Lets cleanse Namibia off corruption

Djaupyu Siteketa writes;

I sincerely thank the Namibian Sun for always granting me the space in our newspaper to air concerns. It is the duty of every loving Namibian or resident to support this newspaper – financially by buying its daily publication or contributing a story for other readers to enrich their minds for development purposes.

One, my article on Windhoek Central State hospital and mushrooming taxis had successfully led to reducing the hazard at the main gate. However, there is still a great need to relocate the remaining entrepreneurs away from the gate, at least 100 meters away from the main gate in either direction. There should be a small gate for pedestrians.

Two, let’s adopt “one worker, one job approach” in order to equally share the employment opportunity in Namibia. The Namibian Labour Act of 1992 or 2004 or 2007 advocates for any worker to perform a duty of eight (8) hours a day.

We are killing effectiveness and productivity of work through overloading one person with many tasks. There is no reason or fact for overloading one person with many tasks or activities as if there are no other people in Namibia. How do they manage their time, and how effective are they?

The chairperson of Public Office-Bearers Commissioners (POBC), Judge President Petrus Damaseb, pointed out that the commissioners are highly skilled and sought-after professionals who would earn greater remuneration elsewhere… with exception of two commissioners who are not entitled to commission fees, the commissioners have annual fees capped at an average of N$78 000 per annum and are paid a monthly fee of N$6 500 (Namibian Sun, Wednesday 4 April 2012, p.1).

Looking at the composition of the commission of seven members, one, it shows they are employed elsewhere and two, they get paid not below N$5 000 per month from their fulltime employment. I 100% dispute the fact of being “highly skilled and sought-after professionals’’ as if they are the only ones in Namibia who can render such services. When do they get their time to do the commission work and work of their fulltime employment?

Ministry of Education has called on Government’s urgent intervention in addressing the high amount of qualified graduates who currently roam the streets in the hunt for jobs, labeling it a ticking bomb (Namibian Sun, Thursday 22 December 2011, p. 1).

If some are qualified but lack employment opportunities, while others are in every employment, then we have a problem. Skills scarcity is an illusion. Whatever a person does, I strongly believe, another person can also do it if everyone gets a chance to learn or practice it.
Nobody can believe you that studying to become a medical doctor or a lawyer is only for certain people, in fact, anyone can do it. Before independence of Namibia, blacks were made to believe that only a white person can graduate with a university degree at a younger age; however this belief has become an illusion.

Allegations of corruption were leveled against some permanent secretaries, who form part of the Tender Board… (Namibian, Wednesday 25 April 2012).” A permanent secretary is already overloaded with all activities of a ministry, and it is indeed unwise, sinful and criminal to overload some people and deny other people some employment opportunities. This needs to change now and it will reduce unemployment rate and will cement work productivity.

Three, let’s have ‘a fixed time period for skills transfer’ from expatriates to Namibians.
Expatriates abuse their stay in Namibia based on ‘still teaching the Namibians.’ Once an expatriate is employed, the contract should read: “You are required to transfer the needed skills within two years (2012-2013), for instance, and once failed to honour this agreement you will be required to refund your pay before being booted because you have failed your duty.”

If an expatriate works with a non-transferably-minded worker, this should be reported immediately for immediate replacement.