Inspector General of the Namibian Police Force (NamPol), Lieutenant General Joseph Shikongo, has reassured Namibians and visitors that despite Namibia's recent decline in its ranking among the safest countries, law enforcement is striving to safeguard both citizens and visitors throughout the country. Shikongo responded to a recent article published in a local newspaper stating that Namibia was rated by the global polling group Gallup as one of the worst countries in terms of law and order. In the latest poll results, which were based on interviews conducted in over 140 countries and areas in 2022, Namibia received an overall law-and-order score of 62, a decrease from last year's 65. This positioned Namibia as the 11th worst country globally concerning law and order. Shikongo made these remarks during the launch of the Festive Season Road Safety Campaign in Swakopmund on Friday. 'We simply want to assure the public that we will strive to enhance our standing in the index to ensure public safety and secur ity. Moreover, I believe the world should not only focus on the number of incidents involving tourists because our national police force aims to ensure security and safety for the entire population, regardless of their background,' he emphasised. He also urged all law enforcement officers assigned various duties during this festive season campaign to be extremely vigilant and committed to fulfilling their duties impartially and conscientiously. He further appealed to all stakeholders, including drivers, passengers, pedestrians and the road safety community as a whole, to collaborate for the success of this Festive Season Campaign. The campaign, which commenced on 17 November and will run until 17 January 2024, will be implemented nationwide, with a particular focus on the notorious B1 and B2 highways. The objective of the campaign is to achieve a significant reduction in crashes, injuries, and fatalities by targeting common road offenses. Source: NAMPA Recourse to internal and external debt remains a short-term solution to enable the state to meet its commitments, particularly the repayment of loans estimated at nearly 25 billion dinars, Finance Minister Sihem Namsia said. During a plenary session held on Saturday, where she presented explanations to the questions raised by the MPs during the general debate on the draft state budget, the economic balance and the 2024 finance law, the minister added that the recourse to short-term debt is a solution to enable the state to meet its commitments. These are related to the repayment of loans, salary expenditures and subsidies for basic products, social transfers and hydrocarbons. She pointed out that fiscal resources are important for achieving public financial sustainability, and stressed that the draft budget for 2024 provides for the improvement of budget revenues in order to control fiscal balances. Namsia stressed that the draft budget aims to preserve public financial sustainability, pointing out that t he government will work, within the framework of supporting the state's own resources, to achieve revenues of nearly TND 49,160 million dinars, an increase of 8% compared to the updated results for 2023. "These own resources, which are one of the pillars of the control of public finances and the reduction of the level of budget deficits and therefore the reduction of financing needs, will come mainly from tax revenues, estimated at 44,500 million dinars or 88.9% of own resources in 2024,» she said. Responding to MPs' questions on whether the draft was an identical copy of previous drafts, the Minister said that the preparation of the draft budget was based on the legal rules and frameworks and on the application of the main budget law. She pointed out that the assumptions in next year's draft budget had been adjusted on the basis of technical-scientific studies as well as the expectations of international organisations, such as the assumption on the oil barrel price. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse