The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology is reviewing its five-year strategic plan at a retreat that started in Windhoek on Thursday.

The strategic review is attended by staff of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, and representatives of state-owned enterprises operating under the ministry, including the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (nbc).

The Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Dr. Peya Mushelenga, stressed the importance of reviewing its strategic plan.

"The importance of strategic planning in any institution cannot be understated because when you have strategic planning. Once you have direction, you can review your past performance and look toward the future. Secondly, you are likely to be more proactive than reactive. A proactive person is one who has already planned what they are going to do and is able to overcome obstacles they encounter along the way. Strategic planning also ensures efficiency. You are able to look at the SWOT analysis, you are able to mitigate your risks, and you are then able to come up with a better way forward for our SOEs, like Telecom here, MTC, and so forth. When you do strategic planning, you also look at your market. How you will increase your market share is determined by how you view profitability and which types of sales are likely to increase your revenue. With strategic planning, you look at reducing your costs."

According to the spokesperson for MICT, the strategic plan must be aligned with the Harambee Prosperity Plan and National Development Plan.

"So what we have done differently as a ministry is that we do not want to work in silence; we have invited all the different stakeholder groups; we are looking at regional councilors, where we have our regional offices that are seconded by some of these regional councilors. We have invited all deputy directors responsible for planning since they supervise offices in the regions, so they are also to take part in this activity. Also, all of our regional offices may be participating in this exercise; however, more work needs to be done to invite all state-owned enterprises."