Government fighting unemployment

Government reviews strategies to create more jobs
Key government departments tasked to do their work
By Asser Ntinda

Government has stepped up its vigour to create more jobs and reduce skyrocketing unemployment in the country, whose rate currently now stands at slightly over 50 per cent of the country’s work force.

A Cabinet release has revealed that the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare has been directed to create a special fund to support internship and mentorship programmes, while the Ministry of Education and that of Labour and Social Welfare have been mandated to formulate a paper on enforcement measures regarding understudies.

Cabinet has also directed that the requirement of experience for recruitment in the public service should not be allowed to block entry into the public service employment and that emphasis should be on qualifications. The Public Service Commission has now been directed to review regulations on entry level positions.

“Furthermore,” read the Cabinet release, “the rule of not skipping grades in the public service should be done away with and Cabinet directed the Public Service Commission to amend the regulation and come up with appropriate measures.”

Cabinet has further directed that laws governing professional bodies such as the Engineering Council should be revised to make them responsive to the country’s situation and needs, advising that ministries under which such bodies fall should ensure that such bodies are responsive to the country’s needs.

Government is now busy formulating mechanisms aimed at encouraging Namibians to take up their shares of positions in regional and international organizations, something which has not been encouraged in the past few years.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also been directed to oversee this process. Government has also instructed that Namibians quotas at foreign missions are filled. Namibians studying abroad have been encouraged to take up these positions.

The National Planning Commission, NPC, has also been tasked to fast-track the finalization of the Human Resource Development Planning project. The Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare has been tasked to do the same regarding the Employment Creation Bill.

These are some of the drastic Cabinet decisions over the past months on how the country can reduce its unemployment rate, which has particularly hit the youth and people living in rural areas. Some of the key decisions include:

*The National Youth Council has been tasked to set up regional and constituency forums in all 13 regions. The NYC will now be strengthened to advice the youth on employment related matters.

*The Ministry of Education has been tasked to source funding from the Development Fund at the Social Security Commission, SSC, to support skills development.

*The Ministry of Education has been tasked to expand the provision of vocational education and training to absorb many unemployed youth and to introduce bridging courses in science and mathematics to increase enrolment at institutions of high learning.

One of the key decisions taken by government is to provide start-up assistance to successful trainees to be sustainable in self-employment efforts, while the Ministry of Trade and Industry is to develop more business incubation centers around the country.

“All government institutions should immediately implement programmes with the potential to create employment,” read one of the Cabinet decisions. “Each constituency should be allocated funds for labour intensive programmes for employment creation.”

The Ministry of Works and Transport has been tasked to review regulations to allow new entrants to participate in public works, while companies that have been awarded government tenders should be encouraged to give jobs to those who are not employed.

The Office of the Prime Minister will continue to coordinate and oversee the operations of the Employment Creation Task Force, and report progress thereon to Cabinet regularly.

“Employment creation was identified as one of the government priorities at independence and the government came up with several initiatives to address the situation. Unfortunately, persistent high unemployment rates prevailed in the country,” read the Cabinet release.

“The age group mostly affected by unemployment is the group aged between 16 to 19 years with a total unemployment rate of 86,8 per cent, declining to 75 per cent for the next age group of 20 – 24 years.”

Government has acknowledged that unemployment in the country has reached unacceptable rates and has called for urgent action to address the situation. President Hifikepunye Pohamba has asked Prime Minister Nahas Angula to convene an urgent meeting of key stakeholders in employment creation to come up with concrete government actions to create and accelerate employment creation in the country.

The Employment Creation Task Force has met several times to map out short, medium and long term strategies on job creation in the country, but it recommended that it needed a legal framework for employment creation, hence the urgent need for the Employment Creation Bill.

The National Planning Commission, NPC, is now busy reviewing existing policies and legislation on employment creation with a view to harmonizing policies and identifying challenges and weaknesses and then formulate a government policy paper to address such challenges.

The government’s position paper will be presented to the Employment Creation Summit for wider consultation and input. The date for the summit has not yet been set.

“The Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare was tasked to conduct a survey on the unemployed who are found at street corners,” Cabinet has directed. “It was felt that there is a need for an effective labour market information system to provide information on the profile of the unemployed.”