ONGWEDIVA – The Deputy Prime Minister Marco Hausiku has cautioned civil servants to refrain from linking their political affiliation to their jobs.
Instead, the senior Swapo Party politician wants civil servants to focus on delivering efficient service to members of the public.
“Linking political affiliation to your job should end. Your job is to serve the Namibian nation,” he said.
Hausiku was speaking at the fourth intra-regional workshop to improve service delivery in both the government and private sectors in the country.
The three-day workshop is taking place in Ongwediva.
Hausiku reminded participants to evaluate whether the service they are rendering is desirable and reaching the public. He said in order for government to move forward successfully, there is a need to stop assuming what people want and engage them in decision-making so that they too are aware of the programmes being implemented in their communities.
In addition, he stressed that communities for which the programmes are intended should be consulted and planning should take place in the villages and not in the offices – which is the current case.
“People should know about the programmes to be implemented and own them. They should be able to say this is our programme,” said Hausiku.
He further stressed that conjoined planning and decision-making results in smooth governing.
The disappointed Hausiku related that the opposite is currently happening in many institutions. “When you visit offices you are told he/she is not there or we don’t deal with that today. The Namibian nation needs to reform itself; the offices are not there for you. We need to change our attitudes,” said Hausiku.
Hausiku encouraged the participants to acquaint themselves with the Public Service Charter so that they can transform the information to their subordinates and to the rest of the nation.
Also speaking at the workshop, the Governor of the Oshana Region Clemens Kashuupulwa called on participants to emphasize the importance of the state of public service delivery, professionalism, ethical behaviour, efficiency and quality service to make public servants understand and subsequently ensure better service delivery in the public sector.
Kashuupulwa noted that in many instances people are denied access to information and development that is aimed to improve their living conditions. He also called upon government ministries to implement performance approval to motivate public servants to deliver or ship-out if they cannot deliver.
“How does government expect to deliver good and service par excellence if some of the public servants at the top are not committed to delivering good services,” questioned Kashuupulwa.
He said Namibia is faced with a situation in which the public sector is deteriorating and asked participants to indulge in issues that will improve the state of public service delivery in the country.
On the same day, Hausiku inaugurated 32 corrugated iron houses for the San community in Oshandi village in the Ohangwena Region funded under a special budget disbursed by the Prime Minister’s Office that addresses the needs of minority groups.