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Govt’s policy failures in spotlight


THE Namibian government’s management failures over the years are coming home to roost as its policy implementation is under the microscope.

Robin Sherbourne, an economist with the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), on Wednesday unpacked the state of the country’s economy.

He said considering the lack of economic growth in the last 10 years, it can be asked whether the government takes its own policies seriously.

“Green schemes, which were launched in 2007, are now ending up with the Agricultural Business Development Agency (Agribusdev) winding up – a failure, I would say,” Sherbourne said.

He pointed to a number of the government’s failed policies or unenacted laws meant to improve the country’s economy.

The Cabinet in 2021 decided to dissolve Agribusdev after it failed to manage 11 green scheme projects established by the government.

The economist also referred to the fishing quota allocation and the power the minister holds.

“The fishing industry is essentially a black box. Who knows what is going on?” he said.

He looked at the new equitable economic empowerment bill (Neeeb) and the Namibian Investment Promotion Act, which have not been enacted yet.

“It has not been enforced, because the basic act is fundamentally flawed,” he said.

Last year, the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB) red-flagged parts of the Neeeb, saying it is not investor-friendly and needs to be revised.

President Hage Geingob earlier this year during a meeting with the Black Business Leadership Network of Namibia (BBLNN) said Neeeb was opposed because of the fear that black people may be used by white people.

The government’s public-private partnership (PPP) policy adopted in 2017 has also become a white elephant as it has not realised yet.

Another policy touched on was the telecoms policy of 1999, which is meant to promote competition, Sherbourne said.

Similar frustrations were aired by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation in their recent country private sector diagnostic report.

The private sector cannot lead growth, nor create more jobs in Namibia, because it is disadvantaged as it is competing with public enterprises that are constantly bailed out, inefficient, making losses and monopolistic, they said.

The two global lenders said Namibia’s public enterprises and the private sector are operating on an uneven playing field because they are not held to the same standards of accountability and compliance to the law.

The World Bank said public enterprises have 90% to 100% of the market share in electricity generation and imports, fixed-line telecommunications services, postal services (other than couriers), air operation infrastructure, maritime transport infrastructure, railway transportation, road infrastructure, water supply, and mobile telecommunications.

Furthermore, Sherbourne criticised the lack of the NIPDB’s policymaking role.

“The NIPDB in 2020 was but ‘one more stop shop’ with no power over policy,” he said.





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