‘A Road Is Just A Road: It’s The People Factor’

As 2005 nears its end, The Namibian’s LINDSAY DENTLINGER caught up with PRIME MINISTER NAHAS ANGULA to reflect on the fourth Government’s first 10 months in office.He spoke candidly on the highlights, obstacles and shortcomings within the public service.Looking to the year ahead, Angula says Government is very focused on its goals to bring about more development, especially to rural communities, and to stimulate economic growth.

NAMIBIA needs to shift gear from investing its resources largely in infrastructure to spending on its people. The effects of development and economic growth have to be felt at the level of the household, says Namibia’s third Prime Minister Nahas Angula – and this is currently not happening.”We have over the years given too much emphasis to things like infrastructure.We are building roads, we are building railways and harbours, which is fine.But you cannot just go on building infrastructure, the focus now should be on people.How do you bring [the] impact of what you are doing to the household, especially in the situation of absolute poverty?” is the burning question on Angula’s mind.With billions of dollars having been invested in infrastructure since Namibia’s Independence, Angula is of the opinion that Government needs to focus on how to make this infrastructure work to the country’s economic benefit.”A road is just a road.It only has meaning when it is being used for economic purposes,” said Angula.Namibia finds itself trapped between a rock and a hard place – immense inequality in the distribution of resources and limited resources to bring about the change, says Angula.As some of the country’s large capital projects near completion, Angula says the country’s future budgets should focus on directing funds to improving service delivery to its people.”We have committed resources to many things, like the roads and the railways.Those resources are committed.If you now want to take some of those resources to the rural areas, there are no resources to do that,” said Angula.Throughout the interview, Angula constantly returned to the issue that Government needs to focus on making a direct impact on people’s livelihoods.PRIME ISSUES Minimising poverty and creating jobs are paramount.While great strides have been made to improve access to education and health services, there are just too many people living without proper shelter, food and sanitation.It is in these areas that Angula wants to see change in the next four years of the current Government’s tenure.But there is a lot Government needs to change within its own systems too, if it is to live up to the challenge of serving the needs of its people better.”Co-ordination is a very big problem in Government.That is one thing I’ve noticed,” said Angula.He minces no words: Namibia is still struggling to create a competent public service, 15 years since Independence.For Angula, the move to Prime Minister after spending years in the education sector has meant a shift in operations.”In education things are straightforward, especially if you have been there a long time.Now, coming to run a bureaucracy, one of the problems is co-ordination …to co-ordinate what the various Ministries are doing,” said Angula.”People think you want to do their jobs.They think you want to take power away from them”.Angula’s vision for the public service, however, is to build a team.But this, he has discovered, is not easy when you are dealing with people with different world views.A UN team-building exercise last month confirmed Angula’s finding that there is a lack of co-ordination in Government’s systems.Co-ordination is not only lacking between Ministries, but also within them, even between Ministers and their deputies.It is also imperative that public servants develop a common culture.The Prime Minister is pinning his hopes for rectifying inefficiency within the public service on a new training institute for public servants approved by Cabinet earlier this year.The curriculum has been devised, now only the money to get it running is needed.Even civil servants with tertiary qualifications will be expected to attend.”If you are to deliver, you have to make sure that your public servants will have that capacity to translate policy into programmes and programmes into implementable activities,” said Angula.”One problem we have is policies hanging in the air.Also, the implementation [of policies] is not being evaluated and monitored.You go to Parliament, you get your money [and] you run your ministry.Nobody knows what you are doing there.”Hand-in-hand with building capacity, the Prime Minister’s Office wants to see programmes being fine-tuned so that they can be subjected to performance management.”In so doing we hope to enhance Government’s capacity to deliver efficient, effective and accountable services,” said Angula.GOVERNMENT ROADMAP Angula says Government is totally focused on where it should be heading in the new year.Three key addresses made by President Hifikepunye Pohamba when he took office in March clearly spelled out their direction, he said.Last month’s Cabinet retreat consolidated the ideals of better governance, service delivery, transformation and empowerment of the people, and according to Angula the roadmap is clear.Stimulating economic growth to fight poverty, he said, remained high on the Government agenda.Ethics and corruption, especially in State-owned enterprises, also require serious attention.Angula said a bill governing SOEs passed by the National Assembly last month would hopefully address this issue.Stimulating the economy remains one of Government’s biggest challenges.”We realise we have to do a few things to stimulate the economy.One of the things we have been looking at is the investment aspect.We realise that Namibia is a net exporter of capital,” said Angula.In his view, a regulation to ensure that insurance companies retain at least 30 per cent of their capital in Namibia has not helped much to grow the economy.Angula hopes to see more of these funds invested in the production sectors and plans are afoot to penalise companies for investing offshore instead of locally.SHIFT NEEDED Angula said Namibia was still weak in attracting foreign direct investment because there were too many bureaucratic obstacles.”The idea is to create an investment-friendly environment by Government co-ordinating its activities,” said Angula.He said Cabinet was awaiting proposals from the Finance Minister as to how to mobilise resources so that they are invested in the economy.”We should shift to things like manufacturing so that the roads and the people are transporting goods, otherwise it doesn’t make sense for us to build the road if it is not being used for cargo or transporting tourists,” said Angula.He is pleased that Namibia has obtained an international credit rating and although it did not fare badly, it is still far below better-performing economies in the region such as Botswana and South Africa.Namibia’s third national development plan (NDP III), which will start in 2006, will focus on the development of human capital, attracting foreign direct investment and the alleviation of unemployment and poverty.”We are not quite sure whether this NDP II has helped,” said Angula, reflecting on the last five-year development plan.Angula said given the lack of local resources to achieve all its development plans, Namibia needed to look into how it could mobilise other resources at its disposal, such as the US President’s Millennium Challenge Account, designed to assist developing countries.”Development is only meaningful if you can impact on the household.We are good at building schools and hospitals but sometimes even to build a pit latrine or improving housing is not easy to get there,” said Angula.But although the goals are many and hard to achieve, Angula still feels that a lot has been achieved to make Namibia the country that it is today.Despite the shortcomings of the public service, Angula is still of the opinion that Government has managed to promote transparency and good governance, although more still could be done.The establishm
ent of the Anti-Corruption Commission, which should start operating in January, is testimony to Government’s commitment to transparency and good governance, Angula said.”Some things you don’t appreciate, but in a way they do have meaning for marketing Namibia internationally.You should appreciate what we are trying to do”.The effects of development and economic growth have to be felt at the level of the household, says Namibia’s third Prime Minister Nahas Angula – and this is currently not happening.”We have over the years given too much emphasis to things like infrastructure.We are building roads, we are building railways and harbours, which is fine.But you cannot just go on building infrastructure, the focus now should be on people.How do you bring [the] impact of what you are doing to the household, especially in the situation of absolute poverty?” is the burning question on Angula’s mind.With billions of dollars having been invested in infrastructure since Namibia’s Independence, Angula is of the opinion that Government needs to focus on how to make this infrastructure work to the country’s economic benefit.”A road is just a road.It only has meaning when it is being used for economic purposes,” said Angula.Namibia finds itself trapped between a rock and a hard place – immense inequality in the distribution of resources and limited resources to bring about the change, says Angula.As some of the country’s large capital projects near completion, Angula says the country’s future budgets should focus on directing funds to improving service delivery to its people.”We have committed resources to many things, like the roads and the railways.Those resources are committed.If you now want to take some of those resources to the rural areas, there are no resources to do that,” said Angula.Throughout the interview, Angula constantly returned to the issue that Government needs to focus on making a direct impact on people’s livelihoods.PRIME ISSUES Minimising poverty and creating jobs are paramount.While great strides have been made to improve access to education and health services, there are just too many people living without proper shelter, food and sanitation.It is in these areas that Angula wants to see change in the next four years of the current Government’s tenure.But there is a lot Government needs to change within its own systems too, if it is to live up to the challenge of serving the needs of its people better.”Co-ordination is a very big problem in Government.That is one thing I’ve noticed,” said Angula.He minces no words: Namibia is still struggling to create a competent public service, 15 years since Independence.For Angula, the move to Prime Minister after spending years in the education sector has meant a shift in operations.”In education things are straightforward, especially if you have been there a long time.Now, coming to run a bureaucracy, one of the problems is co-ordination …to co-ordinate what the various Ministries are doing,” said Angula.”People think you want to do their jobs.They think you want to take power away from them”.Angula’s vision for the public service, however, is to build a team.But this, he has discovered, is not easy when you are dealing with people with different world views.A UN team-building exercise last month confirmed Angula’s finding that there is a lack of co-ordination in Government’s systems.Co-ordination is not only lacking between Ministries, but also within them, even between Ministers and their deputies.It is also imperative that public servants develop a common culture.The Prime Minister is pinning his hopes for rectifying inefficiency within the public service on a new training institute for public servants approved by Cabinet earlier this year.The curriculum has been devised, now only the money to get it running is needed.Even civil servants with tertiary qualifications will be expected to attend.”If you are to deliver, you have to make sure that your public servants will have that capacity to translate policy into programmes and programmes into implementable activities,” said Angula.”One problem we have is policies hanging in the air.Also, the implementation [of policies] is not being evaluated and monitored.You go to Parliament, you get your money [and] you run your ministry.Nobody knows what you are doing there.”Hand-in-hand with building capacity, the Prime Minister’s Office wants to see programmes being fine-tuned so that they can be subjected to performance management.”In so doing we hope to enhance Government’s capacity to deliver efficient, effective and accountable services,” said Angula.GOVERNMENT ROADMAP Angula says Government is totally focused on where it should be heading in the new year.Three key addresses made by President Hifikepunye Pohamba when he took office in March clearly spelled out their direction, he said.Last month’s Cabinet retreat consolidated the ideals of better governance, service delivery, transformation and empowerment of the people, and according to Angula the roadmap is clear. Stimulating economic growth to fight poverty, he said, remained high on the Government agenda.Ethics and corruption, especially in State-owned enterprises, also require serious attention.Angula said a bill governing SOEs passed by the National Assembly last month would hopefully address this issue. Stimulating the economy remains one of Government’s biggest challenges.”We realise we have to do a few things to stimulate the economy.One of the things we have been looking at is the investment aspect.We realise that Namibia is a net exporter of capital,” said Angula.In his view, a regulation to ensure that insurance companies retain at least 30 per cent of their capital in Namibia has not helped much to grow the economy.Angula hopes to see more of these funds invested in the production sectors and plans are afoot to penalise companies for investing offshore instead of locally.SHIFT NEEDED Angula said Namibia was still weak in attracting foreign direct investment because there were too many bureaucratic obstacles.”The idea is to create an investment-friendly environment by Government co-ordinating its activities,” said Angula.He said Cabinet was awaiting proposals from the Finance Minister as to how to mobilise resources so that they are invested in the economy.”We should shift to things like manufacturing so that the roads and the people are transporting goods, otherwise it doesn’t make sense for us to build the road if it is not being used for cargo or transporting tourists,” said Angula.He is pleased that Namibia has obtained an international credit rating and although it did not fare badly, it is still far below better-performing economies in the region such as Botswana and South Africa. Namibia’s third national development plan (NDP III), which will start in 2006, will focus on the development of human capital, attracting foreign direct investment and the alleviation of unemployment and poverty.”We are not quite sure whether this NDP II has helped,” said Angula, reflecting on the last five-year development plan.Angula said given the lack of local resources to achieve all its development plans, Namibia needed to look into how it could mobilise other resources at its disposal, such as the US President’s Millennium Challenge Account, designed to assist developing countries.”Development is only meaningful if you can impact on the household.We are good at building schools and hospitals but sometimes even to build a pit latrine or improving housing is not easy to get there,” said Angula.But although the goals are many and hard to achieve, Angula still feels that a lot has been achieved to make Namibia the country that it is today.Despite the shortcomings of the public service, Angula is still of the opinion that Government has managed to promote transparency and good governance, although more still could be done.The establishment of the Anti-Corruption Commission, which should start operating in January, is testimony to Government’s commitment to transparency and good governance, Angula said.”Some things you don’t appreciate, but in a way they do have meaning for marketing Namibia in
ternationally.You should appreciate what we are trying to do”.