Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698747075165.pdf (Namibia)
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m » 2 -0 -t C m - '-=' -0» (I' '-='C- n ~ J: (I' » o:J • -Io With reference to the above subject matter, below Ministry of Public Enterprises responses to questions: 1.
Question: Can the Minister share with the August house the concern of the Government over a combined staff complement of 14,500 and the decision of the Government to move ahead with plans to make parastatals more viable?

Response to Question 1of "Notice of Questions" • Hon.
Members of this August House, allow me to respond to the concern workforce within to make sector and the decision the +- 14,500 combined by Government of the affordability regarding the public enterprises parastatal more financially viable.

• Fundamentally, established contribute and contribute effectively Public Enterprises within provide such as job creation to the national to social equity sustainablfy to more the Namibian goods public context are services, and and poverty reduction development agenda.
• However, it is without doubt that the financial and operational performance due mainly situation of our Public Enterprise sector has been historicaly to the culminated lack into the establishment of coordinated, centralised of the Ministry of Public oversight.

This dismal, Enterprises (MP El in March 2015.


On the basis above, MPE is expected Public Enterprise Reform Project This project will be the embodiment Public Enterprises' products providing landscape to launch the highly ambitious the next decade.

that will span over of our road to transform the current entities, and efficient into highly effective and services in the best interest of our Nation • We have formulated initiatives.
These will the roadmap for this project, defining certain key focus on: o establishing critical policy guidelines such as a Ownership policy for the state and Performance related Remuneration Directives, 2 o enhancement of the effectiveness and performance of Boardsby appointing competent and skillful board members and c/osley monitoring their performance, o strengthening Shareholder oversight by repealing and replacing the PE Governance Act, o implementation and Evaluation System (PEMES)which can effectively report on the performance and compliance of PE's, the Public Enterprises Monitoring of o improving the Ministry's internal systems and processes and adequately capacitate the ministerial staff.
• You may recall Honourable members of this August house that during the State of the Nation Address by HisExcellency, Dr. Hage Geingob that was delivered in this very house during the official opening of the 5th sessionof the 6th Parliament on 14 February 2017, mention was made of the need to take cognisance of the reality facing us amidst the current economic to achieve headwinds.

We were reminded to attempt maximum resultswith minimum resources.

2.
2.

Question: How has the Government equipped itself technically through your Ministry to play the roles of a professional shareholder prober in SOE's to avoid recurring bailouts haunting us year after year?

Response to Question 2 of "Notice of Questions" Enterprise Governance • Hon.

Members of this August House the establishment of Ministryof Public Enterprises ushers in a new dispensation and a remodeling of the PE's.
Thiscan be explained as follows: during the dispensation of the State- Owned to compliance and performance under the then legal regime was under constant bridge by the PE's, mainly due to legal and technical constraints.

This meant limitations on implementing effective monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to hold PE'saccountable on their performance.
there were major Council, matters pertaining that 3 • Honourable members of this August house, you are aware that my ministryisnow two years old and inherited a myriad of challenges.

Some of the challenges still pertain to the legal environment under which the SOEGCoperated and as a result the current transformation of the PE's sector requires a new legislation.

ThusHonourable members, my ministry is currently working relentlessly on the amendment of the existing Act (Public Enterprise Governance Act no.
2 of 2016).

The current Act in its current form is not sufficient to deal with the transformation of the PE's landscape, hence the repeal.

• The amended Act will pave the way for the new Governance framework, commencing with the Hybrid Governance Model which will initially focus on the commercial PE'sand will herald in the appointment of competent boards of directors and entering into enforcable governance and performance agreements.

reform initiatives.
reform initiatives.

I am glad to report • Honourable Members of this August House, notwithstanding the current legal challenges of the current Act, my Ministry has embarked upon a series of that despite some challenges and delays, we have finally managed to recruit suitable professional staff during the second half of 2016 which will fast track the "reform project" the Ministry intends to launch shortly.
The reform project will focus on the gradual reduction of subsidiesand bail-outs and consequently, where necessary, wean off some of the PEsfrom state funding.

that 3.

Question: Can the Minister appraise the August House and the public how many non-performing SOE's has been weaned off and how many has been earmarked for privatizing?
Response to Question 3 of "Notice of Questions" • Honourable Members, irrespective of some PE's that are non- performing, there are still others that are performing very well and this includes amongst others: Namport, Nampower, MTC, MeatCo, Roads Authority, NPTHand Fishcor.

4 • Honourable Members of this August House, it is unfortunately that some of the Public Enterprises have been making loses on an annual basis which warranted for their bailouts in order to enable them to stay afloat.
The following PEsare currently identified as the main culprits with an unsustainable huge financial footprint on the state coffers: »- Air Namibia »- Roads Construction Company »- Namibia Airports Company »- TransNamib »- Namibia Wildlife Resorts »- Namibia Broadcasting Corporation »- Universityof Namibia »- Namibia University of Science and Technology »- NamWater, and »- The Zambezi Water Front • Honourable Members of this August House, position papers on each of the sectors in which the commercial enterprises are active are in the making.
We have also developed the framework for the Ownership Policy for Commercial PEs.

This policy will guide the Government of Namibia in its ownership role of the commercial enterprise and it will be a practical working policy which will be used to gauge the enterprises and then recommend appropriate reforms where required.

The policy will ask the following questions: Why are we invested in the enterprises?

Should we remain invested?


And if not do we bring in the private sector through a Public-Private Partnership or perhaps through listing on the stock exchange?

What criteria should guide the due diligence process when we invest in new enterprises?

How do we ensure at all times Namibia attains best value from the commercial enterprise portfolio, returns?

These are both in terms of pertinent and complex questions we will need to answer in a collective spirit, guided by good research and strong evidence.
financial and socio-economic 4.

Question: Can the Minister share with the Honourables members of the August house how many SOE has shown growth potential and contribute positively to the growth of the domestic economy since your Ministry'S formation?

5 Response to Question 4 of "Notice of Questions" • Honourable Members of this August House, unfortunately there is no quick fix to the complex challenges that are facing PE's.
From our benchmark studies we concluded that for those countries deemed to have successfullyreformed their PE sector and finally boasting significant contributions to domestic economic growth, it was a long hard journey spaning over a 40 year period.

Regardless, my ministry is in full engagement with the leaders in the PE's sector, currently being very receptive to the eminent changes to come.
• Earlieron I alluded to the nature of the current legal environment which to embark lead to the full is insufficient to address the reform initiatives that we want upon.

The finalisation of implementation of the effective governance framework.

the repeal Act will • Honourable members, we all acknowledge PEs do contribute to economic growth but our current Challenge is that it is still difficult to compute the PE sector exact contribution the country's GDP.
My Ministry intends to redress thls by coming up with a workable solution to inform on the specific contribution of the PEsto GDP.

• However, the PEshave over the years contributed to the aspirations of in term of poverty reduction and job creation and they will Government continue to do so, but going forward with a focus on sustainability.

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