2015-07-01Staff Report 2 Windhoek Instead of awarding public tenders to “expensive tenderpreneurs” government should offer some of those tenders to the Namibia Red Cross Society (NRCS). Jackson Mwalundange of the Namibia Non-Governmental Organisations Forum (Nangof) trust made the suggestion on Monday at a NRCS meeting on the topic “Sustaining a National (Red Cross) Society in a middle-income country.” He says if the NRCS is awarded tenders it would deploy its volunteers for next to nothing. “The bulk of the money would go into the society’s coffer for the national good,” he said. Mwalundange said if the tender for the rehabilitation of the northern fence of Etosha National Park is awarded to the NRCS, the society (NRCS) would only need a few items such as job specifications, plus a job specialist and materials. “... And our volunteers (NRCS) would jump in and do the work. In the process, the environment ministry would save a lot even for other projects,” he said. The NRCS is a humanitarian organisation established as a national society auxiliary to public authorities by an Act of Parliament (Act 16 of 1991) after Namibia attained its independence. Section 2 (1) of the Namibia Red Cross Act 16 of 1991 gives the NRCS auxiliary status to public authorities, while the Disaster Risk Management Act recognises the NRCS as the second responder in times of disasters and other emergencies. Mwalundange further said the services that the NRCS renders are national, voluntary and essential to the country as a whole. “We as a nation can deploy and allocate some of our natural resources to it. For example, we can allocate fishing quotas to the NRCS the same way that we had allocated them to some of our traditional leaders, clerics and other influential individuals and organisations,” Mwalundange said. 2015-07-01Staff Report 2
