Windhoek
The Public Procurement Act, which was signed into law by President Hage Geingob in December last year, will replace the current public procurement system, including the Namibia Tender Board and the Tender Board secretariat.
According to Minister of Finance Calle Schlettwein the existing procurement system has lost all integrity.
Speaking to staff at the Ministry of Finance on Monday during the ministry’s first general staff meeting for the year, Schlettwein said his ministry is in the process of finalising regulations for the new Act, as they are now tasked with creating instruments to implement the new legislation.
“The new Public Procurement Act is an instrument to better utilise our resources and at the same time improve transparency on how public resources are spent,” he told ministry staff at the National Theatre of Namibia.
Schlettwein said with the legal framework of the new Act now in place, the Ministry of Finance is in a position to turn around the negative perception of the current procurement system “in a way that it has a multiplier effect on the economy”.
The new Act seeks to introduce a government procurement policy that offers outright preference for locally produced goods, considering that the State is the single largest procurer of goods and services in the country.
Promotion of local enterprises through public procurement has always been a major headache for government, but the new Public Procurement Act provides for various types of preferences to boost local empowerment policies.
In order to take advantage of the new legislation, local companies have been advised to invest in developing capacity to produce goods and services that will result in value for money for the government, consumers and beneficiaries.
The finance minister has previously warned that it is important for local companies to be truly Namibian entities and that both financial and employment benefits accrue to Namibians.
During yesterday’s meeting he also told Ministry of Finance staff throughout the country that they have been at the forefront of successfully dealing with extremely tough global economic conditions to which Namibia is exposed due to its interlinkage with world markets.
“We now have the wind in our face. It is, therefore, crucial that we in the Ministry of Finance lead by example to show we can do better with fewer resources,” Schlettwein told his staff.
“Each and every citizen will pay collateral damage if the Ministry of Finance is not efficient in its operations,” he warned,
he further said each staff member must prioritise to create optimal benefits and value from the country’s scarce resources.