Fisheries budget cut by 42%
The fisheries ministry will have to drastically curtail its operations in the coming year.
The Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources' budget for the 2017/18 financial year has been cut by 42.3%.
This was announced by the minister of fisheries and marine resources, Bernard Esau, during his annual ministerial staff address in Swakopmund last week.
According to him, the ministry's budget for the 2016/17 financial year had already been cut by 10% to N$29.5 million.
He said these budget cuts meant that several scheduled activities would be put on hold. Employees will not be affected by the budget cuts, but no new appointments will be made by the ministry.
He explained that the majority of funds were spent on monitoring, control and surveillance, research and resource management.
“We will have to sit down after the budget has been approved by parliament, then we will have to prioritise and look at what activities will be carried out and what activities will be discarded. These cuts are actually a blessing in disguise, to make us sharper, in terms of getting the maximum out of the minimum allocated to us.
“The activities that will be affected the most are resource management and controls, especially the flying of airplanes and the control of our vessels, but we are positive to carry out our activities.
“Research vessels will continue sailing, they will just have to mobilise funds. We will not compromise on our standards of activities,” said Esau.
He urged staff to save money as far as possible.
“For example, we can use our own facilities for meetings instead of hired premises, use technology such as Skype and email to minimise the need for travelling to some meetings, ensure paperless documentation and print only when necessary and use pooled official transport as much as possible.
“We must also minimise on energy wastage by switching off lights and air-conditioning units when not in our offices and closing water taps. In this way we can save vital budgets which can be reallocated to important activities in the ministry.”
Esau called on his staff to work together to ensure a healthy work environment in the ministry.
“We spend the most productive part of our day, at least eight hours, or about a third of our time, together at work. Let us therefore ensure that we have a healthy work environment. I want to assure all of you that you have rights as civil servants to a work in an environment free from intimation and favouritism.”
He called on the Namibian Maritime and Fisheries Institute (NAMFI) to think outside the box and come up with innovative ways to improve training in the fisheries sector.
“It is clear to me that an in-house approach that relies only on government funding for training will not suffice the huge training need that we have in this sector.
“Let us consider new and innovative collaborations that we can come up with, involving institutions both inside and outside Namibia, to enhance fisheries training,” said Esau.
He also asked the Namibian Fish Consumption Promotion Trust (NFCPT) to redouble its efforts to ensure that Namibia joins the league of major fish consumption countries in 2017.
“I am calling upon all staff involved in capital projects to ensure that the budget allocated to our ministry for development is utilised efficiently and that we do not have any unspent money being returned to Treasury due to non-implementation of projects.
“Let us ensure that the capital projects are relevant to what we need as a ministry and that projects are completed efficiently within project times. Projects should also be implemented to the highest standards of quality and be cost effective and within allocated budgets,” he said.
LEANDREA LOUW
This was announced by the minister of fisheries and marine resources, Bernard Esau, during his annual ministerial staff address in Swakopmund last week.
According to him, the ministry's budget for the 2016/17 financial year had already been cut by 10% to N$29.5 million.
He said these budget cuts meant that several scheduled activities would be put on hold. Employees will not be affected by the budget cuts, but no new appointments will be made by the ministry.
He explained that the majority of funds were spent on monitoring, control and surveillance, research and resource management.
“We will have to sit down after the budget has been approved by parliament, then we will have to prioritise and look at what activities will be carried out and what activities will be discarded. These cuts are actually a blessing in disguise, to make us sharper, in terms of getting the maximum out of the minimum allocated to us.
“The activities that will be affected the most are resource management and controls, especially the flying of airplanes and the control of our vessels, but we are positive to carry out our activities.
“Research vessels will continue sailing, they will just have to mobilise funds. We will not compromise on our standards of activities,” said Esau.
He urged staff to save money as far as possible.
“For example, we can use our own facilities for meetings instead of hired premises, use technology such as Skype and email to minimise the need for travelling to some meetings, ensure paperless documentation and print only when necessary and use pooled official transport as much as possible.
“We must also minimise on energy wastage by switching off lights and air-conditioning units when not in our offices and closing water taps. In this way we can save vital budgets which can be reallocated to important activities in the ministry.”
Esau called on his staff to work together to ensure a healthy work environment in the ministry.
“We spend the most productive part of our day, at least eight hours, or about a third of our time, together at work. Let us therefore ensure that we have a healthy work environment. I want to assure all of you that you have rights as civil servants to a work in an environment free from intimation and favouritism.”
He called on the Namibian Maritime and Fisheries Institute (NAMFI) to think outside the box and come up with innovative ways to improve training in the fisheries sector.
“It is clear to me that an in-house approach that relies only on government funding for training will not suffice the huge training need that we have in this sector.
“Let us consider new and innovative collaborations that we can come up with, involving institutions both inside and outside Namibia, to enhance fisheries training,” said Esau.
He also asked the Namibian Fish Consumption Promotion Trust (NFCPT) to redouble its efforts to ensure that Namibia joins the league of major fish consumption countries in 2017.
“I am calling upon all staff involved in capital projects to ensure that the budget allocated to our ministry for development is utilised efficiently and that we do not have any unspent money being returned to Treasury due to non-implementation of projects.
“Let us ensure that the capital projects are relevant to what we need as a ministry and that projects are completed efficiently within project times. Projects should also be implemented to the highest standards of quality and be cost effective and within allocated budgets,” he said.
LEANDREA LOUW
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