The government should bring in a payment holiday for rent, loan and mortgages as part of measures to soften the economic blow of Covid-19 on households, opposition leader McHenry Venaani said yesterday.
“For us to mobilise strongly against the virus is that we need to ease burdens on household finances at this point in time. We need to come up with a loan payment holiday of one month to make sure people do not pay on their loans, rent and mortgages,” Venaani, the president of the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), said.
He said this would help households have enough cash to be able to contain the virus and also to help neighbours. Venaani said many coronavirus-affected countries such as Portugal, Italy and Belgium are considering the payment holiday. He said the Namibian government must engage the Bank of Namibia to come up with a similar offer. He also called on municipalities to reconnect the disconnected water accounts because it will help with sanitation in containing the virus. Additionally, Venaani called on the Namibian Defence Force to avail buses to the country’s citizens to transport them to and from work, saying that as it stands public transport is a risk on its own. “This morning I visited a few bus stops in the city. What I have observed is that people are squeezing and that is not helping in containing the coronavirus,” he said.
Furthermore, Venaani lamented parliament’s decision to go ahead with the swearing in of members of parliament, saying the decision could have a tremendous impact on the country’s leadership. “Allowing parliament to continue unabated could have tremendous impact on the leadership of this country. What we are suggesting is that the swearing-in should be done in groups to avoid overcrowding,” he said.
– ktjitemisa@nepc.com.na