Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) president Mike Kavekotora advised government to take tough and what he deemed much-needed tactical decisions for a serious economic transformation.
“The Namibian economy has been flying without a pilot for more than 30 years.”
Kavekotora made these remarks in the National Assembly this week during his contribution to the recently tabled mid-term budget review. “When are you going to structure our economy to success? When are you going to initiate tough but needed structural adjustment?” he asked the country’s lawmakers.
He bemoaned the fact that the domestic economy is suffering for being a franchise economy as profits generated in Namibia are migrated and used to stimulate growth in other economies. “Major projects are awarded to foreign entities and in the process causing a liquidity problem for our economy. The natural resources industry is given to foreigners on a silver plate. ReconAfrica is a good example, they came here with a share capital of a few million and their share capital jumped into billions as a result of a Namibian exploration licence. Is the government really convinced that the Namibian private sector is so incompetent that they cannot source funds in the capital markets to explore their own resources?” he asked.
Moreover, a Swapo member of the National Assembly Natangwe Ithete urged for speedy formulation and implementation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to attract investment, saying the world is opening up.
According to Ithete, the SEZs will help create much-needed employment opportunities and will assist in making Namibia economically independent.
“I encourage that although we are on a negative economic trajectory, the downward outlook that we continue to experience, especially in the tourism and trade sectors amongst others, must be addressed by focussing on budget objectives of resilience, economic recovery production diversification, job creation and competitiveness to bring the economy back on a growth course,” said Ithete. –mndjavera@nepc.com.na