Shivute defends NamRA management structure
Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA) commissioner Sam Shivute has defended the tax-collecting authority’s seemingly bloated management structure.
He said to become world-class, they need to hire the crème de la crème, which does not come cheaply.
Shivute was responding to media queries during the agency’s first engagement on Tuesday, after it had advertised vacancies for 21 managers last week.
Namra is currently headed by Shivute as the commissioner, followed by an executive assistant, with about 1 200 employees, of whom 1 184 (95%) were seconded from the finance ministry prior to NamRA’s creation.
There are nine more executive positions, which include the head of domestic taxes, head of customs and excise, chief financial officer and corporate services, chief human capital and strategy, chief information officer, chief legal services, chief internal audit and risk management, chief communications and international relations, and chief internal affairs.
Additionally, NamRA is expected to have regional managers for the 14 political regions.
Shivute justified this by saying the revenue agency aims to become the best in the world, adding that their structure is benchmarked against other similar agencies within the region and at World Trade Organisation standards.
He disputed the notion that NamRA has over-employed, saying that when his team came on board, they reviewed the initial NamRA structure and cut and consolidated some positions.
He cautioned against comparing NamRA to any local organisation, saying the agency has to be present in almost every town, at every port, airport and border. Over the years, Namibia’s tax collection success rate averaged 95%. When asked why a semi-autonomous revenue agency was created, Shivute said it was necessitated by leakages in tax collection and other inefficiencies.