Directors of Ceremonies:
Her Excellency Lucia Witbooi, Vice President of the Republic of Namibia;
Right Honourable Elijah Ngurare, Prime Minister of the Republic of Namibia;
Honourable ministers and deputy ministers; Ambassador Emilia Mkusa, secretary to Cabinet;
Senior government officials and service chiefs;
Captains of industries of our State-owned enterprises;
Our esteemed staff members of the public service;
Members of the media;
Ladies and gentlemen.
I wish to extend a warm welcome to each and every one of you, both those attending in person and those joining online, to this historic occasion, the first-ever address by the President of the Republic of Namibia to the public service.
It is with great honour and humility that I stand before you today as your President, as a fellow servant of the Namibian people, and as a partner in the journey of transforming our nation. I have intentionally created this opportunity with a specific outcome in mind. Therefore, I am delighted to see all of you present here and confident that public servants across the length and breadth of Namibia are tuned in through the platforms provided.
Let me begin by expressing my heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you in service to the Government of the Republic of Namibia, in other Words, to the people of Namibia. Your dedication, resilience and hard work towards achieving the mandates of your respective Offices, Ministries and Agencies are noted and deeply appreciated.
You, the public servants and technocrats, are an indispensable national resource. You are the most vital component of the machinery that keeps the wheels of Government turning. You are the gears of the engine of state administration. You are the bridge between policies and people, between vision and reality. Without your active, ethical and capable participation, government cannot function effectively, nor will it deliver the required services to the nation. That is why I thank you not only for your presence here today, but for your decision to serve. Public service is not merely a job. It is a professional calling.
In 2024, I launched my Leadership Vision for the 8th Administration, namely Pragmatism, Integrity, Accountability, Meritocracy and Inclusivity (PIAMI). If it is truly your choice to follow the calling for service. Then I trust you have also chosen to serve with these values at heart.
The State has a sacred responsibility to protect, promote and fulfil the rights and interests of its people. It does so through the functioning of its institutions and the hands of public servants. Each of us, in government or State-Owned Enterprises, must understand how we fit into this machinery. We must ask ourselves: What am I bringing to the workspace today?
If we do not understand our role, we will simply report for duty without making a meaningful impact. The worst-case scenario is where you will leave your posts at the end of the day without feeling any sense of guilt when your duties remain unfulfilled. This is how inefficiency creeps in. When that happens, the State will fail to meet its constitutional obligations, thus creating frustration among the citizens, leading to social and economic insecurity.
Social and economic insecurity are the breeding centres for the disturbance of peace and security in any given country, and Namibia is no exception. As Namibians, we must take pride in our peaceful and beautiful country and defend it with our right actions at all times. We must also draw strength from our hard-won independence and the gains we have made. Let us never forget where we come from. Our history must guide our future. It must be taught and preserved so that future generations cherish our peace, honour our legacy, and continue the journey to prosperity.
While public service may not bring you material wealth, it offers you something more profound. It gives you a chance to shape legacies and to impact lives far beyond your tenure. If you embrace this opportunity with the right mindset, you will find a sense of fulfilment that no salary can match.
Today, I make a humble but urgent plea: let us adopt a basic-needs and service-excellence approach. This is not optional; it is necessary. The Government must not fail those it has sworn to serve. This means that al l Namibians , regardless of race, religion, status or location, must have equal access to basic services, clean water, sanitation, food, health care, education, employment, justice, and opportunities for economic advancement.
To realise this, I urge all Public Servants to familiarise themselves and be guided by the Swapo Manifesto Implementation Plan (SMIP) under the theme ‘Unity in Diversity, Natural Resources Beneficiation for Youth Empowerment and Sustainable Development’ and the National Development Plan (NDP 6), which I will launch on Monday, 21 July 2025, as well as, give account of the Administrations three months since taking office on 21 March 2025. In this regard, I wish to put on record my gratitude for your contribution towards the continued good work of the 8th Administration since assuming office.
Both the SMIP and NDP6 are documents that must serve as the blueprints to uplift the living standards and expectations of our people, particularly the youth and women. I have said it before, we are too few to be poor!
If you do not have a passion for the people, if you see citizens as a burden, and if you believe your office is a space for your personal comfort zone for enrichment or side businesses, then you are in the wrong place. I must therefore ask you: Why are you in the public service? Create space for those who are ready to serve the public.
We have heard the complaints of poor service, inaccessibility and rude officials. This is not how the servants of people must serve people. I, therefore, demand immediate change. We talk of public service because those who make up that body are people who have committed themselves to serve the public and not themselves. Hence, the government elected by the people appreciates them through a monthly salary agreed and signed as you join the public service.
Think of the benefits you enjoy as a public servant:
• A regular monthly salary,
• Access to medical aid (costing government N$3.62 billion),
• Membership in a pension fund,
• Housing and vehicle allowances,
• Career deve l opment opportunities,
• Local and international exposure.
The above benefits serve as your driving force that must propel you towards the accomplishments of the assignments given to you. You must bear in mind other Namibians out there who are roaming the streets without opportunities for employment. That should help you develop an attitude of gratitude. When we count our blessings, we will serve with humility. You must know that self-enrichment on the expense of the public is a breach of the contract and a betrayal of the nation’s trust.
I believe in the Namibian civil servants or this workforce I am addressing today, in your ability to drive change. Thus, together, we can and must ensure that no Namibian is left behind. The realities for many of our people remain dire:
• Persistent poverty,
• Inadequate access to services,
• Barriers to dignity.
The mission of the public service is therefore to break down these barriers. We must reform how we deliver services, especially for a younger generation that is tech-savvy and mobile. Customer care and citizen-friendly approaches are no longer optional; they are imperative.
We are working under fiscal constraints. The public service wage bill stands at over N$35 billion, serving more than 100 000 employees. This situation is unsustainable. As such, we must therefore prudently utilise the scarce resources at our disposal by applying the concept of achieving more with less. By so doing, there is a need to exercise the highest fiscal discipline, aiming at achieving efficient and effective objectives for the benefit of our people.
It must be underscored that the government, by its design and structures, is not the primary employer of the majority of employees. The role of the government is to create a conducive environment for employment. By and large, employment is squarely within the domain of the private sector. This is more particular in our system, which is based on a mixed economy.
Essential change is needed in mindset and in behaviour. This change wagon is already underway. The objectives are clear in our NDP6, strategic plans and Annual Plans as well as in the performance agreements.
We do not have time to waste. We must move with the wagon, swiftly and with purpose. If you are ready to be part of this transformation, you are welcome on board. If not, you must re-evaluate your purpose in the public service. There will be “no business as usual”, and there will be consequences for non-performance and ineffective service delivery.
As your President, I am committed to building a stronger, more responsive public sector as a cornerstone of inclusive development. We must invest in skills, embrace innovation and foster a spirit of teamwork at all levels of government. Against that backdrop, I urge you to remain vigilant against corruption in all its forms by understanding it as tantamount to treason. Let us protect public resources as if they were our own, because they are the people’s resources and we are part of society.
I want to leave you with an African proverb on hard work and service: “What you give, you get ten times over”. Let us give our best, and the rewards will multiply for generations to come. We must build capacity, develop resilience, and earn the respect and trust of the people we serve. As the engine room of the government, you are all duty-bound to do things right, and you must aim to benefit our people.
You must remember that you occupy a sacred space in our national fabric. Use it wisely for the benefit of our only home, Namibia. Let us accomplish our goals and objectives together with One Heart – One Mind. Meaning we must be united as our Founding President taught us, “A people united, striving to achieve a common good for all members of society, will always emerge victorious”.
I thank you. Together we will go higher!