Pohamba reads riot act to PSes

GOVERNMENT has to perform better and a large part of that responsibility rests with the Permanent Secretaries in Ministries, but often civil servants leave their ‘jackets hanging on chairs and handbags on their office desks to pretend they are at work but instead run around town on private errands’, President Hifikepunye Pohamba said on Wednesday.

Some Permanent Secretaries who own farms are even seen at branches of Agra, buying farming supplies during working hours, the Head of State added.’Some of you travel too much – one day that one is in Beijing and on enquiry a little later the same one is in Washington. What happens in your Ministries if you are not there?’ the President said.’Pull up your socks’, Pohamba told Permanent Secretaries at the opening of a closed-door meeting at the new State House. ‘I request especially Permanent Secretaries in the Ministries of Education, Health, Works and Transport to pay attention to dilapidated buildings like classrooms, clinics and hospitals,’ Pohamba urged. ‘The Education Ministry returned N$7 million to Treasury at the end of the previous financial year, which ended last month, because some projects were not implemented, but there are Government schools in dire need of repair, why was the money not used (for that)?’ the Head of State asked. ‘On my visits to different parts of the country I noticed that many public facilities need maintenance, and some citizens reported to me they have no access to basic public amenities, while some facilities were built, but have not been put to optimal use.’ Pohamba told the top civil servants that he does not like to interfere in the running of Cabinet Ministries as it could be interpreted that he does not have enough confidence in his colleagues.’However, receiving reports of dilapidated infrastructure like the secondary school (and hostel) at Opuwo is disappointing, they reflect badly on me as Head of State,’ Pohamba stated frankly. ‘I want to continue as President of this country (for a second term), but such issues go down badly, especially before elections like this year.’ The Head of State emphasised that projects budgeted for should be implemented fully to avoid unused funds returning to Treasury. ‘The attitude of ‘business as usual’ in Government must come to an end and I am concerned about the delay in the full rollout of strategic plans in all public institutions. If fully implemented, it will propel public administration and policy implementation to a new level,’ Pohamba urged. Bottlenecks should be identified and addressed to ensure ‘we remain on track’.He instructed the permanent secretaries to produce a Status of Implementation Report on priority projects in co-ordination with the Secretary to Cabinet, Frans Kapofi. But Pohamba also had praise for those who work hard and he singled out Erastus Negonga, PS in the Ministry of Local and Regional Government, for his work on flood relief in north-central Namibia and for finding a solution to the problem with the illegal cattle herders in Western Kavango.