Swapo Party MP, Iipumbu Shiimi, gave a report from the Standing Committee on the stakeholders’ interface and oversight workshop held in August, focusing on economy, industry, public administration and planning.
The report consisted of recommendations to the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) and various public institutions on public service-related matters.
One of the recommendations in the report to the OPM regarding public service management was to speed up the process of digitising and integrating critical government services in order to improve access to public service in the country.
It also recommended that the OPM and the Public Service Commission (PSC) must review the current Public Service Act and Performance Management System to ensure that it incentivises performance and takes corrective action against non-performance.
“The OPM must issue a directive requesting management supervisors and human resource officers at Omos to give regular constructive feedback to staff after each performance management review. Whether the OPM and the PSC must review the jumping of ranks policy and recruitment policy and assess whether or not it still serves the intended purpose. In doing so, OPM and the PSC should benchmark with peers that are best in class in this regard,” says IIpumbu.
The report further states that the National Statistics Agency (NSA) and NPC must restrict the rebasing of national accounts to ensure that it reflects the true size of the economy.
In addition, the committee is requesting that the NSA conduct regular labour force surveys to provide regular feedback to policymakers and lawmakers on the unemployment situation.
Another recommendation was for the NPC to assist parliamentary committees in their oversight of the Development Budget as well as conduct regular community consultations on development programmes.
“Development plans should be evidence-based; hence, NPC should strengthen its research and oversight capacity. Parliament and relevant committees should conduct regular oversight on the implementation of NDP 6. Parliament and the Standing Committee should champion policy certainty to attract investors. NPC and Parliament should develop a framework for monitoring and evaluating the execution of the National Development Plan, number six, and identify constraints,” reported Shiimi.
The committee also addressed the issue of railway infrastructure and services, calling on the Minister of Works and Transport, TransNamib and the NPC to fast-track the finalisation and the implementation of the Railway Maste
