SWAKOPMUND – Urban and rural development minister Erastus Uutoni says the government has recorded significant progress in terms of decentralising services from ministries to regional councils throughout the country.
Decentralisation of public services to regional councils stands at 70%.
However, Uutoni hastened to say, some ministries are still in preparatory stages of identifying functions for decentralisation.
These ministries, he said, must pull up their socks and expedite the transfer of all functions eligible for decentralisation to regional councils.
Uutoni made the call during the opening of the decentralisation consultative forum currently underway in Swakopmund.
“Among these are the health ministry, youth and sports ministry. I once again urge you to steadfastly pursue and realise the decentralisation agenda,” Uutoni said.
He also commended ministries of education, transport, information, gender equality, and agriculture for being at the forefront of advancing the objectives and principles of decentralisation.
He then highlighted the importance of the government’s decentralisation endeavours in its quest to deliver quality services.
As such, the ongoing consultative platform provides an opportunity, “for us [ministry], regional councils, decentralising line ministries, and government institutions, as key role players in the implementation of the decentralisation policy to reflect and assess the progress made thus far, share best practices and ideas, discuss challenges being encountered, and most importantly, to collectively formulate strategies and measures to overcome any challenges encountered”.
“As key stakeholders in decentralisation, we have a collective responsibility to ensure that all people have access to quality goods and services as near as possible to where they live, go to school, or work,” the minister said.
He added: “Over the past years, we have witnessed a steady transfer of service functions and related resources from various decentralising line ministries to regional councils.”
Also speaking at the forum, an official from the urban ministry, Godwin Shikabonga highlighted that the lack of a universal decentralisation implementation plan hampers implementation of the decentralisation policy.
He added that inadequate planning for decentralisation of identified functions on the part of some ministries, inadequate supportive physical infrastructure and limited financial resources hamper the optimal performance of decentralised functions.