Cabinet has directed that the construction of the Food Bank be revisited, with a view to obtaining more reasonable and affordable quotations, while in the same breath announcing it was pushing ahead with the construction of a new parliament, at an estimated cost far over N$2 billion.
In a statement release yesterday, following a recent Cabinet meeting, the presidency announced that a press conference will soon be held about the building of the new parliament.
President Hage Geingob is said to have expressed concern about the cost of the parliament building, which has escalated to an estimated N$2.7 billion.
The presidency said the new building has “enjoyed significant public attention, especially on social media”.
“In the same vein, the Minister of Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare (Zephania Kameeta) was directed to engage the Minister of Works and Transport to explore affordable building options for the construction of the Food Bank,” the statement reads.
Geingob is also said to have expressed the need to engage wholesale outlets such as Pick n Pay, Woermann Brock, Checkers and others, about storing the food meant for the Food Bank, as a cost cutting measure.
The wholesalers will also be engaged in order to determine what role they could play to assist in the distribution of food by the street committees that are currently being formed and trained.
It was also resolved to, as an interim measure, utilise the warehouses of the Office of the Prime Minister to store food supplies and roll out the food distribution programme to identified Windhoek constituencies, on a pilot basis.
According to the presidency, it was highlighted at the Cabinet meeting that government had not adequately justified the rationale for the proposed new parliament building.
“The parliament building is an important undertaking to strengthen the functionality of democratic governance architecture.
“However, once completed, it may also be seen as a national asset and a legacy institution for the future generations,” the press statement reads.
The presidency said it is in this context that Cabinet directed that a press conference to be arranged by Vice-President Nickey Iyambo, to expound on the rationale for the proposed new parliament building, and clarify issues pertaining to the financing of the project.
The presidency said it would also like to dispel the notion that there is N$2.4 billion laying around in the current Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for the construction of a new parliament, and that government’s spending priorities is misplaced.
“As documented in the recently approved MTEF, which outlines government’s spending priorities over the next three years, only N$58 million out of a capital budget of N$32.5 billion had been allocated towards the construction of a new parliament,” the presidency said.
It said that this amount represents less than half of a percent of the approved capital budget.
“Typically, a project of the nature of the parliament cannot be expected to be completed over a short period of time, and progress will depend on funds availability, as well as other competing priorities, especially social priorities. It is thus, conceivable that the construction of a new parliament, could take close to a decade to complete.”
At the same Cabinet meeting, Geingob is said to have raised concerns about the “exorbitant cost for the construction of the Food Bank, which in essence defeats the objective of the project”. Government is also expected to pay to pay for the land it is built on.
GORDON JOSEPH