By: Justicia Shipena
President Hage Geingob’s suggestion to reduce the civil servant workforce is under attack and has been labelled as “sickening” and a “flawed” approach.
The criticism comes after Geingob tasked the Public Service Commission (PSC) to review the size of the civil service during the commissioners courtesy visit to his office last Thursday.
At that meeting, the President tasked the PSC to look at ways to cut the workforce in half in an effort to address requests of salary increments yearly, as well as to reduce the government wage bill.
The Secretary-General of the Trade Union Congress of Namibia (TUCNA), Kavihuha Mahongora has called this a “liberal approach perpetuated by capitalists.’
Mahongora accused the President of acting on instructions of his political party Swapo which, according to him, has an agenda of ensuring that Namibians do not have employment opportunities.
“That is the new liberal approach perpetuated by capitalists who have captured the President and want nothing but to suck the blood of the workers and the Namibians. We are very much disturbed by the President,” he said.
The PSC Chairperson Salmaan Jacobs last month revealed that the number of public servants stands at approximately 71,305, a figure excludes those in the employ of the Namibia Defence Force (NDF), Namibia Police Force (NamPol), as well as Prisons and Correctional Service.
Mahongora said with over 100,000 civil servants, reports show that one working Namibian caters for eight non-working Namibians.
“It means that if the number of public servants is 100,000, in fact they are taking care of another 100,000, which the State is failing to take care of. Now if you reduce it to 50,000 for argument’s sake, it means that 500,000 or 400,000 people will be left destitute,” he argued.
The trade unionist lambasted the approach of trying to reduce public servants as “completely sick” and a “flawed” approach, which should never come from the mouth of the head of state who has to ensure we have full employment in Namibia.
“The problem is not about the size of the civil servants but the corruption that the President is presiding over. As TUCNA we are not moving along any idea of public servants to be reduced,” Mahongora concluded.
Meanwhile, Institute of Public Policy Research’s (IPPR) Executive Director Graham Hopwood said it is not clear where the idea is coming from.
“The government’s intention is to reduce the size of the civil service but not by a massive amount. I think everyone acknowledges the civil service is too large and is possibly unsustainable,” he said.
Hopwood pointed out that with elections drawing closer, the idea of reducing the size of civil servants by 2025 seems unlikely.
He emphasised that a country cannot just put thousands of people out of work, it would be a hit to the economy, stating that if some people are out of work they would not have the buying power they had before.
He agreed that the reduction would save money and make it possible to increase salaries, but said the government has a responsibility in the end.
“Compared to other workers in the country, civil servants actually have a lot of security and benefits that other workers do not have. If their savings are cut from the size of the civil servants they should perhaps use other parts of the economy for the private sector to create jobs,” Hopwood.
