Reverend Phillip Strydom, General Secretary of the Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN), said this during a meeting with the Speaker of Parliament, Theo-Ben Gurirab, on Friday.

Strydom was representing the Basic Income Grant (BIG) Coalition, a group of organisations proposing the introduction of an unconditional, N$100 monthly grant to every Namibian not yet eligible for a Government pension.

The coalition presented the Speaker with a resource book it has compiled.

It contains research results, as well as a model of the proposal's social, developmental, and financial impact.

"This book," he added, "is meant to inform policy makers in detail about the proposal and to give them quality research in order to enter into a constructive debate and a process of policy formulation."

Gurirab replied that he would hand over the document to the relevant body, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resources and Social Development, led by Swapo Chief Whip Ben Amathila.

Gurirab assured the coalition that Government was just as concerned about social welfare as civil society.

The idea of a BIG, Strydom said, stemmed from Government's Namibian Tax Consortium (Namtax), which stated in 2002 already that "after an extensive review of the relevant literature and an analysis of possible alternative strategies, we found that by far the best method of addressing poverty and inequality would be a universal income grant".

The grant would also ensure that people receiving anti-retroviral treatment for AIDS lived longer, as it would provide minimum food security.

"As with TB treatment," he said, "one cannot take AIDS treatment without having something to eat."

The BIG system, according to the group, would be financed through progressive tax adjustments, "recouping the money from those who are not in need".

This would ensure that the BIG was targeted and used the country's "scarce resources" effectively, Strydom said.

The organisations that form the BIG Coalition are the CCN, the National Union of Namibian Workers, the Namibian Non-Governmental Organisation Forum, Namibian Network of AIDS Service Organisations, the Legal Assistance Centre and the Labour Resource and Research Institute.

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