Another Bitter Pill To Swallow

NAMIBIANS were again given another bitter pill to swallow with the report this week that taxpayers have had to cough up more than N$100 million over the past two years to finance the rescue and closure of the Development Brigade Corporation (DBC).

The DBC was created to train and provide jobs for former fighters of the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (Plan), but never lived up to expectations and is currently dormant but not dead, at least not until Government shut it down. Coming in the wake of several other State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) exposed in the last number of months for having cost the taxpayer in terms of mismanagement and even outright corruption, the DBC is simply another name on the list.Figures released by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) confirm the dependence of many of these SOEs on Government bailing them out of financial ruin.According to the IPPR, Government spending on parastatals amounted to some N$79 million in 1991; but this amount had skyrocketed to N$960 million in 2002-3 and N$950 million this year.Not only does this constitute a huge burden for the taxpayers of this country, but it has also resulted in a high number of workers being laid off or absorbed in other Ministries and parastatals.There is not much to add to what has already been said on this subject, except that Government has spent money on commissions looking at or investigating parastatals, and recommendations arising from these are apparently being ignored.We have had ministerial commissions look at pay structures of top members of parastatals, but the public has not been informed whether the situation has changed with regard some of the astronomical amounts paid out to these companies’ CEOs.In addition we have had various presidential and other probes into corruption and mismanagement at the SOEs, again with little practical effect.How much longer will the situation be allowed to continue while taxpayers are asked to foot the bill?PUERILE DEBATING ON CHILDREN’S BILLA VERY important piece of legislation is currently before our Parliament, but is being demeaned and diminished by the often puerile standard of debate, particularly by male members of the House.It is important that the Bill be discussed in great detail or, as the Legal Assistance Centre suggests elsewhere in this edition, be referred back to committee for further public consultation.But it debases the importance of children’s rights when certain MPs talk absolute nonsense, often turning the issue into an attack on women.International Women’s Day is on Monday, and the women of this country deserve more than these often provocative statements from our elected male representatives.For some of them actually to have the temerity to demand that fathers convicted of rape have access to these offspring is not conducive to the country moving forward to dealing with the stigma and problems afflicting many children born outside of marriage.Some also raised the issue of women ‘raping’ men and questioning whether custody in such cases would be given to them.Parliamentarians must do their homework, and learn something about the matters they are debating in order to make a positive contribution to the discussion in question.These are often weighty matters which should not be trivialised by knee-jerk reactions of people who simply don’t know what they’re talking about.Coming in the wake of several other State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) exposed in the last number of months for having cost the taxpayer in terms of mismanagement and even outright corruption, the DBC is simply another name on the list.Figures released by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) confirm the dependence of many of these SOEs on Government bailing them out of financial ruin.According to the IPPR, Government spending on parastatals amounted to some N$79 million in 1991; but this amount had skyrocketed to N$960 million in 2002-3 and N$950 million this year.Not only does this constitute a huge burden for the taxpayers of this country, but it has also resulted in a high number of workers being laid off or absorbed in other Ministries and parastatals.There is not much to add to what has already been said on this subject, except that Government has spent money on commissions looking at or investigating parastatals, and recommendations arising from these are apparently being ignored.We have had ministerial commissions look at pay structures of top members of parastatals, but the public has not been informed whether the situation has changed with regard some of the astronomical amounts paid out to these companies’ CEOs.In addition we have had various presidential and other probes into corruption and mismanagement at the SOEs, again with little practical effect.How much longer will the situation be allowed to continue while taxpayers are asked to foot the bill?PUERILE DEBATING ON CHILDREN’S BILLA VERY important piece of legislation is currently before our Parliament, but is being demeaned and diminished by the often puerile standard of debate, particularly by male members of the House.It is important that the Bill be discussed in great detail or, as the Legal Assistance Centre suggests elsewhere in this edition, be referred back to committee for further public consultation.But it debases the importance of children’s rights when certain MPs talk absolute nonsense, often turning the issue into an attack on women.International Women’s Day is on Monday, and the women of this country deserve more than these often provocative statements from our elected male representatives.For some of them actually to have the temerity to demand that fathers convicted of rape have access to these offspring is not conducive to the country moving forward to dealing with the stigma and problems afflicting many children born outside of marriage.Some also raised the issue of women ‘raping’ men and questioning whether custody in such cases would be given to them.Parliamentarians must do their homework, and learn something about the matters they are debating in order to make a positive contribution to the discussion in question.These are often weighty matters which should not be trivialised by knee-jerk reactions of people who simply don’t know what they’re talking about.