Shiimi Advocates Tougher Accountability in Civil Service

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Shiimi Advocates Tougher Accountability in Civil Service
Shiimi Advocates Tougher Accountability in Civil Service

Africa-Press – Namibia. Member of parliament Iipumbu Shiimi says the performance appraisal system for civil servants is not effectively used to reward performers and punish non-performers.

He said this during a stakeholders’ engagement and oversight workshop with the National Assembly parliamentary committee on economy, industry, public administration and planning at Swakopmund yesterday.

“We will also seek clarity on necessary reforms that are being undertaken to create incentives for performance and to improve efficiency in the public service,” said Shiimi, who is the committee’s chairperson.

Shiimi added that the need for a merit-based system has been a recurring message from president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah who has advocated for a results-driven public sector.

“Consequence management should, therefore, be strengthened in the public service to nurture a meritocratic public service,” he said.

He also criticised the government’s recruitment process for being unnecessarily lengthy.

This, Shiimi said, contributes to delays in delivering essential public services due to unfilled vacancies and long processing times.

“The current recruitment process in the government is unnecessarily lengthy, negatively affecting the delivery of public services. This needs to be reviewed urgently. We will also interrogate the effectiveness of the current policy where civil servants are not allowed to jump ranks, even when they qualify to serve in senior positions,” he said.

One of the main focuses of this workshop will be to assess measures through which service delivery could be improved, along with conversations with stakeholders regarding the country’s progress towards Vision 2030.

“The aspirations of the Namibian people will not be realised unless Namibia has a competent public service. While the public service is performing its duties reasonably well, more needs to be done to improve service delivery to the Namibian people,” said Shiimi.

To this end they will be engaging with the Public Service Commission and the Office of the Prime Minister. The committee will also be engaging ministries responsible for trade, investment and industries to understand how these institutions are implementing the diversification strategy developed by the government in the recent past.

The committee will also have discussions with representatives of private sector organisations such as the Chamber of Commerce and Industries and the Namibia Local Business Association.

“The committee will also get an update on the new investment bill. It is critical to finalise this bill to remove the current uncertainty with regard to domestic and foreign investment,” he said.

Beyond their appraisal of service delivery, the committee will also be engaging in conversations with the Namibia Statistics Agency on the current methodology used to calculate unemployment statistics.

Other topics of interest that will be discussed during the workshop include the transport, where the finalisation of the Railway Master Plan and progress towards upgrading existing railways will be discussed alongside the readiness of the Walvis Bay and Lüderitz harbours to cater for the emerging oil industry.

“Our discussions will not be general but will focus on specific issues that are critical to the realisation of the country’s aspirations set out in Vision 2030,” Shiimi stated.

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