Swapo parliamentarian and former journalist Modestus Amutse has commended the country’s state-owned media for an excellent job in keeping the nation informed “under very difficult circumstances”.
Making his maiden budget contribution on Wednesday, Amutse said having followed developments at the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), New Era and Nampa; the striking similarity amongst them has always been the lack of adequate funding.
“Hearing people calling in and debating and seeking answers from us as leaders of this country, could not have come at a better time. Equally, when reading in newspapers like the New Era and also reading news updates from our national news agency Nampa, and other media houses, I can only once again say thank you to our democracy,” said the Swapo MP.
He said the lack of adequate funding have put the three media houses in great and grave danger of not being able to deliver on their respective mandates.
“We have just witnessed the manner in which information has been flowing in respect of the updates on Covid-19. When tuning in to NBC television, listening to radio on all eleven stations on the NBC, on all major languages on their radio channels, I could not wonder, but rather applaud what we have achieved as a country,” he said.
Furthermore, Amutse said he has noticed the great strides of the NBC, the live coverage of all major events through the online streaming platforms, which will enable Namibians to get the latest news and information.
Recently, he said he noticed that the face of NBC has changed for the better.
“The corporation has more news, updated on any given hour of the day and this is on both their platforms,” he stressed.
Furthermore, Amutse congratulated information minister Peya Mushelenga for allocating N$338 million to NBC for operations, saying that such funding of the national broadcaster will be able to improve its performance.
“w in particular generates revenue on its own of not less than N$110 million on average per annum. I am informed that own revenue has been hovering around N$84 million, but the last four years has seen a growth to about N$110 million per year,” he said, adding that this is highly commendable, but such achievements, will not help much if they do not fully capitalise the business.
He said due to the Covid-19, the corporation might encounter challenges and might not meet its own revenue target of N$110 million estimated for the 2020/21 financial year.