AS I alluded to in an earlier column, President Hifikepunye Pohamba needs to leave a mark with his second term and it will do wonders for his efforts if he takes time to give serious consideration to the (re)appointment of all parastatal boards before he departs with much fanfare in 2015.
Although I was initially opposed to the constitutional changes giving him powers to appoint regional governors, I have since become a reluctant supporter of the move after seeing what the young man in the Karas region, Clinton Swartbooi, has achieved in a relatively short time.
He has proven that, given the right appointments, some of the social dilemmas facing our people can change dramatically.
It is also the reason why I hope that some of the sleeping governors will have received infused fire in their bellies during the past week’s induction/workshop in Windhoek.
While the President is showing some true mettle he could also turn his attention to the parastatals or State-owned enterprises, SOEs as they are known.
This week Cabinet announced the names of those who will serve on the NamWater and Meatco boards - both very important parastatals in the country.
Parastatals have become milk cows for many in the past as has been frequently revealed in a number of financial scandals.
In many instances in the past, the knowledge, experience and expertise of people were almost not considered at all when appointing boards and this in turn affected their output negatively.
This was worsened by the fact that chief executives and managing directors were also handpicked based on their allegiances either to State House, certain ministers or other influential characters.
This ultimately affected production and, while some parastatals were supposed to pay dividends, Government kept on pumping money into their running costs.
This despite the fact that some heads of such parastatals were raking in millions through salaries, bonuses and other benefits.
Under Pohamba Government seems to have started intervening in the affairs of the SOEs for the right reasons.
Although many believe that the plan may backfire, Cabinet has already decided to restrain the excesses at parastatals through putting a cap on salaries and other perks.
This means that the Namibia Wildlife Resorts will no longer be able to pay its Managing Director N$1,7 million as it used to give Tobie Aupindi, and Air Namibia will be forced to reduce theirs to N$1,5 million from the N$2,4 million Kosmos Egumbo was reportedly collecting.
The Cabinet’s cap not only affects heads of parastatals but also their senior managers. Board directors are also not excluded.
We have had reports and stories about some directors who stay in Windhoek yet submit their residential addresses as their farms in order to claim travel allowances. Others would ensure they had long drawn-out meetings because they are paid hourly.
Perhaps to put a cap on the salaries is too simplistic a solution, because it implies that the massive losses to the parastatals can be ascribed to overpaid CEOs and boards but there is a combination of both very high salaries as well as board members who are not knowledgeable enough - and neither is acceptable.
So while President Pohamba is on a serious drive to leave State House with a bang, key to the changes he wishes to undertake will be the question of ‘jobs for comrades’ or ‘tested cadres’.
Although the Swapo Party Think-Tank is a matter for internal discussion, it should have, by now, given an indication of the level of knowledge and dedication of some of those serving on it.
I am not advocating for Cabinet to only recruit people who have served on the party Think-Tank but it can be used as a platform to test the dedication of the party cadres instead of throwing them into the lions’ den at parastatals and expecting them to deliver.
It is time for our parastatals to become revenue-generating institutions for the country. So far there are a few key exceptions which have known stable and consistent management and lack of interference, while most of them simply don’t get on with the job.
This despite the fact the board members take home thousands and the heads of parastatals continue operating with hardly any serious consequences if they fail to deliver.
Parastatals should stop being milk cows and President Pohamba remains the key to positive change in this regard.
Showing posts with label Karas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Karas. Show all posts
Monday, February 14, 2011
Friday, July 9, 2010
Parties seem to have gone back to sleep
LAST year’s presidential and national elections had one thing in common – Caprivi and the two southern regions of Namibia seemed to be rethinking their allegiance to Swapo.
The performance of the opposition in several constituencies of the three regions gave some the impression that a shift in political power was emerging, while Swapo apparatchiks perhaps sat up to take note of their fading influence in those parts.
Political analysts were unanimous that Swapo’s performance in some constituencies of the Hardap and Karas regions was a clear indication that the voters were unhappy with either the local leadership or what they were getting out of their membership to the party.
In fact, political infighting at local and regional authority level resulted in many casualties and a feeling that certain groups in the party were promoted at the expense of mainly indigenous people from the regions.
The high number of votes received by mainly the Rally for Democracy and Progress also signalled that the electorate has become aware that they can turf out those who try to lead them astray.
The impression created was that the electorate had shown those in high office that their positions came as a conditional gift – you keep them only as long as those who gave them to you allow you to keep them!
As a result most observers believed that the 12 months leading up to the next election (local and regional ones in November this year) will be crucial.
In fact, I thought that political parties, especially Swapo and the RDP, would become involved in a battle for the soul of Karas, Hardap and some constituencies in Caprivi.
Yet, I get the impression that RDP is not much different to Swapo!
Both groups, as well as other opposition parties, including new ones, have gone back to sleep.
Since the December election hardly any political rally by the opposition has taken place in those areas to explain their intentions to the masses, yet, come November this year, they will scream to high heaven of impending danger if the ruling party continues to rule there.
It is a proven fact that successful political parties have a penchant for directly interacting with voting masses. The best time to improve your image as a political party is to campaign and reach out to the masses when everyone else is more distant or removed from the people.
Given the anxiety which political leaders went through as the results trickled in last December one would have thought that politicians had learnt something.
How wrong I was. The same flaws are still in play.
In fact, politicians continue to concentrate on minutiae of political contestation such as who should stand in which district and who are the hibernators in which party.
I would not be surprised if we have a below 30 per cent voter turn out in this year’s November elections because the purges happening in Swapo, coupled with the lacklustre approach from the opposition, is likely to discourage voter turnout.
For me, RDP has left in the streets the hundreds of votes they picked up in the South in last year’s election.
Not only are they absent in Parliament, despite being voted in, but they are also not seen as championing the aspirations and wishes of the people who voted for them.
There are so many issues out there which the political parties can use to jointly tackle with social movements (the Basic Income Grant and the land issue a case in point) but it seems none stand a snowball’s chance in hell to get the attention of the politicians until a month or two before elections.
Ultimately, it tells us a lot about the state of our political parties, doesn’t it?
* This column first appeared in The Namibian
The performance of the opposition in several constituencies of the three regions gave some the impression that a shift in political power was emerging, while Swapo apparatchiks perhaps sat up to take note of their fading influence in those parts.
Political analysts were unanimous that Swapo’s performance in some constituencies of the Hardap and Karas regions was a clear indication that the voters were unhappy with either the local leadership or what they were getting out of their membership to the party.
In fact, political infighting at local and regional authority level resulted in many casualties and a feeling that certain groups in the party were promoted at the expense of mainly indigenous people from the regions.
The high number of votes received by mainly the Rally for Democracy and Progress also signalled that the electorate has become aware that they can turf out those who try to lead them astray.
The impression created was that the electorate had shown those in high office that their positions came as a conditional gift – you keep them only as long as those who gave them to you allow you to keep them!
As a result most observers believed that the 12 months leading up to the next election (local and regional ones in November this year) will be crucial.
In fact, I thought that political parties, especially Swapo and the RDP, would become involved in a battle for the soul of Karas, Hardap and some constituencies in Caprivi.
Yet, I get the impression that RDP is not much different to Swapo!
Both groups, as well as other opposition parties, including new ones, have gone back to sleep.
Since the December election hardly any political rally by the opposition has taken place in those areas to explain their intentions to the masses, yet, come November this year, they will scream to high heaven of impending danger if the ruling party continues to rule there.
It is a proven fact that successful political parties have a penchant for directly interacting with voting masses. The best time to improve your image as a political party is to campaign and reach out to the masses when everyone else is more distant or removed from the people.
Given the anxiety which political leaders went through as the results trickled in last December one would have thought that politicians had learnt something.
How wrong I was. The same flaws are still in play.
In fact, politicians continue to concentrate on minutiae of political contestation such as who should stand in which district and who are the hibernators in which party.
I would not be surprised if we have a below 30 per cent voter turn out in this year’s November elections because the purges happening in Swapo, coupled with the lacklustre approach from the opposition, is likely to discourage voter turnout.
For me, RDP has left in the streets the hundreds of votes they picked up in the South in last year’s election.
Not only are they absent in Parliament, despite being voted in, but they are also not seen as championing the aspirations and wishes of the people who voted for them.
There are so many issues out there which the political parties can use to jointly tackle with social movements (the Basic Income Grant and the land issue a case in point) but it seems none stand a snowball’s chance in hell to get the attention of the politicians until a month or two before elections.
Ultimately, it tells us a lot about the state of our political parties, doesn’t it?
* This column first appeared in The Namibian
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