Windhoek
Percy Msika has been appointed the new Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry Permanent Secretary, Minister John Mutorwa has announced.
Introducing Msika to staff in Windhoek, Mutorwa said there was a change in leadership but the organisation remains the same and it needs all its staff contribution.
He described Msika as an agricultural, water and forestry veteran.
For many years, he said, Msika served the ministry as senior officer in the department of agriculture before he joined the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations where he served as the Under Secretary of the Department of Agriculture within the ministry.
“Being the chief administrators of their ministries, permanent secretaries are responsible for providing organisation and leadership, maintaining full control of the day-to-day activities of their ministries, delineating clearly the authority and responsibilities of their subordinates and maintaining regular contact with the various heads of departments,” he said while reading from the 1995 Cabinet handbook.
He added, that the PS’s responsibilities also include liaising with other offices and ministries, exercising disciplinary authority over subordinates directly accountable to them and communicating Government priorities and Cabinet’s directives to their office or ministry staff.
“Permanent secretaries are personally answerable to the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly,” he said, adding that as accounting officers, PSes are themselves liable to be surcharged for any unauthorised, irregular or wasteful expenditure, by their ministries or for loss of revenue resulting from financial irregularity or serious inefficiency.