Reshuffle Should Be Meaningful
ALLOW me space in the people’s paper to comment on the recent reshuffling of ministers by President Hifikepunye Pohamba.
In my opinion it is utterly senseless to put Major General Charles Namoloh as Minister of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development.
I do not see what Major General Namoloh will contribute to a sensitive issue such as the current property/housing crisis the Namibian people are experiencing. I cannot see how he can enhance rural development in the near future either; nor can I see how he can decentralise regional governance and enhance the cause of good governance.
The best move the president has made was to put Calle Schlettwein at the Ministry of Trade and Industry and appoint Hage G Geingob as prime minister. Moving Pohamba Shifeta to the Ministry of Environment as deputy instead of promoting him to minister of youth and sport is not fair in my opinion. Shifeta has been with the National Youth Council (NYC) and has an understanding of what programmes will enhance youth in sport and culture.
I also understand that the president uses his own discretion when making these reshuffles but is it not time that the president starts looking at the bigger picture at what the individual can offer the respective ministry?
I understand we are still a very young democracy without a lot of expertise in the various portfolios, but I still believe there should always be a new beginning in the history of Namibian politics. The president should identify elected members of the Swapo Party Central Committee, inform them that they should outline their vision/mission statement for any of the ministerial positions, how they are planning to achieve those visions/missions, the time frame, and based on these vision statements he can hire someone as minister/deputy minister of the respective ministry but he can also fire on the basis of underperforming.
This vision statement should outline what he wants to achieve in your first term of office, say for instance the ministerial term is two/three years. Failure to meet those goals should lead to a demotion. A minister and his deputy’s work performance should be directly linked to one another, which means if one has to go, the other should go. This way of appointing the highest office bearers will start to trickle down and the level of performance, accountability and service delivery will be brought on equal par with the private sector.
This way of appointing ministers and their deputies will also eliminate the recent division whereby the minister and his deputy are not on equal footing. It will make the two parties find common ground. The same notion can also be used to appoint permanent secretaries as they play an integral part in the day to day administration of the various ministries.
I am a strong believer in innovation and I believe that if we have to find ways to make democracy succeed in an African context than so be it. The way in which Americans elect their leaders is totally different from us and the way their leaders are held accountable is also massively different.
Thus we owe it to ourselves and our electorate to create ways to hold our leaders accountable and responsive to the peoples needs and wishes.
The only way forward is for ministers and their deputies to be held accountable and responsible for what is happening in their respective ministries. Just as we know that the month of March is when the national budget is presented, so should we also know that, for example, November of every second or third year is reshuffle/reappointment month.
The days of boetie-boetie are long gone and if this beautiful country of ours is to achieve its millennium goals the head and the tail should be on the same body.
Stanley Tjipurua
Swakopmund