Minister of Finance and Public Enterprises Iipumbu Shiimi says the government has lifted a five-year moratorium on purchasing new vehicles for ministers and other government employees.
The prohibition was imposed by the late President Hage Geingob in 2020. Former Finance and Public Enterprises Minister Calle Schlettwein put a halt on purchasing government vehicles in 2015 as part of the government’s austerity measures.
Shiimi noted that the halt was imposed due to the decrease in commodity prices and the economic strain caused by Covid-19.
“One will have to understand the context that it was done, at a specific time the country was really in a deep crisis. First of all, when commodity prices started to fall and then Covid-19 came, we had to prioritise expenditure,†Shiimi noted.
He highlighted that the government had to impose a moratorium on the recruitment and purchasing of new government vehicles.
“So one of those things that we were looking at was how do we slow down on recruitment for instance and how do we slow down the purchasing of vehicles,†he said.
The removal of the moratorium on the recruitment of civil servants and purchasing of government vehicles was necessitated by the change in context and the need for civil servants in the government offices to provide services.
“But now you cannot do that forever, because it means you will no longer be able to be effective. If you don’t have vehicles for instance, if a significant number of vacancies in government ministries and agencies are vacant, you can’t deliver services,†he said.
The halt was lifted because there has been an improvement in government revenue, as the country is not experiencing Covid-19 and the rise in commodity prices over the years.
This comes as the National Council Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure, and Housing suggested that the ban on purchasing new vehicles for Regional Councils, OMAs, and Government Garages should be lifted to improve service delivery.
