State-sponsored wealth inequality
Namibia is the world’s second most inequal country. A shameful achievement. Saved from first in the world by the sheer size of South Africa’s larger population.
How did we get here? We are told that Namibia’s wealth inequality is rooted in historical factors. Mainly colonialism and apartheid. Surely, we cannot deny the impact of these socio-historical factors. I am a firm believer in the need to have restorative justice measures. However, for restorative justice to be far-reaching, requires robust accountability systems. In the case of Namibia, it also requires responsible governance that can be trusted to administer and facilitate the distribution of such benefits. Unfortunately, the Government of Namibia (GRN), through successive absurd contortions of incompetence, has acquired all the redeeming qualities of failure in handling the distribution of benefits.
Therefore, we would be misguided to think the level of wealth inequality we now wear as a badge of honour is purely historical. I am of the opinion, that in the last 35 years, GRN has become the key sponsor of wealth inequality. This is my attempt to demonstrate GRN’s complicity in sustaining inequality at its all-time high. First, when you place yourself at the forefront of ousting a system deemed to be unjust, you are duty bound to establish a more just system. While Namibia has made significant strides from where we were in 1989, it has done so on a limp. I am particularly referring to the economic limping. And GRN responsible for much of the limp. For example, politicians, who have held no other office since independence, can now be counted among multi-millionaires. Money they would never have even if they were to save religiously. Tremendous, unaudited wealth. Besides, corruption/theft, they’ve been given generous salary and benefits packages at the expense of taxpayers.
Secondly, besides creating a class of wealthy politicians, GRN is producing a majority Black middle-class through State-Owned Entreprises (SOEs). These SOEs, many failing to produce any life-sustaining services or products have become conduits for creating a wealthy middle class. If the majority of these SOEs were too close today, the lives of Namibians will go on and we would not even notice it. Yet these unproductive and unprofitable SOEs, that often must beg central government for bailed outs, are lucrative employers. Executives are paid generous and with handsome bonuses (even when they run into billions of loses). How are people who carry out the functions of the State rewarded in such ways that are in stark contrast to the socio-economic realities of the majority of the citizens of the State?
Thirdly, we have a tender awarding system that has shielded corruption and rewarded non-performance. For example, five individuals receive billions of dollars to supply medical goods. The same tender could have been awarded to 30 or 50 persons, to allow for more access of opportunities. As such the tendering system has become a GRN’s way of making millionaires. Some who get tenders just to subcontract them to somebody else at a cheaper cost. Giving tenders to entities that neither have the skills nor the means to do the work. They have become rich and got away with not doing what they’ve been paid for. Majority of these tenderpreneurs happen to be linked to the politically connected.
I raised the three examples to show that when we speak of inequality in Namibia, GRN has a hand in it. It is not by accident; it has systematically outdone apartheid by legislating economic classism. What justification is there for any SOE CEO to earn N$ 2 000 000 per annum? What justification is there that any member of the cabinet or presidency should earn what they currently earn? None. For a poor country, in which most citizens earn below N$ 5000 per month, the heinous salaries paid to public servants is economic treason.
Recently, the World Bank downgraded Namibia from an upper-middle income country to a lower-income country. The Minister of Finance simply responded that Namibia has always been an unequal country. The insolence! No, it indicates that Namibians are becoming poorer while our government is splashing billions onto people who add no value to the economy. These very institutions, besides housing our nation’s most overpaid executives, are also homes for treacherous levels of corruption, theft and mismanagement. GIPF, NAMDIA, SSC, TransNamib, FISHCOR, NBC, NSFAF, RCC, MEATCO, DBN, NAMCOR etc., have all been at the forefront of shameful losses of billions of dollars – attributable to theft, mismanagement, corruption or incompetence. Even when these institutions make losses the executives are still paid performance bonuses. SOEs are the definitions of gravy trains.
It is unfortunate that we have a government that is at the forefront of sponsoring inequality. I wish I could say that NNN’s Administration would save us from this misery. It cannot and it would not. Our government has time and again proven to be clueless when it comes to the economy. It continues to feed practices, systems and individuals that know only how to eat but have neither the intelligence nor the ability to produce a functional economy. I leave it up to every Namibian to now ask whether it is just parasites to have a government that sustains parasitic institutions and persons. Can we attain economic freedom with a government that is hellbent to sponsor wealth inequality?
How did we get here? We are told that Namibia’s wealth inequality is rooted in historical factors. Mainly colonialism and apartheid. Surely, we cannot deny the impact of these socio-historical factors. I am a firm believer in the need to have restorative justice measures. However, for restorative justice to be far-reaching, requires robust accountability systems. In the case of Namibia, it also requires responsible governance that can be trusted to administer and facilitate the distribution of such benefits. Unfortunately, the Government of Namibia (GRN), through successive absurd contortions of incompetence, has acquired all the redeeming qualities of failure in handling the distribution of benefits.
Therefore, we would be misguided to think the level of wealth inequality we now wear as a badge of honour is purely historical. I am of the opinion, that in the last 35 years, GRN has become the key sponsor of wealth inequality. This is my attempt to demonstrate GRN’s complicity in sustaining inequality at its all-time high. First, when you place yourself at the forefront of ousting a system deemed to be unjust, you are duty bound to establish a more just system. While Namibia has made significant strides from where we were in 1989, it has done so on a limp. I am particularly referring to the economic limping. And GRN responsible for much of the limp. For example, politicians, who have held no other office since independence, can now be counted among multi-millionaires. Money they would never have even if they were to save religiously. Tremendous, unaudited wealth. Besides, corruption/theft, they’ve been given generous salary and benefits packages at the expense of taxpayers.
Secondly, besides creating a class of wealthy politicians, GRN is producing a majority Black middle-class through State-Owned Entreprises (SOEs). These SOEs, many failing to produce any life-sustaining services or products have become conduits for creating a wealthy middle class. If the majority of these SOEs were too close today, the lives of Namibians will go on and we would not even notice it. Yet these unproductive and unprofitable SOEs, that often must beg central government for bailed outs, are lucrative employers. Executives are paid generous and with handsome bonuses (even when they run into billions of loses). How are people who carry out the functions of the State rewarded in such ways that are in stark contrast to the socio-economic realities of the majority of the citizens of the State?
Thirdly, we have a tender awarding system that has shielded corruption and rewarded non-performance. For example, five individuals receive billions of dollars to supply medical goods. The same tender could have been awarded to 30 or 50 persons, to allow for more access of opportunities. As such the tendering system has become a GRN’s way of making millionaires. Some who get tenders just to subcontract them to somebody else at a cheaper cost. Giving tenders to entities that neither have the skills nor the means to do the work. They have become rich and got away with not doing what they’ve been paid for. Majority of these tenderpreneurs happen to be linked to the politically connected.
I raised the three examples to show that when we speak of inequality in Namibia, GRN has a hand in it. It is not by accident; it has systematically outdone apartheid by legislating economic classism. What justification is there for any SOE CEO to earn N$ 2 000 000 per annum? What justification is there that any member of the cabinet or presidency should earn what they currently earn? None. For a poor country, in which most citizens earn below N$ 5000 per month, the heinous salaries paid to public servants is economic treason.
Recently, the World Bank downgraded Namibia from an upper-middle income country to a lower-income country. The Minister of Finance simply responded that Namibia has always been an unequal country. The insolence! No, it indicates that Namibians are becoming poorer while our government is splashing billions onto people who add no value to the economy. These very institutions, besides housing our nation’s most overpaid executives, are also homes for treacherous levels of corruption, theft and mismanagement. GIPF, NAMDIA, SSC, TransNamib, FISHCOR, NBC, NSFAF, RCC, MEATCO, DBN, NAMCOR etc., have all been at the forefront of shameful losses of billions of dollars – attributable to theft, mismanagement, corruption or incompetence. Even when these institutions make losses the executives are still paid performance bonuses. SOEs are the definitions of gravy trains.
It is unfortunate that we have a government that is at the forefront of sponsoring inequality. I wish I could say that NNN’s Administration would save us from this misery. It cannot and it would not. Our government has time and again proven to be clueless when it comes to the economy. It continues to feed practices, systems and individuals that know only how to eat but have neither the intelligence nor the ability to produce a functional economy. I leave it up to every Namibian to now ask whether it is just parasites to have a government that sustains parasitic institutions and persons. Can we attain economic freedom with a government that is hellbent to sponsor wealth inequality?
