NEWS - NAMIBIA
| 2013-07-31Salaries of SOEs being re-classified
Shinovene Immanuel
THE State Owned Enterprise Governance Council (SOEGC) is re-classifying the pay packages at parastatals, a move that will ring changes to the pay structures of some SOE bosses.
Frans Tsheehama, the head of the SOEGC yesterday confirmed the current re-classification of SOEs and told The Namibian that consultants are scheduled to complete their work by end of this year. The new classification is expected to be gazetted early next year.
Salaries and perks of parastatal bosses have come under spotlight over the years as many are considered overpaid by state-owned businesses that often make losses and constantly rely on taxpayer bailouts.
In 2010 the SOEGC implemented pay guidelines with maximum caps, although several chief executive officers continue to earn above those caps. The classification that set the caps has been critisised by some SOE bosses.
News of the re-classification emerged yesterday after The Namibian reported about the latest caps announced by the Office of the Prime Minister and also following complaintsn by the Rector of the Polytechnic of Namibia, Tjama Tjivukua, that this newspaper has wrongly reported his institution to be part of the caps.
Tjivikua pointed out that his close to N$2 million salary was not subjected to the caps that are published in the Government Gazettes.
Disappointed by previous reports about him, Tjivikua who has been the rector of the Polytechnic since its inception in 1995 said: “The guidelines or regulations do not apply to persons already employed before coming into operation of the regulations or to institutions not listed in the relevant remuneration guidelines or tables.”
However, Tsheehama, the permanent secretary of the SOEGC, said the latest government gazette was incomplete and that names of some parastatals might have been mistakenly omitted.
Tsheehama reacted to an article, which appeared in The Namibian yesterday, stating that some SOEs were totally removed from the list.
Tsheehama said the names of the SOEs were “omitted by mistake” and confirmed that institutions like the Polytechnic of Namibia, which did not appear on the gazetted list, are still categorised in Tire 2 of the classifications as reported earlier by The Namibian.
Tsheehama said a few SOEs were omitted from the gazetted list after the SOEGC conducted a minor reclassification last year.
Tsheehama said they will have to re-gazette the “minor changes” in order to avoid confusion.
The Namibian based yesterday’s report on the Government Gazettes of May 2013, and August 2011, which did not reflect the names of some SOEs, including the Polytechnic of Namibia.
In addition to the Polytechnic of Namibia, the Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF), Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) and the University of Namibia did not appear on the list.
Even though the latest gazette was signed by Prime Minister Hage Geingob, who is also the chairperson of the SOEGC, Tsheehama pointed out that the re-classification and listing started in 2011. Initial changes were made in 2011 under former Prime Minister Nahas Angula, and it also seemed that the gazette had published the list of institutions incorrectly at the time.
In 2010, Cabinet approved a remuneration framework which divides SOEs into three categories: Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3.
According to the regulations, a chief executive officer in Tier 1 should only earn between N$401 199 and a maximum of N$803 413 annually. Tier 2 dictates that a CEO in that category should only earn between N$451 739 and N$987 197 annually. If a parastatal falls under Tier 3 then it means its boss should earn a minimum of N$709 722 and a maximum of N$1 532 828.
Frans Tsheehama, the head of the SOEGC yesterday confirmed the current re-classification of SOEs and told The Namibian that consultants are scheduled to complete their work by end of this year. The new classification is expected to be gazetted early next year.
Salaries and perks of parastatal bosses have come under spotlight over the years as many are considered overpaid by state-owned businesses that often make losses and constantly rely on taxpayer bailouts.
In 2010 the SOEGC implemented pay guidelines with maximum caps, although several chief executive officers continue to earn above those caps. The classification that set the caps has been critisised by some SOE bosses.
News of the re-classification emerged yesterday after The Namibian reported about the latest caps announced by the Office of the Prime Minister and also following complaintsn by the Rector of the Polytechnic of Namibia, Tjama Tjivukua, that this newspaper has wrongly reported his institution to be part of the caps.
Tjivikua pointed out that his close to N$2 million salary was not subjected to the caps that are published in the Government Gazettes.
Disappointed by previous reports about him, Tjivikua who has been the rector of the Polytechnic since its inception in 1995 said: “The guidelines or regulations do not apply to persons already employed before coming into operation of the regulations or to institutions not listed in the relevant remuneration guidelines or tables.”
However, Tsheehama, the permanent secretary of the SOEGC, said the latest government gazette was incomplete and that names of some parastatals might have been mistakenly omitted.
Tsheehama reacted to an article, which appeared in The Namibian yesterday, stating that some SOEs were totally removed from the list.
Tsheehama said the names of the SOEs were “omitted by mistake” and confirmed that institutions like the Polytechnic of Namibia, which did not appear on the gazetted list, are still categorised in Tire 2 of the classifications as reported earlier by The Namibian.
Tsheehama said a few SOEs were omitted from the gazetted list after the SOEGC conducted a minor reclassification last year.
Tsheehama said they will have to re-gazette the “minor changes” in order to avoid confusion.
The Namibian based yesterday’s report on the Government Gazettes of May 2013, and August 2011, which did not reflect the names of some SOEs, including the Polytechnic of Namibia.
In addition to the Polytechnic of Namibia, the Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF), Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) and the University of Namibia did not appear on the list.
Even though the latest gazette was signed by Prime Minister Hage Geingob, who is also the chairperson of the SOEGC, Tsheehama pointed out that the re-classification and listing started in 2011. Initial changes were made in 2011 under former Prime Minister Nahas Angula, and it also seemed that the gazette had published the list of institutions incorrectly at the time.
In 2010, Cabinet approved a remuneration framework which divides SOEs into three categories: Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3.
According to the regulations, a chief executive officer in Tier 1 should only earn between N$401 199 and a maximum of N$803 413 annually. Tier 2 dictates that a CEO in that category should only earn between N$451 739 and N$987 197 annually. If a parastatal falls under Tier 3 then it means its boss should earn a minimum of N$709 722 and a maximum of N$1 532 828.
