Albertina Nakale
WINDHOEK- The Speaker to the National Assembly, Professor Peter Katjavivi, has emphasised that travelling for members of the National Council forms part of the mission to achieve the mandate of the institution.
Motivating the 2019/20 financial budget for the National Council, Katjavivi said without travelling, parliamentarians from the National Council will not be able to attend National Council sessions in Windhoek, be present at national events and meet their parliamentary obligations in the country and abroad.
The National Council is requesting N$94.76 million to cover its operational activities during the 2019/20 financial year.
In addition, Katjavivi maintained that the National Council, like any other government office, faced serious financial constraints during the 2018/19 financial year and had to suspend some of its activities.
“For example, the financial limitations saw the number of members and staff that could have attended workshops, seminars, training and conferences for capacity building both locally, regionally and internationally reduced. The reduction of participants meant that the exposure of many members and staff to crucial capacity building initiatives was negatively impacted,” he said.
He stated some members of parliament have vast constituencies to cover and that in itself requires traveling by the members.
According to him, these members are not provided with official transportation when carrying out these responsibilities.
Thus, he added, this is a challenge that needs to be understood by government that travelling is part and parcel of the National Council’s programme to execute its core functions and achieve its mandate. The National Council only has one programme called the legislative support services with three activities.
One of these activities is to strengthen capacity of the review and oversight function of the National Council, whereby an amount of N$9.5 million has been allocated.
The National Council launched its Strategic Plan during the 2018/19 financial year.
Four Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have been set to strengthen the capacity of review and oversight functions of the National Council. The KPIs are aimed at measuring the impact of the National Council’s review functions by setting annual activities and targets designed to achieve the strategic objectives.
The other activity is the coordination of parliamentary support services for which N$29.2 million has been allocated.
Under this activity, Katjavivi said the implementation of the Harambee Prosperity Plan goals of accountability and transparency as well as that of performance and service delivery will be monitored.
He noted that the main objectives, therefore, would be to improve budget execution and financial accountability; improve the management and development of human resources; prudent procurement of goods and services, ensure the optimal utilization and control of assets and implement parliamentary and public service reform initiatives.
The third activity is the parliamentary committee services for which N$56.1 million has been allocated.
The members of the National Council are drawn from each region in accordance with Article 69 of the Namibian Constitution.
Therefore, in addition to the responsibilities indicated in Articles 74 and 75, they are also elected as regional councillors, as per Article 108.
Caption (Pic; Parliamentarians): The Speaker to the National Assembly Professor Peter Katjavivi.