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03:37Last update on: 12 Aug 2013
The Namibian
Mon 12 Aug 2013
SMS Of The Day * MINISTRY of Gender and Child Welfare, TEARS are rolling down as I write this SMS. The killing of women in Namibia is now like reciting a poem. Are we really getting the protection we deserve while women not being treated as part of this c Food For Thought * SO the Zimbabwe elections were free and peaceful and not free and fair? Bouquets And Brickbats * NURSES at Katutura Hospital must stop wearing those big plastic sandals at work because they are not the official working shoes. We want to see you looking smart and beautiful with your full uniform. SMS Of The Day * THIS nation is in dire need of a massive conference on housing. When we experienced a crisis in the education sector a crisis-control brain-storming conference was organised which resulted in the best deal ever for the Namibian child, nam Food For Thought * BOURGEOISIE has become a daily occupation if not the order of the day of the upper-echelons, President Hifikepunye Pohamba we urge you to revisit this unpatriotic geocentricism among your staff and the well-connected, for everybody to r Bouquets And Brickbats * COMMISSIONER of Prisons, can you please explain the strategies you use to appoint officers to certain positions? It is my observation that you are being fed with wrong information then you just promote individuals without making p SMS Of The Day * I THINK Paulus ‘The Rock’ Ambunda lost his belt because of this promoter and trainer. How can a world champion still be training at the Katutura Youth Complex where there is not enough equipment. I think they must follow the example of Ha Food For Thought * NAMIBIA Dairies are unable to match low prices of imported milk and this ultimately means the consumer will have to pay more for local milk. Look at the prices of the local chicken. All these profits are going in the pockets of a few in Bouquets And Brickbats * I AM pleased to hear that Cabinet has responded positively to the proposal of Namibia Dairies to support the industry. The restrictions which support the industry by reducing competition to ensure the survival of the industry is a SMS Of The Day * CEO’s golden handshakes. Somewhere on our statute books there must be a provision that if a board of directors suspends/dismisses a CEO without due regard to legal provision (substantive/procedural law) such board must carry the costs for Food For Thought * JACKY Asheeke was so right with her last column- why are the fathers of the dead children not being prosecuted? (Reference to the children who died in shack fires last week) Our justice system still protects men over women. In this cont Bouquets And Brickbats * ALEXACTUS Kaure, your column in Friday’s newspaper opened my eyes. One hardly finds impartial case study analysers in Namibia. Let’s not destroy the Polytechnic’s strong foundation (Tjivikua) as yet. At least wait until the transf
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LETTERS -
| 2013-08-09
Telecom’s New ‘Trojan Horse’
COMMUNICATION is of the highest importance in any democracy; without communication democracy fails. Because Telecom is not a private business, this axiom should apply to it, too.
And by ‘communication’, we mean honest communication. Ultimately, via our state’s shareholding in Telecom, the public is the owner of Telecom and the public cannot forever be deceived.
Leo [the cellphone company] was not a ‘gift’. Telecom took over a firm that was deep in the red with hundreds of millions. Its infrastructure, so we learned, was in an inferior stage of development, and not competitive. However, its mere modest existence alone gave credit to the industry; credit in the sense that the line ministry could honestly state the industry was ‘open’, free for competition and not a state-owned, closed monopoly.
This changed dramatically when Telecom bought its ‘gift’. The hailed N$2 business will soon be seen as an expensive transaction by all; a transaction that is similar to the Trojan horse that ruined the positive picture of this industry. The telecommunication industry is now a de facto monopoly. No sweet words, no smooth talking by anybody can hide this disappointing fact. A country that has no free information flow anymore is headed towards becoming an autocracy because free information flow is the very soul of democracy. In addition, the last advertisements by Telecom, especially the one that welcomes Leo as a ‘new member of the family’, are transmitting a clear message.
It was the then independent Leo/Powercom that forced our Namibian cellular rates down by its modest existence. We still would have been paying sky-high prices today without this independent role-player – and there is now the imminent danger that prices will very soon climb again. Remember, the phrase ‘our family’ has more than one meaning – go ask the Italians! For Namibia and its citizens, this ‘gift’ could spell disaster. The anti-social business ideals and capitalistic nature of our leadership are well known. The rising poverty rate clearly reflects them. Our leaders do not love competition of any kind; they love monopolies.
Gertruida H Duinveld
By E-mail
And by ‘communication’, we mean honest communication. Ultimately, via our state’s shareholding in Telecom, the public is the owner of Telecom and the public cannot forever be deceived.
Leo [the cellphone company] was not a ‘gift’. Telecom took over a firm that was deep in the red with hundreds of millions. Its infrastructure, so we learned, was in an inferior stage of development, and not competitive. However, its mere modest existence alone gave credit to the industry; credit in the sense that the line ministry could honestly state the industry was ‘open’, free for competition and not a state-owned, closed monopoly.
This changed dramatically when Telecom bought its ‘gift’. The hailed N$2 business will soon be seen as an expensive transaction by all; a transaction that is similar to the Trojan horse that ruined the positive picture of this industry. The telecommunication industry is now a de facto monopoly. No sweet words, no smooth talking by anybody can hide this disappointing fact. A country that has no free information flow anymore is headed towards becoming an autocracy because free information flow is the very soul of democracy. In addition, the last advertisements by Telecom, especially the one that welcomes Leo as a ‘new member of the family’, are transmitting a clear message.
It was the then independent Leo/Powercom that forced our Namibian cellular rates down by its modest existence. We still would have been paying sky-high prices today without this independent role-player – and there is now the imminent danger that prices will very soon climb again. Remember, the phrase ‘our family’ has more than one meaning – go ask the Italians! For Namibia and its citizens, this ‘gift’ could spell disaster. The anti-social business ideals and capitalistic nature of our leadership are well known. The rising poverty rate clearly reflects them. Our leaders do not love competition of any kind; they love monopolies.
Gertruida H Duinveld
By E-mail
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