John Mutorwa sets 2012 goals

AGRICULTURE, Water and Forestry Minister John Mutorwa yesterday met with his staff to speak frankly about what he would like accomplished this year.

Mutorwa urged his staff that a number of critical projects have to be injected with more urgency and stated that they require ‘individual and collective efforts’. He said the Ministry’s motto for 2012 should be ‘growth and prosperity through hard work’. He urged his staff to remember that they are accountable as public servants and that the ‘provision of services must be a continuous and uninterrupted activity’. As for policy initiatives, the Minister said policies and programmes should be ‘aggressively’ implemented.He referred to a number of policies, including the Green Scheme policy, the dry land crop production programme and the policy for the eradication of trans-boundary animal diseases in the northern communal areas of Namibia.He said as for the animal health project ‘we have a lot of work to do’.The Minister pointed out that the exclusion of seven regions, and around 1,2 million cattle, from the meat production sector in Namibia was not desirable. He tasked the relevant directories to ‘scientifically intensify your work’ so that large parts of the seven regions could be declared foot-and-mouth disease free.Another policy referred to by the Minister was the implementation of the National Forest Council. He said the issue of forest management is critical especially in this time of climate change. He added that while the forest act is a good law ‘I’ve realised when it comes to the implementation and understanding of what the law provides, we have to do more’. Another topic briefly discussed by the Minister was the planned construction of the controversial multi-billion dollar Neckartal Dam project in the south.The Minister noted that as one of the ongoing projects of the Ministry the dam is a ‘very important programme’. Mutorwa said that the ‘suitability of constructing a dam in that area has always been confirmed’, even by previous administrations in Namibia. According to the Minister, the only issue was financing. During a 2009 meeting of political and traditional leaders from the region the ‘people were adamant that the time has come for government to pay serious attention to the construction of this project’. Mutorwa added that feasibility studies have confirmed that the ‘project is viable’. He added that according to the information available to him the project is not a ‘white elephant’. He said the issues surrounding the tender for the dam project had been correctly handled by the Tender Board to date and that a final decision could be due in the next week or two. Once the decision is made public, the Ministry ‘will go ahead and implement the project’. The Minister also addressed the implementation of Cabinet decisions relevant to the Ministry. He said a major topic is the ownership and operational structure on Meatco.’We made some progress last year,’ he said, but this year should focus on coming up with a proposed structure for Cabinet. He said Meatco has already submitted its views.Mutorwa said all documents should be with Cabinet no later than March. ‘I think we do not need to fight too much over this’. Referring to ongoing consultations about the issue by Meatco, he said that he hoped the ‘consultations will not bring up new issues that will take us back’. In conclusion, the Minister said staff should start to acknowledge individual accountability. He said some staff members, once they are employed, forget their responsibilities. He said he would intervene where communication between ministerial employees and the public is lacking and said overall, it is an issue ‘of accountability and how we should communicate’.