MANY Namibians are astonished by the comments made by Inspector General Sebastian Ndeitunga in an article published in Informanté’s edition of 7 February 2008 on allegations of misuse of State vehicles by two senior VIP police officers. General Ndeitunga’s justification is nothing less than another form of furthering corruption. These two senior VIP police officers are Director and Deputy Director respectively just in case the public is somewhat confused by police ranks (Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner) This is what is referred to as management cadre positions in the Government.  All Government cadres are entitled to what is known as a motor vehicle scheme. Commissioner Nakanyala and Deputy Commissioner Mutota are beneficiaries of the scheme. A scheme vehicle is not a private vehicle as some of them including Inspector General Ndeitunga tend to think. All Management cadres benefiting from the scheme are compelled to use/travel with scheme vehicles while executing their official duties, so there are no valid justifications whatsoever for allocating these two senior VIP police officers with extra Government vehicles.  In other words, Sir, management cadres are not allowed to drive Government owned vehicles, unless their scheme vehicles are undergoing repairs. Even in such a case they have to be granted permission by the accounting officer of that office, Minister or Agency to use a Government vehicle. In the case of Commissioner Nakanyala and Deputy Commissioner Mutota their scheme vehicles are simply parked and they opt to use Government vehicles which they are not supposed to do. Is that what General Ndeitunga is referring to as a “security matter”?  Just for argument’s sake, a person like Deputy Commissioner Mutota when travelling on official duty whether inside or outside Windhoek, does so accompanying the President either aboard an aircraft or in the state motorcade, he only uses the state vehicle allocated to him as his transport to and from home, attend meetings and private matters. The activities indicated above are supposed to be carried out with the scheme vehicle. The Inspector General should not defend his ill-advised decision with the sensitiveness of the job these officers are performing. We know what it entails. A humble appeal is to our President (Hifikepunye Pohamba) to get rid of this rather ugly practice especially because  these two officials are close to the President, which could be the reasoning of the Inspector General, which is wrong.
Concerned Government employee

Dear Editor,

Namibia has been hard hit by price increases in fuel and other commodities such as food as well as transport. This is a headache for all government employees as their salaries are peanuts and have remained so for a long time.
The Government must look into this matter seriously before we also go on strike like the South Africans. It is believed that there will be an increment this year of 5%, but to me this is nothing at all compared to the way prices are going up in Namibia. There is even a very big gap between the salaries of private employees and public employees and also if you compare the salaries of the parastatals whose institutions are in some cases wholly Government owned as Government is the sole shareholder. In the long run one might raise a question as to whether Government or public employees are appreciated for the work they are doing. This is really a very big problem that must be addressed by our Parliamentarians before another mass strike hits Namibia as it did South Africa. At least the increment should be 10% in order to accommodate us public employees within the inflation rate of goods and services that has hit Namibia.
One fails to understand our Government, on one hand they are encouraging us to stop relying on Government houses or official accommodation and start building or buying our own houses. The question is, in this Namibia of today, where can a staff member earning a salary of N$20 000 per annum or even N$80 000 per annum buy a house when the cost of houses especially here in Windhoek are so high and only start at N$250 000 upwards. Now if I buy a house from my little salary, then what do I eat at the end of the day and what about my children’s school fees because all my salary will go to the house?
 Please can our Government look into this matter and give us a better increment that may motivate us as public servants, otherwise all best employees will leave the government for private companies or we will under perform until our demands are met. Please help us we cannot live with these current salaries, we need a better increment of at least 10%.