Coalition wants to demonstrate project is feasible
By Wezi Tjaronda
WINDHOEK
The proposed Basic Income Grant of N$100 per month will come alive for the residents of Otjivero village in Omitara.
The 1 005 residents below the age of 60 years, who were registered on July 31 this year, will start receiving the grant not later than January 2008 for two years. The BIG pilot project is deemed the first concrete income security measure in a developing country.
Omitara is located about 100 km from Windhoek.
The BIG Coalition will need N$3 million to cover the costs of the grants and administration of the pilot project. The coalition comprises the Council of Churches, the umbrella bodies of NGOs (NANGOF), AIDS organizations (NANASO), the Union Federation (NUNW), the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) and the Labour Resource and Research Institute (LaRRI). It is spearheaded by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia.
Through the pilot project, the BIG coalition wants to demonstrate that the project is feasible. The project abides by the principles of the BIG proposal, which advocates for a universal grant based on cash entitlement that provides some form of income security and is built on redistributive justice.
The pilot project was launched last night together with the BIG fund into which Namibians can contribute to make the grant a reality for the residents of Otjivero.
ELCRN Bishop Zephaniah Kameeta said when he launched the project: ” If talking cannot convince, do it.”
“The people of Otjivero in Omitara will be the first recipients of efforts in the struggle to end poverty and the implementation of the project is a historical moment for the poor in Namibia and elsewhere in the world,” he said.
Although the coalition started raising funds for the project, Kameeta appealed to Namibians to contribute to the fund to make the project come alive for the people of Otjivero.
“We have good intentions and promises. We call upon all those that can afford and those that feel it is for a good cause to contribute,” he said.
The coalition wants 90 percent of the funds to come from Namibians. It will take 1 005 people to pay N$100 every month to pay the grant to the registered number of people.
The bishop said Namibia could not talk of democracy when there were children in classrooms on empty stomachs.
“Democracy cannot be eaten. How can we sustain democracy when we know that half of the population has nothing to eat?” he asked. Omitara was chosen because it is diverse and is representative of the Namibian population, said the bishop.
Isaack Kaulinge, who directed the launch ceremony, said grandmothers in the area were looking after scores of children, some of whom go to sleep with no food for as many as three days.
Although the coalition will not prescribe how the money should be used, Kameeta said recipients will be advised that “they use it in such a way that it alleviates poverty and that little kids do not go to school without shoes in winter.”
Labour Research and Resource Institute’s Researcher, Herbert Jauch, said the amount would not create dependency as some people have purported, because it would only be significant in making a dent in poverty.
It will among others enable patients on anti-retroviral drugs to travel to health facilities to collect their drugs and also to buy food to eat before taking their medication.
The coalition has been advocating for BIG for every citizen of Namibia as a means of redistributing wealth in the country and to eliminate destitution.
Statistics indicate that Namibia has the highest income inequalities in the world and also one of the highest HIV prevalence rates. The unemployment rate stands at 36 percent.
United Africa Group will distribute the grant just like the pension payouts.
Individuals and congregations have already pledged to pay N$100 per month into the fund, while on the international scene Bread for the World, Lutheran World Federation, EkiR, EkvW, and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation have also pledged to support the project.
To measure the impact of the grant, Reverend Dirk Haarmann of the ELCRN Desk for Social Development said the coalition would conduct a baseline study before the project begins and also after every six months after implementation, to measure what is changing in the community and also its challenges.
Those who want to support the project can contribute to the fund, at ELCRN – BIG Namibia, First National Bank’s Windhoek Commercial Suite, account number 62146088457, branch number 281972.
First Prime Minister Hage Geingob, the first parliamentarian to support BIG, contributed N$2 400 for two people for the duration of the pilot period.
Other contributions were made by Roynam catering company (N$5 000) and others.