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Geingob says ministers are ‘free to resign’

Abide by collective decisions, or ship out
The president has also ordered the prime minister to regularly provide updates on ministers' work progress.
Jemima Beukes
President Hage Geingob yesterday told ministers who are in Cabinet to advance their own personal agendas and who disagree with the executive’s collective decision-making to resign.

He made the remarks during the opening of the first Cabinet meeting, and reminded his ministers that they are there to serve the interests of the people, with a priority to deliver services.

“It is not about advancing your own personal agenda and, therefore, as I have stated before, if you disagree with a collective decision taken and agreed upon by Cabinet, you are free to resign as per the Cabinet handbook,” he said.

In 2018, Geingob, citing the same handbook, fired ministers Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana and Jerry Ekandjo, who stood against him at the Swapo elective congress the previous year.

The two ministers, during congress campaigns, criticised some of Geingob’s policies and initiatives – such as the now discontinued food bank.

Geingob said the pair defied decisions of the collective and he thus fired them in accordance with the provisions of the handbook.

To the letter

Yesterday, Geingob told ministers that they cannot operate in silos, especially during a time when they are all required to achieve important goals with limited resources. As representatives of Namibia, they should never forget that they are keepers of public trust, he added.

“Being a member of Cabinet should never be about advancing personal interests or those of family, friends or associates,” he said.

He stressed that all ministers should implement - to the letter - projects under their portfolios, contained in the National Development Projects and the Harambee Prosperity Plan, without delay.

Introduced by the president, Harambee aims to ensure Namibia is poised to respond to domestic socio-economic challenges and global opportunities during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It has been said that we are good at developing impressive plans, but when it comes to implementation, things don’t move. This year, we want an accelerated pace of implementation.

“In this regard, Comrade Prime Minister, I equally charge you to regularly follow-up with the ministers and through the secretary to Cabinet and the executive directors to check on progress and report any inactivity or lack of progress directly to me. So that we call people to account and formulate whatever measures may be necessary to implement our economic revival and other policies,” he said.

‘Negative headlines’

Geingob further took a thinly-veiled swipe at local media, accusing them of being hell-bent on focusing on government’s failures, while ignoring its achievements.

He said this while urging government agencies to be more transparent – citing the success of the communication centre the state initiated during the peak of the pandemic, through which key messages were shared with the public.

“Failure to do so will allow those whose aim is to downplay our achievements and progress to take the initiative and propagate their false narratives.

“If one is not effective in articulating and communicating one’s narrative, then others will communicate a different narrative on one’s behalf.”

Lashing out at the press, the head of state said: “I have observed with increasing concern negative media headlines, sometimes without us being given a right of reply. These same headlines are then amplified through social media and radio talk shows, thereby influencing public opinion.

“If you read daily print media, you would be depressed. It is as if nothing positive is taking place. This is absolutely not true.

“As government, and as ministers, we should not shy away from communicating our achievements and successes effectively.”

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Katima Mulilo: 19° | 37° Rundu: 17° | 33° Eenhana: 18° | 33° Oshakati: 20° | 31° Ruacana: 19° | 33° Tsumeb: 17° | 29° Otjiwarongo: 16° | 28° Omaruru: 18° | 31° Windhoek: 17° | 28° Gobabis: 17° | 28° Henties Bay: 16° | 19° Wind speed: 24km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 10:54, High tide: 04:57, Low Tide: 22:58, High tide: 17:16 Swakopmund: 15° | 17° Wind speed: 29km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 10:52, High tide: 04:55, Low Tide: 22:56, High tide: 17:14 Walvis Bay: 16° | 22° Wind speed: 33km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 10:52, High tide: 04:54, Low Tide: 22:56, High tide: 17:13 Rehoboth: 18° | 29° Mariental: 22° | 32° Keetmanshoop: 21° | 34° Aranos: 21° | 31° Lüderitz: 15° | 29° Ariamsvlei: 23° | 34° Oranjemund: 15° | 21° Luanda: 27° | 30° Gaborone: 20° | 32° Lubumbashi: 17° | 24° Mbabane: 15° | 23° Maseru: 12° | 28° Antananarivo: 16° | 27° Lilongwe: 17° | 29° Maputo: 20° | 28° Windhoek: 17° | 28° Cape Town: 17° | 23° Durban: 21° | 25° Johannesburg: 18° | 28° Dar es Salaam: 26° | 32° Lusaka: 18° | 30° Harare: 15° | 31° Currency: GBP to NAD 23.93 | EUR to NAD 20.5 | CNY to NAD 2.62 | USD to NAD 18.97 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.33 | EGP to NAD 0.39 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.74 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.8 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.23 | USD to DZD 134.21 | USD to AOA 832.63 | USD to BWP 13.71 | USD to EGP 47.35 | USD to KES 130.98 | USD to NGN 1415.13 | USD to ZAR 18.97 | USD to ZMW 24.77 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 73909.5 Up +0.41% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1516.02 Down -0.13% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 12981.98 Up +0.34% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 28224.37 Down -2.87% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 207.21/OZ UP +0.75% | Copper US$ 3.97/lb DOWN -0.0032 | Zinc US$ 2 443.40/T DOWN -0.53% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 87.13/BBP UP +0.86% | Platinum US$ 903.17/OZ UP +0.93% Sport results: Weather: Katima Mulilo: 19° | 37° Rundu: 17° | 33° Eenhana: 18° | 33° Oshakati: 20° | 31° Ruacana: 19° | 33° Tsumeb: 17° | 29° Otjiwarongo: 16° | 28° Omaruru: 18° | 31° Windhoek: 17° | 28° Gobabis: 17° | 28° Henties Bay: 16° | 19° Wind speed: 24km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 10:54, High tide: 04:57, Low Tide: 22:58, High tide: 17:16 Swakopmund: 15° | 17° Wind speed: 29km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 10:52, High tide: 04:55, Low Tide: 22:56, High tide: 17:14 Walvis Bay: 16° | 22° Wind speed: 33km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 10:52, High tide: 04:54, Low Tide: 22:56, High tide: 17:13 Rehoboth: 18° | 29° Mariental: 22° | 32° Keetmanshoop: 21° | 34° Aranos: 21° | 31° Lüderitz: 15° | 29° Ariamsvlei: 23° | 34° Oranjemund: 15° | 21° Luanda: 27° | 30° Gaborone: 20° | 32° Lubumbashi: 17° | 24° Mbabane: 15° | 23° Maseru: 12° | 28° Antananarivo: 16° | 27° Lilongwe: 17° | 29° Maputo: 20° | 28° Windhoek: 17° | 28° Cape Town: 17° | 23° Durban: 21° | 25° Johannesburg: 18° | 28° Dar es Salaam: 26° | 32° Lusaka: 18° | 30° Harare: 15° | 31° Economic Indicators: Currency: GBP to NAD 23.93 | EUR to NAD 20.5 | CNY to NAD 2.62 | USD to NAD 18.97 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.33 | EGP to NAD 0.39 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.74 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.8 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.23 | USD to DZD 134.21 | USD to AOA 832.63 | USD to BWP 13.71 | USD to EGP 47.35 | USD to KES 130.98 | USD to NGN 1415.13 | USD to ZAR 18.97 | USD to ZMW 24.77 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 73909.5 Up +0.41% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1516.02 Down -0.13% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 12981.98 Up +0.34% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 28224.37 Down -2.87% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 207.21/OZ UP +0.75% | Copper US$ 3.97/lb DOWN -0.0032 | Zinc US$ 2 443.40/T DOWN -0.53% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 87.13/BBP UP +0.86% | Platinum US$ 903.17/OZ UP +0.93%