The Prime Minister has urged government institutions to speed up civil servant recruitment processes to fill critical positions.
Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila made the call while addressing Executive Directors in Windhoek.
Kuugongelwa-Amadhila is concerned about the delay in recruitment at government institutions, which in turn negatively affects service delivery to the public.
She says, as heads of administration, Executive Directors have a key role in ensuring the optimal performance of public institutions.
"We need to make those arrangements ahead of time so that once they finish with their university, they go on internship. Once they finish their internship, they are deployed to various places where they are eagerly awaited so that they can provide relief to their colleagues there who are overworked and can enable our community to get these services timeously when they sometimes need it as a matter of life again. But we will optimise job creation by making sure that we employ our people and train them to be able to take up the opportunities for employment in the public service."
The Prime Minister also raised the concern of the procurement act delays, which she says has become a business opportunity for some.
However, Kuugongelwa-Amadhila emphasised that it has little to do with business opportunities but with service delivery to the nation.
Furthermore, the EDs were urged to ensure all outstanding invoices for projects and programs are paid before 20 February.
"Because now procurement seems to be about just giving business opportunities to businesses. It is no longer about service delivery. So you will now have schools without supplies or hospitals without supplies and medication because some people are fighting for tenders, but we are not buying medication to provide business opportunities. Just a byproduct. Yeah, where there is an opportunity for us to create jobs. We do that, whether it is an opportunity for us to support the growth of local enterprises. We do that. But we don't exist just for that purpose. We exist as public institutions to serve all the people of Namibia equitably and according to their needs."
Despite progress in the decentralisation of services, there is a need to accelerate the services to reach all Namibians in every corner of the country.
"We should also improve on the planning for decentralisation to ensure better coordination across OMAs, maintain consistency in the implementation of decentralisation, and ensure proper monitoring and evaluation of the success of the programmes. There are benefits to be accrued from a well-executed decentralisation, including addressing identified concerns on time."