Doing more with less

Everyone is waiting with bated breath to see how finance minister Calle Schlettwein intends to keep the country on the straight and narrow fiscal path with the tabling of the 2017/18 national budget. This time around Schlettwein is under extreme pressure to provide direction and faces a tough balancing act amid slow growth and high unemployment, especially among the youth. Government is already burdened with an unsustainable wage bill and will continue to pour money into parastatals like Air Namibia, NAC, NHE and NBC among others, on top of the social and old-pension grants that will also be increased. With constant budget cuts now the order of the day, we are particularly interested in hearing how government intends to improve government efficiency, given the fact that we are operating in an increasingly complex environment. The Hage Geingob-led administration has created new ministries such as the poverty eradication ministry and the one responsible for public enterprises two years back and we are now realising how a top-heavy government can be a burden to taxpayers. We know that this government has set its sights on tackling poverty and delivering prosperity to the Namibian people, but this will remain a pipe dream if we don't invest in areas that matter, given the uncertainties presented by the current financial crisis. Government must admit that fostering collaboration is the way to go in this rapidly changing world. We can only improve service and service delivery if we streamline our operations instead of sticking with shameful priorities. We thus agree with those who are calling on government to stop creating new ministries and agencies in the hope of fixing structural and systematic deficiencies. It is best to have directorates within ministries instead of establishing new institutions all the time, which do not come cheap at all. Furthermore, we need to be frank with ourselves and address the bloated civil service issue. There is no doubt that public servants are vital assets to the economy of this country. But, there is a need to ensure that public servants deliver services in a way that provides maximum value to our countrymen and women.