By Josef Kefas Sheehama
His Excellency, Dr. Hage G. Geingob, President of the Republic of Namibia, advised about the economic struggle as he spoke at the Heroes Day celebrations held in the Hardap region, Mariental.
Indeed, Namibia is a great nation blessed with wonderful and patriotic citizens who fought so hard to ensure we have a bright future. It is our responsibility to acknowledge the wonderful works of these heroes and heroines who fought for Namibia’s independence as well as worked hard to unify the country. The list of heroes and heroines in Namibia is endless as each and every one of them contributed in one way or another to serving Namibia. Namibia has its own history of successful entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are catalyst agents for the expansion and promotion of economic activities in every sphere of the economic life of a country. Namibia in particular has taken great strides to support its entrepreneurs by introducing entrepreneurship development to its school curriculum. The National Development Plans are very important in redefining the future of Namibia’s Economic recovery and growth plan. The implementation of the NDPs and HPP’s crucial. Proper implementation of the National Development Plans would restructure the economy and could put the country onto a sustained higher growth path. The plans focus on the critical capabilities needed to transform the economy and society. Namibia must find ways to urgently reduce alarming levels of youth unemployment and provide young people with broader opportunities.
It is, therefore, of vital importance that Namibian restructure the economy so that its wealth is shared by all people, Black and White, to ensure that everybody enjoys a decent and rising standard of living. I further, consent to His Excellence, Dr. Hage G Geingob that the struggle for economic emancipation would require the same sacrifice and selflessness that the initial struggle for political self-determination demanded. The government should urgently implement a reform that can boost Namibia’s growth in the short term, while also creating the conditions for higher long-term sustainable growth. These growth reforms should promote economic transformation, support labour-intensive growth, and create a globally competitive economy. Implementing flexible industrial and trade policies to promote competitiveness and facilitate long-run growth should continue to be a strategic policy focus area. Manufacturing and agriculture are an engine of economic growth as industrial goods have a higher income elasticity of demand, especially in world markets. Successful industrial and trade policy should be focused, flexible and premised on the notion of embedded autonomy. Focused industrial and trade policy requires the prioritization and rationalization of interventions, and flexibility comes from learning from experience.
Furthermore, the smart move by the City of Windhoek considering the introduction of a new land use zoning policy to allow homeowners to run commercial activities at residential properties will lead to more business opportunities. This is a good move by the City of Windhoek by reversing the policy conundrum to prohibit home shops from operating in residential areas. The provision of these services would be better fulfilled if the City of Windhoek were to be substantially depoliticized, or at least structured in a way that facilitates a multi-party system of governance and accountability. Only the collective management committee achieves that. Therefore, the City of Windhoek to stay focused and work diligently toward achieving its vision.
It will be crucial to adequately design, monitor and evaluate policies to ensure that resources are not wasted. As industrial policy by definition discriminates against non-targeted sectors of the economy, these complications call for pragmatic ways of assessing policies in terms of trade-offs among various development goals. Therefore, the growth and development of the informal sector can be a panacea and needs to be supported full throttle. It is therefore safe to conclude that the informal sector is the only left potential for promoting development in Namibia. The informal sector can close the gap of unemployment and can possibly address the problem of poverty. Importantly, the government policies on the sector should focus on investing human capital in the informal sector for this will encourage innovation and thus promote industrialization and further economic growth. Investing in the informal sector can be an important strategy for promoting economic development. Policies should therefore focus on formalizing the informal sector for this will address all the challenges faced by the sector.
The call for economic emancipation must be embraced by all of us to defuse the ticking time bomb. Economic freedom and prosperity require a culture of learning and teaching. They require an educational system directed to the full development of the human personality. The deepening moral degeneration in our country highlights the fact that our educational system must address both, the spiritual and material aspects of the human personality. Further to this‚ leaders must take actions to rid the economy of legislative and regulatory constraints in key industries‚ such as suspending the job-killing visa regulations. Namibia needs to empower small businesses and micro enterprises to grow. The government must take away the hurdles faced by these enterprises and cut the red tape that constrains them. Our leaders must make them exempt from certain tax and labour regulations so that entrepreneurs become the heroes of employment‚ not the enemy of the government. The government need to look at expanding the benefits enjoyed by companies in Special Economic Zones to the whole country in order to increase exports and attract foreign investment.
To that end, transformation in Namibia heavily relies on citizen participation to build a more equitable society where opportunity is not defined by race, gender, class, politic or religion. This means taking radical steps to build people’s capabilities through access to quality education and enabling access to employment and transforming ownership of the economy. This can be achieved through active citizenship education by enabling all citizens to participate in economic and political.
Therefore, economic emancipation can only be a reality if every Namibian embrace these mega deals in a positive manner.
