EDITORIAL: The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing
Police procuring 25 vehicles from private dealerships despite a standing order for all public institutions to buy from the government-owned vehicle assembly plant at Walvis Bay is a slap in the face of Namibia’s coordinated economic development ambitions.
It’s either that the police are operating in a silo, as an island detached from the very government that funds their law enforcement mandate, or police chiefs deem themselves a law unto themselves.
True, government is for all of us – including the three private dealerships from which this fleet was acquired. But to completely ignore a well-meaning Cabinet directive to support a public entity struggling to get off the ground since inception is simply not acceptable.
In fact, even in the absence of that directive, it would have been a no-brainer to pursue this noble objective to support an entity in which the Namibian people – through their government – have a direct stake.
What is discouraging is that even in light of this blatant disregard for Cabinet directives by the police, our country simply does not have a culture of holding people accountable for their misdeeds.
Our entrenched culture is that of dancing around serious issues and laughing them off as if they were a mere blip – even when the intention to disregard the rules is as clear as daylight.
It’s either that the police are operating in a silo, as an island detached from the very government that funds their law enforcement mandate, or police chiefs deem themselves a law unto themselves.
True, government is for all of us – including the three private dealerships from which this fleet was acquired. But to completely ignore a well-meaning Cabinet directive to support a public entity struggling to get off the ground since inception is simply not acceptable.
In fact, even in the absence of that directive, it would have been a no-brainer to pursue this noble objective to support an entity in which the Namibian people – through their government – have a direct stake.
What is discouraging is that even in light of this blatant disregard for Cabinet directives by the police, our country simply does not have a culture of holding people accountable for their misdeeds.
Our entrenched culture is that of dancing around serious issues and laughing them off as if they were a mere blip – even when the intention to disregard the rules is as clear as daylight.
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Namibian Sun
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