The proposed Public Asset Management Agency (Pama) should be subjected to a thorough cost-benefit and mandate analysis before it is fully implemented, critics say.
Landless People’s Movement parliamentarian Eneas Emvula yesterday said the government should first consider whether existing institutions can perform the proposed functions instead of creating another agency that could increase administrative costs and create overlapping mandates.
Emvula said Namibia should intensify the identification, valuation and auctioning of redundant and obsolete public assets and channel the proceeds directly into the treasury.
He said billions of dollars’ worth of redundant assets could be lying unused across government institutions, including schools, the Namibian Defence Force, the Ministry of Works and Transport, safety and correctional services, and agriculture and health.
“Institutions such as the Ministry of Education Innovation, Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture, alone, the stores are reported to have reached roof tops with redundant furniture and frames, out-of-use printers scattered on premises of public primary and high schools in nearly every region,” he said.
Emvula proposed that the function be housed under the Ministry of Works and Transport, with a lean staff complement covering all 14 regions, or alternatively be established as a directorate under the Ministry of Finance.
He also suggested expanding the mandate of the Namibia Revenue Agency (Namra) to include the management and disposal of redundant public assets.
He said this could reduce duplication and administrative costs while ensuring that public assets are properly managed and transparently disposed of.
Emvula warned that without proper safeguards, Pama could become another costly bureaucracy instead of solving the country’s long-standing public asset management problems.
Former ambassador Pius Dunaiski also raises concerns about the creation of another institution, saying more public filters could create opportunities for corruption and theft.
The public assets are estimated to be worth more than N$179 billion.
Dunaiski says he supports professionalising the management of the assets, but questions the manner in which the process is being undertaken.
He says parliament should have an opportunity to debate the establishment of an agency that could eventually control assets worth billions of dollars.
“We need a proper act of parliament defining the agency’s powers, accountability, reporting obligations, procurement rules, asset disposal procedures and safeguards against political interference,” Dunaiski says.
However, works ministry spokesperson Julius Ngweda on Tuesday clarified that the government’s intention is to professionalise the management of public assets and ensure that they are used and maintained in a way that benefits the state and the public.
“Pama has not been created to operate outside the law,” he noted.
He said the government is still assessing the appropriate legal framework, including whether Pama should be established through a specific act of parliament or incorporated under the Companies Act.
The agency would also be required to comply with the Public Enterprises Governance Act and other applicable laws.
He explained that 56 properties from the Namibia Industrial Development Agency portfolio of 104 properties have initially been identified for possible centralised management, with a combined valuation of about N$277 million.
He said the identification does not amount to a transfer, as each property will undergo verification, valuation, legal review and approval before any decision is taken.
The ministry said Pama is being operationalised in phases and that the government’s priority is to ensure the process is legally sound, transparent and aimed at maximising value from public assets.
