Govt splashes N$26 million Prados to avoid servicing old cars

Works and transport ministry executive director Esther Kaapanda has defended the ministry’s decision to purchase a new fleet of sport utility Vehicles (SUVs) for N$26 million to avoid the high cost of servicing old cars.

She told The Namibian on Wednesday that maintaining the current fleet has become expensive and unsustainable.

This comes after the Ministry of Works and Transport confirmed that it had procured 20 Toyota Prados to supplement the current vehicle fleet.

McHenry Venaani this week told the publication that his probe into the procurement of government vehicles was mainly on the second- hand purchase policy.

He stated that this was a practice previously done by the ministry, but with the new procurement of cars, he questioned if the ministry has abandoned the policy.

The ministry says the current vehicle fleet has aged, and maintaining it has become expensive.

“During the 2024/25 financial year, the ministry was allocated a budget of N$26 million for vehicle procurement, thus 20 Toyota Prados were procured to supplement the current vehicle pool fleet,” Kaapanda stated.

She revealed that during the 2023/24 financial year, the transport ministry was allocated a budget of N$25 million for procurement of vehicles.

Of the allocated amount, the ministry procured 32 pool vehicles – two Toyota Land Cruisers and 30 Toyota Fortuners.

These government vehicles, she said, were used as pool vehicles. These are vehicles not assigned to an individual, but can be used by all ministries.

During the 2023/24 fiscal year, the government garage did not procure vehicles, especially for public office-bearers whose tenures ended in March.

Some quotas have questioned why the ministry is splashing money on expensive cars while roads continue to be in a bad condition due to the heavy rainfall.

Last year, some regional governors wanted the government to lift the ban on buying vehicles for public officials and to upgrade travelling allowance rates.

They shared this with the parliamentary standing committee on transport, infrastructure and housing.

The ban, introduced in 2020 by former president Hage Geingob as part of the government’s cost-cutting measures, restricts the purchase of vehicles for political office-bearers and other public officials. This was then lifted in August 2024.

The ministry, however, clarified that the moratorium, set to expire in 2024, only prohibits the purchase of 4x4s and sedans by senior government officials, such as ministers and their deputies.

Despite the moratorium, the committee said the finance ministry told it the ban does not extend to vehicles essential for efficient government service delivery.