer be performed unless it is deemed as an absolute necessity. The decision to perform duties beyond normal work hours, lies solely with the Accounting Officer (Permanent Secretary) under the auspices and confines of the relevant legislation. 
She said, "Any work performed outside normal working hours will no longer be compensated, unless prior authorization has been granted to carry out the work as such. All the due procedures must be followed to obtain the required permission from the Ministry of Labour through Human Resources, subject to the Accounting Officer granting the authorization to carry out the work as such, to ensure that we comply with the legislative provisions in place. Kindly, therefore, ensure that all work is streamlined as the policy provisions will now be strictly enforced with immediate effect."