Staff Reporter
“DELAY in the ministries is killing us, people throw away papers and when you ask, they dust them off to follow up. It has been said that we are good at planning and developing impressive plans, but when it comes to implementation things don’t move. This year we want an accelerated pace of implementation.”
The above was the words of President Hage Geingob, speaking at the occasion of the Official Opening of Cabinet for the year 2023. During the meeting, Geingob touched on subjects such as negative press, the performance of ministers and the state of the education sector.
Geingob, as a means to ensure that ministers do not slack on their duties, directed the Prime Minister to regularly follow-up with the ministers and, through the Secretary to Cabinet, with the Executive Directors (ED) to check on progress and report any inactivity or lack of progress directly to him.
He added that this will help government call people to account and formulate whatever measures may be necessary to implement our economic revival and other policies.
“As we prepare to revive our fortunes, our focus should turn to specific areas that will require our attention in the medium to long term periods. As I said, there are green shoots of recovery in several sectors of our economy,” Geingob said.
Geingob also highlighted that Namibia is making good progress on the Southern Corridor Development Initiative, spurred on by global interest in developing Green Hydrogen and its derivatives in the area.
Further to this, the president also directed ministers to go back to areas of agriculture, housing and education, prioritised in 2020, and review processes and expedite the implementation of key projects in these sectors.
President Geingob also expressed that those who allege that he is selling the country to the highest bidders should prioritize understanding processes better.
“We have a problem. When we are trying to promote the country for investment, we are going to sell our country out, they say. Let people be educated. Education and sophistication must come through after 32 years. I have observed with increasing concern, negative media headlines, sometime without us being given a right of reply. These same headlines are then amplified through social media and radio talk shows, thereby influencing public opinion. If you read daily print media, you would be depressed,” Geingob said.
He added that citizens are trying to paint a negative picture about their own country as they point out the worst-case scenarios.
“Americans will never take you to the Harlem ghettos. Everywhere there are ghettos and problems. What’s the mindset here? Is it patriotism that is lacking, or what is it? It doesn’t mean accept everything. No, criticize, point out the weaknesses. But is everything wrong in this country?” Geingob questioned.
Touching on education, Geingob said that this is an issue that should be taken on by all, adding that there is a lack of initiative at some schools.
“The other thing that I saw that has become prominent is learners being taught under trees. When I travelled this country, I didn’t see that before. And teachers don’t do their best with their hands, government is not here. I’ll give an example of one school long time ago. (They said) We don’t have a kitchen, that’s where we are cooking. When it rains, it gets wet. I looked at this person and said, while you are waiting for government, why don’t you put one pole here, one pole there, one pole here and one pole there, and put the ‘blikkies’ on top. At least you would be cooking there and it won’t be wet while you are waiting for government.’
The president further added that he intends to call a broader consultative meeting of various stakeholders in the education sector, including cabinet ministers, governors, executive directors, regional directors of education, the youth and youth organisations, experts in education, members from academia and international experts to mention a few. The meeting will discuss the state of education and deliberate on ways to improve performance across the board within the sector.
