President Hage Geingob on Tuesday said he has observed with increasing concern negative headlines in the media which create the impression that nothing positive is taking place in Namibia.
Geingob, while opening the first Cabinet meeting for the year, said such headlines are amplified through social media and radio talk shows, thereby influencing public opinion and painting a negative image of the country.
“If one was to read print media daily it would lead to depression. As Government, and as ministers, we should not shy away from communicating our achievements and successes effectively. We should use every opportunity to inform the nation and the world of the great strides this country has taken over the past 32 years,” he said.
The president also applauded ministers who respond to questions and queries from the public as well as inform citizens on various activities and programmes carried out by their respective ministries. He said this practice should continue, and ministers should be in a position to answer questions forwarded to their respective offices.
Geingob however also admitted that much needs to be done on the objectives set out for Vision 2030, the National Development Plans (NDP) and the Harambee Prosperity Plans (HPP) which are impact plans aimed at accelerating implementation.
“Therefore, I charge all ministers to ensure that they implement to the letter, projects under their portfolios which are contained in the NDP5 and HPP2 without delay. You must prioritise those projects and at the end of the day, come back and report a 100 per cent implementation rate. It has been said that we are good at planning and developing impressive plans, but when it comes to implementation, things don’t move. This year, we want an accelerated pace of implementation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Geingob informed the meeting that he intends to call a broader consultative meeting on the outcome of the 2022 Namibia Senior Secondary Certificate Ordinary (NSSCO) Level and Namibia Senior Secondary Certificate Advanced Subsidiary (NSSCAS) Level examination results.
The meeting will discuss the state of education in Namibia and deliberate on ways to improve performance in the sector.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
