Improving the management and performance of public enterprises in Namibia

Context

Public Enterprises (PEs) play a decisive role in the Namibian economy. They serve as a channel through which the Government can achieve high-level and cost-effective service delivery However, the public sector in Namibia suffers from corruption, insufficient accountability and integrity. To combat this, the Namibian Government aims to commercialise several government departments. For the implementation of this, it set up the Ministry of Public Enterprises in 2015 to ensure more effective management of PEs and commercial public enterprises (CPEs).

The Ministry of Public Enterprises, which is responsible for managing the CPEs, has only limited resources and staff to perform this task effectively. In 2020, the High-Level Panel on the Namibian Economy (HLPNE) therefore recommended to transform the MPE into a holding company by 2025. The Government’s current plans are to merge the Ministry of Finance with the MPE into a ‘super-ministry’, the Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises.

Objective

The institutional, human resources and operational conditions to ensure more efficient operation of Namibia’s CPEs have improved.

Approach

The PMPE project works in the following three fields of activity to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of CPEs by creating better institutional, administrative and economic policy conditions:

1. Formulating and developing the legal and institutional framework for the MoF/MPE to establish a holding company, with a corresponding action plan and concrete implementation schedule.
    
2. Consolidating the human resources and communicative foundations for integrated service provision and analysis through training measures. Evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of the CPEs based on a digital Performance Monitoring System (IPMS).
    
3. Improving compliance with accountability obligations to the current ministry by selected Namibian CPEs, using IPMS to enhance the financial controlling system.

Last update: February 2023