By: Fransina Nghidengwa
Urban and rural development minister Erastus Uutoni has lashed out at the ministry’s staff over issues such as poor service and infrastructure maintenance as he addressed the annual staff meeting yesterday.
Uutoni said currently communities are losing their land because of a lack of understanding of the land policy. The rural development directorate, according to the minister, is invisible.
“Staff members are delaying submission and they find a way to blame the office of the minister while files are still with them. This needs urgent improvement” he said.
Uutoni urged those in management positions to take their responsibilities seriously and properly manage their staff members in matters such as adherence to official hours of attendance, and management of leave of absence through submission of applications for leave to ensure that all absences are accounted for.
“You as public servants are the backbone of the government and must strive to always deliver top quality service to the public,” he said.
He said they are expected to uphold the relevant public service values in their conduct in office on matters such as diligence in their work, an ethos of hard work and selflessness in their dedication to duty, and trustworthiness and reliability in their ability to execute their functions.
The minister also attributed old infrastructure to pressure from population growth in local authorities, and non-budgeting toward sanitation infrastructure, which he said calls for technical people to map out all local authorities with sanitation problems to direct budgeting toward that and infrastructure maintenance.
“Some buildings are about to collapse. The procurement unit sometimes is very slow in the procurement process, which needs improvement”
Uutoni further said staff members should seriously reflect on whether they are doing enough in putting their time fully at the disposal of the ministry, adding that the relevant directorates need to assist settlements through the regional councils to create jobs and attract investment to the settlement.
The informal Settlement Upgrade Programme has initiated a pilot project and smart partnership between the ministry, Khomas Regional Council, National Housing Enterprise, and the City of Windhoek and have currently built over 600 houses in the informal areas of Windhoek.