In a surprise move, Namibian Prime Minister Nahas Angula reshuffled 10 permanent secretaries — the government’s top public servants — this week to speed up delivery in key economic sectors and halt the rot in politically sensitive services such as health.
Touted as a “turnaround plan” for the public service, Angula’s retooling of the government’s administrative machinery might also have far-reaching political consequences, because many of the affected officials are key Swapo functionaries.
Angula said President Hifikepunye Pohamba had promised an efficient, effective and accountable administration, but that instead of dealing with problems of poor service delivery, officials too often sought to pass the buck.
“Currently, much of our management and administration is reactive, complacent and [driven by] blame apportioning. Clearly defined objectives and milestones ensure effective resource allocation and task assignments,” which had better be completed on time from now on, Angula said in the statement announcing the reshuffle.
The move was also interpreted as a means of breaking down some permanent secretaries’ political empires in Namibia’s 80Â 000-strong public service.
In some cases permanent secretaries had grown to be more powerful than the ministers they were supposed to serve. The opposition often said that some of those appointed during former president Sam Nujoma’s reign had become political untouchables.
Although the move does not go as far as many had hoped — a much-Âanticipated Cabinet reshuffle that could free Pohamba’s hand to sort out the bloated and inefficient bureaucracy has not happened — the changes were nonetheless generally welcomed.
In the past few weeks, local media have been reporting tales of horror from Windhoek’s main state hospital, where doctors at one stage had to complete a knee-replacement operation by flashlight after the power failed. It is Namibia’s main healthcare centre — but has not had hot water, and often no water, in most of its wards and no soap has been issued to cleaners for the past year.
The local supplier of oxygen to Windhoek’s hospital recently issued a summons for more than R10-million against the ministry of health for a bill that has remained unpaid since 2005.
The main cause is mismanagement: water and electricity bills both in Windhoek and at smaller, rural hospitals often remain unpaid for years, while millions are spent on overseas junkets by the ministry’s top staff.
The frustrated Health Minister Richard Kamwi pointedly remarked that he was being kept in the dark by some of his top officials.