The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) allocated N$80 million in its budget to purchase Information Technology (IT) equipment.
Part of the budget will be used for an electronic system to manage and harmonise daily subsistence and travel (S&T) allowances. The initiative aligns with the OPM’s efforts to coordinate government services electronically (e-government).
The government spends not less than N$200 million on S&T, thus the acquisition of systems will enable state oversight and better control to avoid abuse and exploitation. Thus, devised strategies to contain the wage bill in the public service, including the introduction of payroll audits and reform of the PSEMAS.
Other programmes include the Integrated Food and Nutrition Registry and Early Warning System, E-government Procurement System, Citizenship System, Daily Subsistence Allowance System (DSA), Digital Identity development and a Performance Management System.
These were listed by Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila while motivating the budget allocation, saying the equipment is aimed at supporting various offices, ministries and agencies to improve public service IT management.
“Part of the allocation is for the acquisition of IT infrastructure, such as hardware (servers), to capacitate the hosting environment for online IT solutions, and this is consistent with the recommendations of the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR). Therefore, the Office will start the feasibility of establishing the National Data Centre, to support digital transformation initiatives,” said Kuugongelwa-Amadhila.
OPM was allocated a budget of N$1.104 billion of which N$1,063 billion is towards operational expenditures and N$41 million for capital projects.
For the 2023/24 financial year, the Office was allocated a budget of N$1.119 billion, which was slightly higher.
OPM further made a budgetary provision of N$717.4 million to cover the expenditure associated with the drought relief programme for the current year and the conducting of the annual vulnerability assessment and analysis.
This is in addition to the operationalisation of the National Emergency Operation Centre and the development of the National Resilience Building Strategies, as well as the continued rollout of the Commodity and Beneficiary Management Information System.
“The current drought programme for 2023/24 will end on 30 June 2024. However, the rainfall pattern has started to show drought and low grazing patterns in most parts of the country. As a result of this, the Office will conclude assessment on the immediate interventions needed to save lives and support livelihood, due to imminent drought in 2024,” the PM said.
For the financial year 2023/24, N$892 million was availed for the drought relief programme, and by the end of February 2024 N$361.6 million, of which N$307 million was expended towards food assistance, while the logistics costs took up N$33.7 million.
The cost of livestock support, in the form of subsidies to participating farmers, was N$7.2 million, and N$13.8 million towards water provision. A total of 284,462 households are catered for under this programme.
OPM also allocated N$35.3 million towards improving the constitutional obligations of the Public Service Commission, a further N$73.5 million to champion public service management, and N$15.6 million to improve Cabinet administration support management.
In addition, N$160.4 million is towards the improvement of the policy coordination and support services, while N$21.9 million is for coordination and administration of government leadership.
