PM declares she has no ambition for Swapo vice presidency

By Marianne Nghidengwa and Patience Nyangove
PRIME Minister, Saara Kuungongelwa-Amadhila says she harbours no po­litical ambition to be Swapo’s leader in the near future con­trary to reports that she has expressed interest to claim the Swapo party vice presidency at its Congress slated for later this year.
Kuugong e lwa-Amadhi la stunned political analysts when she did not throw in her bid in the recent hotly contested Swapo Party Women’s Council (SPWC) election where Deputy Prime Minister Netumbo Nan­di-Ndaitwah and Home Affairs Minister Pendukeni Iivula-Itha­na emerged as victors for the SPWC Central Committee and the National Executive Commit­tee.
Veteran politician Eunice Ip­inge re-emerged strongly to re­claim her position as SPWC secretary which she lost 11 years ago to former Health Deputy Minister Petrina Haingura in 2006.
Responding to questions sent to her, Kuungongelwa-Amadhila also opened up to instances of the first billion dollar tenders awarded during her tenure as Finance Minister, inclusive of the Walvis Bay oil storage which spiralled from N$900 million to N$5.5 billion, the controver­sial multimillion dollar mass housing project, the N$9.1 bil­lion Targeted Intervention Pro­gramme for Employment and Economic Growth (TIPEEG), the Neckartal Dam inflated to N$2.6 billion, and the Customs X-Ray scanner deal where Government lost N$600 million.
She also responded to allega­tions that she protected north­ern businesspeople from paying corporate tax, how the coun­try’s economic hardships had started during her tenure as Fi­nance Minister and her views on calls from some quarters for an Owambo President. Below is the full question and answer session with Confidente.
CN: Do you have any aspira­tions to lead the Swapo Party as we approach the 2017 congress?
PM: No, I do not have any such ambitions. I focus myself to the current tasks assigned to me to support the efforts of our Gov­ernment and our party and its leaders to take our country to the envisioned development level.
CN: What is your take on re­ports that some Owambo want an Owambo President?
PM: Both the country and Swapo party have systems for as­signing leadership responsibili­ties. These systems are centred on the values of One Namibia, One Nation and Unity in diver­sity. In our value system, there is no place for tribal considerations in the assignment of national and party responsibilities.
CN: There are allegations that you protected the business community in the north from paying tax while at the finance ministry of which the impact is being felt now, what is your take?
PM: This accusation is false and malicious.
Tax Administration has always been done in full compliance with the tax laws, and I have never in­tervened in the administration of tax laws to influence decisions to divert from the provisions of the law in order to benefit individu­als.
To the contrary, the Ministry has, during this period, initi­ated several reforms to improve tax compliance enforcement and tax administration which have resulted in record growth in rev­enue collection even during the global financial crisis period. These initiatives include;
a) The requirement of a cer­tificate of good standing with the tax office under the public tendering process
b) Introduction of tax audits in cooperation with private audit firms
c) Introduction of a comput­erised tax administration system (ITAS) and specialised
Tax Offices in the Revenue Of­fice
d) Introduction of a Semi-Au­tonomous Revenue Office
e) Development of a double taxation agreements policy frame work, etc.
The ministry also initiated pro­posals for new sources of revenue through new taxes and levies such as; environmental levies, taxes on export of raw materi­als and tax on income from sale of shares in entities exploiting mineral resources etc. It also in­troduced initiatives to curb tax evasion and avoidance.
I challenge those who continue to make these malicious accusa­tions against me to substantiate them.
CN: What is your assessment of performance agreements signed by Permanent Secretar­ies? In terms of accountabil­ity and performance, how have the performance agreements changed the way ministries op­erate?
PM: All Permanent Secretaries have signed performance agree­ments with the Cabinet Secretary and do submit quarterly progress reports which are reviewed by the office to assess progress in imple­menting agreed programmes.
The reviews have revealed that there is good progress in imple­menting agreed programmes and we are on course to meet most of the HPP targets.
Performance agreements help to promote improved per­formance and accountability of Government through these agreements, O/M/A’s actions are better targeted to the set objec­tives and targets, and it is possi­ble to better track progress and assess the impact thereof, so that interventions are made timeously to rectify whatever shortcomings are identified.
The public is also enabled to be informed about government pro­grammes and hold government accountable for its performance.
CN: Briefly tell us about some of the projects you implement­ed such as drought relief, how far have you gone?
PM: The Drought Relief Pro­gramme aims to provide assis­tance to 595 839 people who are food insecure due to the impact of the drought. So far, the fol­lowing assistance was provided to the communities at a cost of N$298 713 634.40;
•Food provision
•Water provision
•Provision of seeds
In addition to this, N$1 996 791.95 was received as donations from International Development Partners, while local companies and individuals donated N$550 000.00.
CN: How do you respond to allegations that the current “li­quidity” crisis started during your tenure as Finance Minis­ter?
P.M: The country is currently facing economic and financial challenges but it is not facing a “liquidity” crisis.
Information on the financial performance of Government is published in the annual budgets.
The Government also submits itself to assessments by interna­tional organisations such as IMF through its article IV consulta­tions and credit rating agencies. All these reviews have confirmed sound public finance and mac­roeconomic management in Na­mibia.
The country’s macroeconomic position has been strong over the past years, with the coun­try recording three consecutive years of budget surplus (2006/07, 2007/08 & 2008/9) and sig­nificantly reducing public debt, which enabled Government to use fiscal policy to support the economy during the period of the global economic crisis, thereby averting an economic recession and protecting jobs and public service delivery, while still main­taining fiscal sustainability.
As a result of Government’s sound macroeconomic poli­cies, the country has managed to maintain high levels of in­vestments and economic growth even during the global economic crisis period. It also acquired and maintained investment grade credit ratings from two rating agencies and made a success­ful debut into the international capital markets and a successful return to the markets a few times after this debut.
The current economic and fi­nancial challenges faced by our country do not come from any financial mismanagement in Government. Rather, they are a result of the current challenges in the global and regional econo­mies and the debilitating drought our country is experiencing. The effects of these negative develop­ments are being felt on our econ­omy through lower economic growth, lower public revenue and higher public debt, amongst others.
CN: The first billion dollar tenders inclusive of Neckartal Dam, fuel storage and contain­er terminal at the coast, mass housing and airport scanners (to name a few) were all ap­proved during your tenure at the finance ministry, how did you protect Government’s inter­ests and taxpayers’ money with regards to these awards?
PM: The Government pro­grammes are approved by Cabi­net after investigations and plan­ning by sector ministries.
The tender awards are made by the Tender Board as an autono­mous body in terms of the Ten­der Board Act. This has always been the case and is still so, and the contracts were signed after the approved legal clearances.
The Ministry of Finance initi­ated reforms to the procurement system that include a new legisla­tion that has now been approved by Parliament. Reforms in Gov­ernment expenditures and rev­enue collection were also intro­duced that are ongoing and are yielding results.
Projects implemented by SOEs are managed under the systems of those respective SOEs and are overseen by those SOEs and the line ministries. Under the new Public Procurement Act, such projects will be covered by the Central Government Procure­ment System, while the Public Enterprises Amendment Act strengthens Central Government control over SOEs governance through the Ministry of Public Enterprises.
CN: Kindly tell us more about TIPEEG and how its constructs began to affect the current fis­cus/Government account?
PM: TIPEEG is a Cabinet ap­proved programme that was im­plemented under the coordina­tion of the National Planning Commission assisted by a Tech­nical Committee made up of of­ficials from different O/M/As.
The budget documents and the NDP Implementation reports give an account of the implemen­tation of TIPEEG.
The costs of the TIPEEG pro­jects are included in the budget allocations to respective min­istries and their impact on the economy and fiscal position are included in the GDP and fiscal figures for the respective years. These can be obtained from the Ministry of Finance and the Na­tional Planning Commission.