Africa-Press – Namibia. Oshana governor Hofni Iipinge warned regional public institutions that no funds should be returned to the Treasury due to poor planning or neglect.
At the region’s inaugural high-level meeting with public institution leaders in Oshakati on Tuesday morning, the governor revealed that Oshana has been granted N$357 million for the 2025/2026 financial year through the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).
“This allocation is not just a budget line; it’s a call to action and a test of our institutional responsiveness and management competence,” Iipinge said.
He emphasised that the era of unspent budgets and returned funds to the Treasury must come to an end.
Iipinge noted that each dollar must be spent effectively, transparently, and within the same financial year. He warned that not doing so hampers development, causes delays in service delivery and undermines public trust.
“All regional heads of institutions must fully understand the MTEF allocations relevant to their ministries, know the implementation timelines, follow the necessary procurement processes and deliver the expected outputs,” he instructed.
He cautioned that ignorance or disconnection from budgeted projects would not be tolerated, saying that this is a test of collective competence.
“If you do not know what is budgeted for, you cannot implement it. If you do not implement it, you are failing both your ministry and the people of Oshana.”
To improve accountability, the governor announced that all regional heads must now submit quarterly progress reports to his office, detailing projects carried out, budget usage, milestones reached, challenges faced and corrective actions planned.
Furthermore, he announced the start of a new era of performance monitoring, vowing to engage relevant ministries if any institution repeatedly fails in its duties.
“Oshana will no longer be the region where budgets are underutilised or implementation is consistently delayed,” he declared. However, the governor also expressed disappointment over the poor attendance at the meeting, pointing out that most local authority councillors, including town mayors and chief executive officers, except for Ongwediva, were absent.
He stressed that the meeting was meant to be a platform for strategic alignment, yet many opted not to attend.
This engagement aims to become a regular platform to strengthen coordination, improve service delivery and ensure Oshana’s development efforts stay on track.
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