Maintenance of schools not our responsibility – Mutorwa
Works minister John Mutorwa says his ministry is no longer responsible for minor renovations and upkeep of government assets such as schools and hostels because each ministry has a maintenance unit in place.
During a press conference earlier this week, the minister responded to concerns about the decline of several government facilities such as schools where some parents are often forced to erect makeshift classrooms to aid teaching and learning.
“Not only schools, but every government property. There is one aspect we need to understand. There was a time when procurement of public services and goods by government was done thorough an institution that was the Tender Board. That board did their work in accordance with the provisions of the Tender Board Act,” he said.
Mutorwa added: “Now, during that time, almost everything - whether the handling of a tender, the appointment of contractors and consultants - was done by the ministry of works. Whether it was the delay in payment, there was always a long queue here. In 2015, after having considered various issues, including the fact that the people who sat on the Tender Board were accused of being judge and executioner, it was decided to bring in an independent body".
He stressed that the Central Procurement Board of Namibia has since put the necessary measures in place to handle procurement affairs.
“If something goes wrong, the first call should be to that ministry responsible and they should be asked what went wrong. The issue of everything being the fault of the ministry of works is not correct. Even when we go for the budget debate, the capital projects are budgeted under the vote of another ministry. We are not washing our hands of these problems - if our engineers are needed, we will go and assess and help,” Mutorwa explained.
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During a press conference earlier this week, the minister responded to concerns about the decline of several government facilities such as schools where some parents are often forced to erect makeshift classrooms to aid teaching and learning.
“Not only schools, but every government property. There is one aspect we need to understand. There was a time when procurement of public services and goods by government was done thorough an institution that was the Tender Board. That board did their work in accordance with the provisions of the Tender Board Act,” he said.
Mutorwa added: “Now, during that time, almost everything - whether the handling of a tender, the appointment of contractors and consultants - was done by the ministry of works. Whether it was the delay in payment, there was always a long queue here. In 2015, after having considered various issues, including the fact that the people who sat on the Tender Board were accused of being judge and executioner, it was decided to bring in an independent body".
He stressed that the Central Procurement Board of Namibia has since put the necessary measures in place to handle procurement affairs.
“If something goes wrong, the first call should be to that ministry responsible and they should be asked what went wrong. The issue of everything being the fault of the ministry of works is not correct. Even when we go for the budget debate, the capital projects are budgeted under the vote of another ministry. We are not washing our hands of these problems - if our engineers are needed, we will go and assess and help,” Mutorwa explained.
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