By Surihe Gaomas WINDHOEK With the vision to transform the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) into a world-class public institution, senior and middle management plan to finalize the Strategic Plan for the Office by March this year. The Permanent Secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister, Steve Katjiuanjo, addressed staff members on Monday of this week for the first time this year. He said the time had come for top staff members to take a more proactive response to their work. “The time is finally here when we, as senior and middle managers, should come out of our boardrooms and go to the various operational units, if the vision and lofty ideas we have set for ourselves are to become a reality,” said Katjiuanjo. Reiterating Prime Minister Nahas Angula’s statement, Katjiuanjo said the year 2007 must be one of action and success where all actions undertaken by the Office make a positive impact on the lives of all Namibian citizens. “Our success in implementing Government policies will be judged against the rate of execution of the said programmes and projects,” said Katjiuanjo, adding that it is envisaged that the current Draft Strategic Plan should be finalized by the middle of March this year. Under the Strategic Plan, the Prime Minister’s Office should strive to become a “world-class public institution” that will drive the country and citizens towards prosperity and development by the year 2030. Thus, the mission is well in line with the country’s ongoing developmental programmes of Vision 2030 and National Development Plans. “In our quest to achieve this vision, the Office is urged to lead and support other Government institutions to deliver outstanding public service and goods,” added Katjiuanjo. He said that during strategic planning sessions held last year, the Office identified key stakeholders like citizens, government ministries, parastatals, public service employees and political leaders, who could help in this process. The assigned projects and programmes cover all the activities of the OPM in its various departments, directorates and units it wants to achieve. During feedback sessions, it became apparent, however, that there were some obstacles or what Katjiuanjo called “implementation dilemmas.” These included inappropriate project definitions, lack of human and finance capital, no clear policy in place, and feasibility or viability studies had not been conducted. Katjiuanjo noted that there was an acute need to identify the initiatives within the broad framework of the Strategic Plan by backing them up with solid and concise annual work plans. “There is also an urgent need to align the Office’s overall strategic theme with objectives, measures, targets and initiatives. Such an approach would go a long way to identifying possible shortcomings at an early stage with the view to making implementation smoother,” explained Katjiuanjo. This boils down to having programmes and projects in place that meet the nation’s needs in terms of social upliftment, poverty alleviation and job creation. Katjiuanjo was optimistic that managers of the Office of the Prime Minister would take up these challenges head-on in the transformation process of the Office this year.