THE Central Governance Agency (CGA) as hit back at the National Union of Namibian Workers, telling its leaders to concentrate on improving the working conditions of their members instead of criticising others.
The Executive Director of the CGA, Lazarus Uaandja, said the recent statement by the NUNW on the work of his agency was unjustified and devoid of truth. NUNW Secretary General Evilastus Kaaronda told the Namibia Food and Allied Workers’ Union (Nafau) congress at Gobabis recently that the CGA had done little despite the Government having spent millions on the institution.”Government has pumped millions into the Central Governance Agency but what have they achieved so far? Things are as bad as it was even before that agency came into being,” Kaaronda said.Kaaronda said the CGA was far from what it was established to do.Uaandja has hit back in an open letter to Kaaronda, claiming that the union leader made the allegations without checking his facts.He said the CGA was unable to operate without the State-Owned Enterprises Governance Act (2006), which was only signed by President Hifikepunye Pohamba and published in the Government Gazette on September 14 2006.The Act still has to come into force through a proclamation of its commencement date.Uaandja said the proclamation would soon be signed by both the Attorney General and the Head of State.Only once the Act is in force will the CGA be legally empowered to take up the mandate of promoting the efficiency, transparency, competitiveness and productivity at State-owned companies and reducing the bleeding of Government resources.”For Mr Kaaronda to expect the CGA or Government to operate in the absence of the necessary legal instruments and authority is to demand the CGA and/or Government to operate in a state of illegality and chaos, which would trigger record litigations against the CGA and/or Government,” Uaandja said.He said the CGA and the Government were unable to operate in the absence of a formal comprehensive policy for the restructuring of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs).”The CGA has been prudent in handling the funds it has received from the Government.Due to the fact that the Act was not passed and consequently, work was not at full swing, since the 2003/04 financial year-end date, there have been millions of Namibia Dollars saved by the CGA,” Uaandja said.The CGA chief said union leaders had better “be bold, courageous, focused, dynamic, robust, tactful and skilful to promote a prudent, productive, knowledgeable, safe and competitive labour force”.”When Mr Kaaronda has lived up to and fulfilled the honourable responsibility of being true to his constituents, then we can have a truly vibrant and growth-led economy in Namibia, where the plight of the indigent is reduced to a bare minimum,” Uaandja said.He invited Kaaronda to visit the CGA offices to inform himself of the work they do, in order to be able to tell union members “the truth and nothing but the truth”.NUNW Secretary General Evilastus Kaaronda told the Namibia Food and Allied Workers’ Union (Nafau) congress at Gobabis recently that the CGA had done little despite the Government having spent millions on the institution.”Government has pumped millions into the Central Governance Agency but what have they achieved so far? Things are as bad as it was even before that agency came into being,” Kaaronda said.Kaaronda said the CGA was far from what it was established to do.Uaandja has hit back in an open letter to Kaaronda, claiming that the union leader made the allegations without checking his facts.He said the CGA was unable to operate without the State-Owned Enterprises Governance Act (2006), which was only signed by President Hifikepunye Pohamba and published in the Government Gazette on September 14 2006.The Act still has to come into force through a proclamation of its commencement date.Uaandja said the proclamation would soon be signed by both the Attorney General and the Head of State.Only once the Act is in force will the CGA be legally empowered to take up the mandate of promoting the efficiency, transparency, competitiveness and productivity at State-owned companies and reducing the bleeding of Government resources.”For Mr Kaaronda to expect the CGA or Government to operate in the absence of the necessary legal instruments and authority is to demand the CGA and/or Government to operate in a state of illegality and chaos, which would trigger record litigations against the CGA and/or Government,” Uaandja said.He said the CGA and the Government were unable to operate in the absence of a formal comprehensive policy for the restructuring of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs).”The CGA has been prudent in handling the funds it has received from the Government.Due to the fact that the Act was not passed and consequently, work was not at full swing, since the 2003/04 financial year-end date, there have been millions of Namibia Dollars saved by the CGA,” Uaandja said.The CGA chief said union leaders had better “be bold, courageous, focused, dynamic, robust, tactful and skilful to promote a prudent, productive, knowledgeable, safe and competitive labour force”.”When Mr Kaaronda has lived up to and fulfilled the honourable responsibility of being true to his constituents, then we can have a truly vibrant and growth-led economy in Namibia, where the plight of the indigent is reduced to a bare minimum,” Uaandja said.He invited Kaaronda to visit the CGA offices to inform himself of the work they do, in order to be able to tell union members “the truth and nothing but the truth”.
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