Salary increases dominate Prime Minister’s budget

IMPROVING the salaries of civil servants, political and other office bearers will swallow more than 70 per cent of the N$270 million budget allocated to the Prime Minister’s Office for 2006-07.

Prime Minister Nahas Angula motivated his budget allocation to the National Assembly on Tuesday, saying that the remainder of the available budget would be spent on improving the performance of the public sector, establishing partnerships to develop economic growth, alleviating poverty and enabling job creation. Over the next two financial years, however, 68 per cent of the Prime Minister’s budget will go towards sustaining the increase of salaries for the public sector.A recently concluded deal with trade unions has committed Government to adjusting the salaries of the management cadre of the public service and improving the housing benefits of those staff below management level at a cost of N$190 million during this financial year.Salary increases for teachers are accounted for under the budget vote for the Ministry of Education.”This august House should be proud of the fact that the successful negotiations concluded on public service remuneration matters manifest this Government’s resolve to maintain the healthy tripartite relationship on labour matters in this very important sector of our economy,” Angula said on Tuesday.Further, the Office of the Prime Minister plans to spend N$500 000 on ongoing consultations with the Namibia Preferential Procurement Council to draw up a broad-based economic empowerment framework for Namibia.”Hopefully this process will conclude with the appropriate legal framework in place by the end of this financial year,” said Angula.Another half a million dollars has been allocated to the Public Office Bearers’ Remuneration Commission, which will sit on a part-time basis to determine the salaries of political officials.A project to uplift the socio-economic conditions of San people will receive N$300 000.An amount of N$11 million will be used to build the Namibia Institute of Public Administration and Management, which will train public servants.A further N$500 000 will be spent designing training programmes for the institute.France and India have both offered assistance in this regard.Once the State-Owned Enterprises Governance Council comes into effect, it will be allocated N$5,6 million to carry out its duties.The delay in establishing the State-Owned Enterprises Governance Council has meant that the Prime Minister’s Office under-spent on its budget during 2005-06.The implementation of a performance-management system, job evaluation and grading will cost the State another N$2 million.By 2009, the Prime Minister’s Office hopes to have a HIV-AIDS public-sector management programme in place.In this regard, N$750 000 has been allocated to the HIV-AIDS mitigation management programme for the public sector.”The office is now also on course to finalise its strategic planning framework for the next five years.Thus, in the next budget statement we will have clearer objectives and agreed targets will then also be announced,” said Angula.Over the next two financial years, however, 68 per cent of the Prime Minister’s budget will go towards sustaining the increase of salaries for the public sector.A recently concluded deal with trade unions has committed Government to adjusting the salaries of the management cadre of the public service and improving the housing benefits of those staff below management level at a cost of N$190 million during this financial year.Salary increases for teachers are accounted for under the budget vote for the Ministry of Education.”This august House should be proud of the fact that the successful negotiations concluded on public service remuneration matters manifest this Government’s resolve to maintain the healthy tripartite relationship on labour matters in this very important sector of our economy,” Angula said on Tuesday.Further, the Office of the Prime Minister plans to spend N$500 000 on ongoing consultations with the Namibia Preferential Procurement Council to draw up a broad-based economic empowerment framework for Namibia.”Hopefully this process will conclude with the appropriate legal framework in place by the end of this financial year,” said Angula.Another half a million dollars has been allocated to the Public Office Bearers’ Remuneration Commission, which will sit on a part-time basis to determine the salaries of political officials.A project to uplift the socio-economic conditions of San people will receive N$300 000.An amount of N$11 million will be used to build the Namibia Institute of Public Administration and Management, which will train public servants.A further N$500 000 will be spent designing training programmes for the institute.France and India have both offered assistance in this regard.Once the State-Owned Enterprises Governance Council comes into effect, it will be allocated N$5,6 million to carry out its duties.The delay in establishing the State-Owned Enterprises Governance Council has meant that the Prime Minister’s Office under-spent on its budget during 2005-06.The implementation of a performance-management system, job evaluation and grading will cost the State another N$2 million.By 2009, the Prime Minister’s Office hopes to have a HIV-AIDS public-sector management programme in place.In this regard, N$750 000 has been allocated to the HIV-AIDS mitigation management programme for the public sector.”The office is now also on course to finalise its strategic planning framework for the next five years.Thus, in the next budget statement we will have clearer objectives and agreed targets will then also be announced,” said Angula.