Windhoek
President Hage Geingob is scheduled to update the nation this morning about what his government has accomplished in 2016, which he dubbed “the year of implementation”.
It has been a bumpy year in general – characterised by drought and global economic headwinds that affected everyone in their path, Namibia included.
The extent to which the Geingob administration has been affected by these and other internal and external factors is likely to feature prominently in the review to be delivered at State House today.
Local mainstream news managers and senior journalists have been invited and would, in all likelihood, put Geingob to the sword with tough questions.
This is the second time in as many years that Geingob went beyond the traditional State of the Nation Address to keep the citizenry abreast of developments in government, saying a single briefing in a calendar year defeats the purpose of improved accountability.
During this year’s State of the Nation Address, President Geingob announced his Harambee Prosperity Plan (HPP) and the nation would – naturally – anticipate an update today on what has been achieved so far.
In tackling this, Geingob might list the establishment of the food bank initiative as one of the achievements under HPP, as well as government’s overall response to the devastating drought that has ravaged the country for three consecutive years.
Land and housing remained some of the burning issues in 2016, to the extent that violent clashes over residential land were witnessed at Walvis Bay and other places.
The land issue is so serious that the president needs to provide an update on what has been accomplished in this regard to ease the hardship faced by land-starved citizens and thus prevent further land grabbing incidents that have become commonplace.
During his tours of America and Europe this year, Geingob has been drumming up interest in Namibia’s investment opportunities in the areas of energy and water infrastructur, and it would be a huge omission if the review contains no update on this.
Several performance agreements have been signed this year by senior government officials, some of whom were also compelled to declare their assets.
President Geingob is also likely to touch on this when he updates the public on what has been achieved under the Harambee pillar on transparency and accountability.