By Josephat Sinvula
Introduction
As the nature and composition of the Namibian workforce changes, a question being asked with increasing frequency is: How prepared are Namibia’s 13 Regional Councils to evolve their practices and policies to meet the requirements of employing and developing an increasingly diverse workforce?
This question in turn gives rise to other questions: What programmes and policies are already in place? How does the ideal Regional Council intend to monitor the ever-changing environment in order to know where changes need to occur?
What are the future challenges and where are the “blind spots”, that is, what areas are so far being neglected or ignored? Conversely, is the Government’s agenda pertaining to viable Regional Councils being adhered to?
This opinion piece will generally explore these questions in an attempt to elicit some kind of “fish bowl” debate so that the most appropriate organizational approach will emerge. This, notwithstanding the current status and the main elements of the debate on the transformation of Regional Councils into viable sub-national government entities, cannot be clearly understood without reference to its historical background that was necessitated by the socio-political order of the day.
Regional and Local Government in A Colonial State
History tells us that, prior to independence, Regional and Local Government in Namibia was an instrument of the Apartheid State. It served the interests of and owed its allegiance to that State and thus carried out the political, economic and social functions of the State from which it derived its authority and power and to which it was accountable.
Thus, the exclusion of black Namibians from top administrative, professional and technical posts as well as the non-existence and/or inadequacy of services in the rural areas where the majority of Namibians lived, were the order of the day.
Hence, to illustrate this view, J Leeson in his 1974 study titled, “Social Science and Health Policy in Pre-Industrial Society”, states that:
“………..the colonial government doctor has as his first concern the health of his fellow expatriates, and as his second that of a local employee. Public health preventive measures were extended to the local people around White settlements only out of fear of the spread of the disease to the colonial agents”.
Designing an Efficient and Effective Regional Council: The Changing Environment
The Government of the Republic of Namibia understands and appreciates that the tasks of creating performing and progressive Regional Councils is difficult. It is the policy stand of the Government, however, that the ideal Regional Council must constitute an element of the Namibian society and, as such, discharge a particular task in the efficient delivery of goods and services to the grass-root level communities as part of the functioning of the Namibian economy.
This task is divisible into two main distinct roles: In the first place, by producing goods and services for purchase and utilization, such as in Settlement Areas and Growth Centres, it makes an essential contribution towards the flow of real wealth upon which the ultimate prosperity of the Namibian society depends.
The second role of the ideal Regional Council is to provide employment, and hence income and purchasing power with which the goods and services made available may be bought.
Coupled with this is to made Central Government more learner and efficient as delegated functions accompanied by staff and budget are transferred to the periphery leading to devolution phase eventually.
The most appropriate organizational approach and/or methodology for the ideal Regional Council should focus on institutional building. This approach takes into account the magnitude of the behavioural change at all levels which the organization has to go through when transforming from a de-concentrated government agency in a region to a full-fledged sub-national government entity according to business principles.
It is a process which is time-consuming. It is dependent upon organizational development which in turn embraces and/or implies an interactive problem-solving process in which a continuous and consistent dialogue between indigenous Consultants, Staff of Regional Councils and the mother Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development takes place, as well as the analytical problem-solving process whereby the existing knowledge has to be applied pragmatically.
Furthermore, a Regional Council’s primary function shall be to serve the national interest by identifying and articulating the needs and aspirations of the masses in the regions and find solutions to national and local problems.
Concluding Remarks
There is no doubt that the operation of Regional Councils is today one of the most important activities in Namibia because it combines the economic activity as such, with the ability of local people to make their own decisions in order to improve their standard of living as well as share in the mainstream economy of Namibia in which the majority of indigenous Namibians were deliberately locked out.
Based on the above, unless the human capital and resources of Regional Councils are utilized professionally by our sub-national government entities, I predict two consequences – firstly, the goods and services required to meet the needs of local people in the regions will not be forthcoming; and, secondly, community members will not have the necessary purchasing power available with which to purchase those goods and services.
Thus, in Regional Councils, Local Authorities and Directorates of the mother Ministry with low productivity, something about their work environment and culture is failing to attract and keep good people, and making it impossible for even good people to work effectively.
Thus, Regional Councils, Local Authorities and Directorates of the mother Ministry must serve the interests of all Namibians by recruiting well-seasoned and competent staff and not be burdened with staff that were underperforming in their previous jobs.
Finally, as the adage goes, “Money makes the World go round”, political rhetoric, I fear, does not. Some people say, “Politicians talk while business pays”.
The bottom line is that the ideal Regional Council and Local Authority entity must exercise some social responsibility by creating innovative business solutions that should apply to a changing environment of the new political and socio-economic dispensation in a post-independent Namibia.
Josephat Sinvula resides in Oshakati, Oshana Region.
The views expressed are his own.
P.O. Box 7242
OSHAKATI
Cell 081 128 3600
Tel (065) 22-0441