Geingob calls for basic income grant

FORMER Prime Minister Hage Geingob has called on Government to implement a basic income grant (BIG) in Namibia, as advocated by the Council of Churches for the past two years.

Speaking during debate in Parliament on Thursday about the nation’s morality and dwindling respect for elders, Geingob said crime was triggered by poverty, which in itself was the “main cancer” of Namibia’s society, mainly because of the high unemployment rate of nearly 40 per cent. “Poverty is a curse, I would therefore like Government to take up the proposal of the Council of Churches of Namibia and pay out a basic income grant for all Namibians who do not have a source of income,” Geingob said.”We certainly have the capacity to address poverty frontally and the BIG is certainly one instrument we should consider,” Geingob added.The Namibian economy was robust and healthy enough to sustain the grant, he maintained.The BIG proposal, which was turned down by Government last year, proposes paying each Namibian N$100 a month from birth until the age of 59, as by the age of 60 their State pensions would kick in.Geingob told fellow Parliamentarians that Namibia was “on the verge of an economic boom” due to recent uranium finds and that the possibility still existed that Namibia was sitting on yet unexplored oil deposits.”Poverty is a curse, I would therefore like Government to take up the proposal of the Council of Churches of Namibia and pay out a basic income grant for all Namibians who do not have a source of income,” Geingob said.”We certainly have the capacity to address poverty frontally and the BIG is certainly one instrument we should consider,” Geingob added.The Namibian economy was robust and healthy enough to sustain the grant, he maintained.The BIG proposal, which was turned down by Government last year, proposes paying each Namibian N$100 a month from birth until the age of 59, as by the age of 60 their State pensions would kick in.Geingob told fellow Parliamentarians that Namibia was “on the verge of an economic boom” due to recent uranium finds and that the possibility still existed that Namibia was sitting on yet unexplored oil deposits.