Windhoek
President Hage Geingob has essentially declared 2016 as a year of implementation of policies and directives crafted during his first year in office.
For efficient implementation, the President warned Cabinet members against distancing themselves from Cabinet decisions, saying every member is responsible and bound by every Cabinet decision.
While addressing the first Cabinet meeting for the year at State House yesterday, Geingob said all members of government are bound by the principle of collective responsibility.
“This principle requires that, while every member of the Cabinet is free to argue his/her point during debates in Cabinet, once a decision has been taken, every Cabinet member is absolutely responsible for and bound by the Cabinet decision regardless of whether he/she agrees with it or not,” he said.
Geingob said government depends on teamwork, therefore its success relies on the ability of Cabinet and the support staff within the administration to work in a collective fashion.
“The reason I am highlighting this point is due to the fact that I would like to emphasise the need for us to desist from developing silo mentalities, where we become holed up in our individual portfolios,” he said.
Starting on April 1, Geingob announced, the focus would be shifted towards accelerated implementation.
He said he would continue with his public consultations, despite the process being downplayed by some sections in society.
“This year I will continue with more consultations. For a start I intend to have a consultative session with all regional governors, followed by a session with all permanent secretaries,” he said.
Farmers’ unions, workers’ unions, youth and women forums as well as the media will be consulted, the President vowed.
He also said the maiden Presidential Advisory Council meeting will be called soon.
“Some may ask why only now. The reason is simple. Before calling such an important meeting, I have to formulate my vision and plan before I submit it to the Presidential Advisory Council.”
According to Geingob: “Now that a shared vision has been entrenched and the broad parameters of the Harambee Prosperity Plan adopted by the [Swapo] Politburo and Cabinet, it is an ideal time to benefit from the guidance of this esteemed team of former presidents.”
Following the release of the ministers’ performance agreements to the public a week ago, Geingob said the move augurs well for the government’s commitment to transparency, and was well received by most Namibian people and some in the international community.
“As I noted during the workshop we had on performance management, it is not a one-off exercise nor is it a tool to punish. It will take time to fine tune and eventually perfect our performance management system,” he said.
He said: “Therefore, one of the sub-pillars of our Harambee Prosperity Plan will be to strengthen and enhance performance management across all levels of government by ensuring that performance contracts are reviewed on a regular basis, and by refining performance targets to be measurable, attainable and realistic.”
Geingob said he took note of the views expressed in the media that the performance targets were too low while others argued that they were not realistic.
“This more than anything else suggests that they are not familiar with how effective systems are developed. Effective systems evolve over time, hence the saying, ‘Rome was not built in a day’,” he said.