Nekundi shakes up Govt garages with two-week deadline

Minister of works and transport Veikko Nekundi has ordered all government garages to provide him with a list of redundant government vehicles within two weeks.

In 2023, the Ministry of Works and Transport auctioned off old, unused government vehicles, generating over N$105 million.

Nekundi’s request is in line with his promise last Monday at a staff meeting that he would clear government garages of redundant cars in three months.

The minister has outlined specific measures to be taken.

“Within two weeks of the staff address, the garage must submit to my office a list of all redundant cars at the government garages country wide,” Nekundi told The Namibian last week.

Within seven days thereof, Nekundi said the ministry would submit the request to the treasury to authorise writing the identified vehicles off.

After the treasury’s approval, the ministry will auctions off these vehicles.

All this is set to be done within the three-month period, he said.

Nekundi said the government is not in the business of selling cars, therefore, making a profit or loss is not relevant.

“However, we are looking at revenue to the fiscus, which will only be estimated once we have established the number of cars,” he said.

Economist Josef Sheehama says Nekundi’s promise is unrealistic.

“Nekundi’s plan is unrealistic, overconfident, and impossible to implement in three months.What causes the fleet to stay redundant?” he asks.

Although his idea is excellent for improving service delivery and fleet management, Sheehama says it is not feasible to get rid of redundant cars in three months.

“I’m not sure if the fleet management policy makes provision for this, and other dilapidated infrastructure need urgent attention,” he says.

Sheehama says the minister should avoid being over-optimistic and making excuses if he fails.

He believes Nekundi should concentrate on finding alternatives and reforming fleet management policy, optimising workflows and allocating resources as efficiently and economically as possible.

Last month, the ministry defended its decision to buy a new fleet of sport utility vehicles for N$26 million to avoid the high cost of servicing old cars.

The ministry said the current vehicle fleet has aged, and maintaining it has become expensive.

During the 2024/25 financial year, the ministry was allocated a budget of N$26 million for vehicle procurement.

A total of 20 Toyota Prados were bought to supplement the current fleet.

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