Geingob distances himself from opposition business boycott call

GO and confront the man who called for a boycott of businesses owned by opposition members, Trade and Industry Minister Hage Geingob said in the North on Monday.

Geingob was responding to a question by northern businessman Hesikiel Shoombe, at a small and medium enterprise (SME) gathering at Ongwediva. Shoombe asked what Geingob’s stance, as Trade Minister and Swapo Party Vice President, was to the call by Oshikoto Region Swapo Co-ordinator Armas Amukwiyu at a Swapo Party rally held at Onethindi over the weekend, to boycott opposition-member owned businesses.Geingob, who was present at that rally as main speaker, replied that the question was being raised at the wrong platform.Other issues addressed by the Trade and Industry Minister at the gathering were local concerns about the explosion of Chinese-owned business in the North, access to financing for SMEs and the establishment of an SME bank, the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) discussions between Namibia and the European Union (EU), the veterinary redline and black economic empowerment. On the issue of access to finance, Geingob said Government was looking at setting up an SME bank to provide loans to small and medium-sized enterprises. ‘The SMEs really need support, because they are the backbone of the economy of the country, giving employment to many people in the country,’ Geingob said.Addressing the issue of Chinese businesses, Geingob told the gathering that his Ministry had received several complaints about foreign business people, especially the Chinese, and that a team has been assembled to investigate some allegations.However, Geingob said many foreign business people, especially the Chinese, were friends of Namibia and had to be treated as friends.’We have a free market economy, and we are accepting business, Chinese included, but those individuals who try to disobey the laws and rules of this country, have to be dealt with,’ he said. Geingob and some Ministry officials have been touring the northern regions. He also visited some traditional leaders, such as the King of Ondonga, Immanuel Kauluma Elifas, at Onamungundo in Oshikoto Region, and the Queen of Oukwanyama, meekelu Martha Mwadinomho Nelumbu, at Omhedi in the Ohangwena Region. From the central north, the Trade and Industry Minister and his team headed to the Kavango and Caprivi regions.oswald@namibian.com.na