Our politicians often implore the private sector to create jobs, yet they do the opposite. Mind you, unemployment is probably the biggest problem facing Namibia at the moment. It is worth noting the warning of the Minister of Defence, Nahas Angula, earlier this month indicating that the out-of-work youth may start a revolution.
Sadly, it is Angula and his comrades who are hastening the possibility of perhaps even a violent revolt against the ruling cabal. The Namibian Defence Force, having ramped up its consumption of chicken, has asked to import the white meat from Brazil. This is after it turned out that the Namibian chicken factory that became operational recently is now unable to meet their demand of 200 tonnes per month. The factory was until last month meeting the military’s request for 120 tonnes. Why the NDF has increased the demand so suddenly is not clear, and it is not the subject of this editorial.
The issue is the eagerness to import goods and services and the negative consequences thereof.
Angula is one of the most conscientious [at least in talk] of Namibian leaders. And if he can go against the best interests of the country, one can well imagine what the more carefree and self-interested of his comrades would do.
Over the past two decades we have seen a considerable amount of Namibian money being sent out of the country when we should have made an effort to keep it at home, even if a small premium was paid to do that.
Construction contracts have been going east. Our conspicuous consumption habits and penchant appetite for luxury items has thrown the money to the west.
Roads and government building jobs are now often won by Chinese and North Korean contractors. State House, for instance, is nothing but a foreign edifice, built with imported marble and granite while the Omaruru and Karibib resources were ignored. It was built by Chinese and Koreans with enough traces of their aesthetics for many generations to come. Culture minister Jerry Ekandjo even had the arrogance to say they’d build billions of dollars of statues with North Koreans or whoever they chose.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry has given export processing zone status to companies that do not deserve them, such as the French nuclear reactor giant, Areva, which by now may have recouped whatever money it pumped into Namibia through the generous tax exemption while hardly producing anything.
The elite and the nouveau riche import the most expensive of cars (that can only be serviced outside the country), suits, watches and other consumables from the western countries. Thus, causing the collapse of internal markets and literally sabotaging growth of our industries.
Often most of the decisions to purchase foreign goods instead of local materials are simply made out of contempt for fellow Namibians: the fact that such decisions harm us all as they deny the country an opportunity to save money is often lost.
Unless government leaders, businesses and individuals deliberately want to under-develop Namibia, they must start taking a conscious decision not to send money so easily out of the country. In fact, we should aim that 90% of our imports are really only what we need and the rest can be for luxury. A closer look might just show that we what we need to import is far less than what we actually do.
There is only one logic about the importance of money- the longer it circulates in one place the more value it adds. Especially the government must take the lead in keeping our hard-earned money at home, because tax money is generated from our resources such as farming, tourism, diamonds, fish and other minerals.
A N$100 that the government got from taxing a fishing company, should not be shipped off to Brazil so quickly to import chicken. It should buy Namibian chicken. The chicken factory will pay a worker. The worker will buy food and pay for water and electricity, for the municipality to pay NamPower and NamWater, which in turn would generate more electricity and water. Small wonder our imports cost more then the exports. And we wonder why Namibia is so expensive to live in?
The lessons can be learned from many around the world, we need not invent the wheel.
But how sad that we have to belabour such basic facts of life as the circulation of money.