Call To ‘Reshuffle’ Ndishishi

IT is with shock I discover that Namibia is lagging behind in terms of attracting investment.

Despite our market size, Namibia could do more reforming of the SOEs by inviting foreign investors to invest in them, but still the government should have major equity share in SOEs, which represent national interests. Namibia’s option is to attract Greenfield investments, i.e.setting up of factories/industries such as Ramatex and Scorpion because we have labour capacity and natural resources.But what is shocking is that the Ministry of Trade and Industry is incapacitated in multilateral negotiation, especially, at the WTO.How to achieve self-sustainability, economic development or Vision 2030 in that matter, if the government is still committed to job misplacement? We have so many people who have specialised in this field, but cannot get this position, because they did not partake in the liberation struggle.Therefore, economic development should be sacrificed for Andrew Ndishishi who is incapacitated in terms of trade-related investment negotiation.This is a quote from the WTO’s Secretariat: “Namibia is having some difficulties implementing the WTO Agreements.Namibia is in the process of institutional and legislative reforms.The Government has been enacting new legislation, such as the Companies Law, Competition Law, and an Intellectual Property Law, in an effort to repeal old laws but still has no legislation on anti-dumping, safeguards or countervailing measures.The Ministry of Trade and Industry, responsible for the formulation and implementation of trade policy, has no legal experts to assist in the drafting of trade-related legislation.Furthermore, Namibia has no institutional experience on the past negotiations because South Africa negotiated on its behalf during the Uruguay Round.Training on negotiating skills would enhance Namibia’s participation in the current negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda.”What a shame.Sixteen years of independence, but we are still lagging behind, despite Ndishishi being at the centre of economic development, trade-related investment.Why not reshuffle him? Herman Hamutenya Via e-mailNamibia’s option is to attract Greenfield investments, i.e.setting up of factories/industries such as Ramatex and Scorpion because we have labour capacity and natural resources.But what is shocking is that the Ministry of Trade and Industry is incapacitated in multilateral negotiation, especially, at the WTO.How to achieve self-sustainability, economic development or Vision 2030 in that matter, if the government is still committed to job misplacement? We have so many people who have specialised in this field, but cannot get this position, because they did not partake in the liberation struggle.Therefore, economic development should be sacrificed for Andrew Ndishishi who is incapacitated in terms of trade-related investment negotiation.This is a quote from the WTO’s Secretariat: “Namibia is having some difficulties implementing the WTO Agreements.Namibia is in the process of institutional and legislative reforms.The Government has been enacting new legislation, such as the Companies Law, Competition Law, and an Intellectual Property Law, in an effort to repeal old laws but still has no legislation on anti-dumping, safeguards or countervailing measures.The Ministry of Trade and Industry, responsible for the formulation and implementation of trade policy, has no legal experts to assist in the drafting of trade-related legislation.Furthermore, Namibia has no institutional experience on the past negotiations because South Africa negotiated on its behalf during the Uruguay Round.Training on negotiating skills would enhance Namibia’s participation in the current negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda.”What a shame.Sixteen years of independence, but we are still lagging behind, despite Ndishishi being at the centre of economic development, trade-related investment.Why not reshuffle him? Herman Hamutenya Via e-mail