Malakia A.L Nashongo

OPUWO - The Deputy Minister of Finance Natangue Ithete on Tuesday conducted a one-day information sharing session with members of different procurement committees and regional councillors, to clarify issues pertaining to the Procurement Act of 2015, in Opuwo in Kunene Region.

He said that public servants ought to serve their line ministries as stakeholders in the Procurement Act and hear the challenges facing them. “As public servants, our most profound duty is to serve you, hence we deemed it necessary that as stakeholders we ought to come around a table to discuss and take stock of lessons learned, and challenges and success recorded since the inception of the Procurement Act of 2015, two years ago,” explained Ithete.  

Most of the challenges expressed regarding the Procurement Act can be attributed to lack of understanding and lack of collaboration.

The Act has been praised on the basis of it being effective, efficient and transparent – attributes that will help in the ongoing fight against corruption in the procurement sphere. 

Ithete urged the different government ministries, government agencies and NGOs to register their staff members for a four-day training session with the Ministry of Finance to ensure that staff fully understand the Procurement Act, with the first training programme being rolled out as of 25 February 2019. “I hereby call on your various offices to register your staff members promptly to ensure the staff members are fully capacitated on the procedures pertaining to the Procurement Act or said legislation,” urged Ithete.

The chairperson of Kunene Regional Council and the regional councillor of Sesfontein thanked the deputy minister of finance and his delegation for attending to their call, saying that now they understand the Procurement Act of 2015 and that it was a worthwhile learning exercise.

*Malakia A. L. Nashongo works for the  Ministry of Information and Communication Technology in Opuwo, Kunene Region.