Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila has said the government has taken a decision to support locally produced goods, but quality and fair pricing should not be compromised in this endeavour.
Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said this on Monday during her address at the annual meeting of the Prime Minister with the executive directors of ministries, where she touched on a number of topics.
The prime minister said the procurement framework has been amended to provide for the support of locally produced goods through the Code of Good Practice on Preferences, which provides for preferences for locally produced goods and services and which was recently launched by the Ministry of Finance.
“All Offices, Ministries and Agencies must implement this code of good practice, which also has the element of empowering local entities,” Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said.
She however noted that quality and fair price should not be compromised and the government must demonstrate openness and equal opportunities for bidders.
“Complaints about wrongdoing in procurement must be addressed. Capacity building must also be enhanced to address shortcomings,” the prime minister said.
She further stated that all ministries must implement maintenance plans for public infrastructure, saying maintenance of infrastructure is key and the cost of replacing it is high.
“I would like to call on each ED to ensure that all our ministries implement maintenance plans for public infrastructure. Whether they are the facilities we are accommodated in as offices, or the infrastructure required to provide services and drive the growth of the economy, we need to ensure that we have a proper maintenance plan,” she said.
Kuugongelwa-Amadhila also mentioned the implications of climate change with regards to flooding in northern Namibia, and urged EDs to continuously collaborate to share resources and eliminate any duplications in the deployment of resources to provide relief.
“We need to ensure that the relief required by these communities is provided timeously. Most importantly, we should mainstream disaster risk management into our programmes so that situations of the kind we are experiencing through flooding do not catch us unprepared. We should not have to spend massive resources, often redirecting them away from other programmes that are important for economic growth and job creation,” she said.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
