Prime Minister Elijah Ngurare has demanded an update on the government’s stalled efforts to digitise public service job applications, raising concerns that recruitment delays are leaving thousands of applicants waiting without clarity.
Ngurare questioned how far the government has progressed in implementing an earlier decision to digitise its standard employment application form as part of efforts to speed up recruitment and reduce reliance on paperwork.
Speaking at the 2026 Annual Human Resources Conference for the Public Service, he said government institutions receive thousands of applications for vacancies, placing pressure on existing administrative systems and contributing to lengthy recruitment processes.
“But those who applied, do they know that their applications are stacked in the corridors? Is it fair that those who have applied have now become an abstract pile of papers in the corridors? It is not,” Ngurare said.
He said the government had already agreed at a public service innovation event last year that the application process should be digitised.
“So, how far are we with the digitisation of the application form?” he questioned.
Ngurare said the delays reflected a wider implementation problem within the public service, where decisions and directives risk failing to translate into action.
“The lack of implementation deprives the beneficiaries who were supposed to benefit,” he said.
He called on human resources practitioners to take greater responsibility for ensuring government decisions are implemented and followed through rather than remaining in circulars, policies and strategic documents.
Ngurare also questioned whether directives issued by human resources departments were reaching the officials and institutions expected to implement them.
“You also send out circulars all the time. How sure are you that they are reaching where they are intended? What mechanism do we have to follow through and confirm that they have actually reached everybody?” he said.
The Prime Minister said improving recruitment should form part of broader reforms aimed at making the public service more responsive and efficient.
He called for faster recruitment processes, greater use of digital systems and stronger accountability for the implementation of government decisions.
