President Hage Geingob this week met with members of the private sector to discuss ways on how they can play a role in the war against poverty.
THE private sector has declared its support for the New Equitable Eco-nomic Empowerment Framework, although it has concerns over the issue of food banks.
The sector is willing to support government in its bid to fight poverty through food banks, but wants to see the framework of the food bank in order to have a clear picture of how and where they can assist government on this project.
These are some of the issues discussed during the consultative meeting at State House on Wednes- day, where President Hage Geingob met the private sector to discuss the Harambee Prosperity Plan ahead of his State of the Nation address next month. Geingob was accompanied by some Cabinet ministers while the private sector, which comprised company chief executive officers as well as business people, was led by the president of the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Indus- try (NCCI) Sven Thieme.
“We fully support those senti- ments,” Thieme said yesterday.
He suggested that something be done to make Namibia one of the most competitive economies in the world.
“For example, we have plenty of sunshine, but we are still struggling with energy,” he said.
The industrialist further said is- sues such as the land crisis also need a working plan as there is plenty of land for everyone in the country.
Thieme further suggested that the most important people in the country’s economy, police offic- ers, teachers and bricklayers must be well-looked-after in terms of remuneration.
NCCI chief executive officer Tara Shaanika said it will be useful to guard against encouraging laziness and fostering a culture of entitle- ment with the introduction of the food bank. He said government can come up with a programme where hungry people can do some work and get food.
“We are ready to help government come up with this structure, if need be,” Shaanika said.
He, however, said the NCCI supports the idea (of food banks), but would want to look at its plan in order to see how they can help government. Shaanika further sug- gested that a target plan for servic- ing of land must be set.
“We can say like in four years’ time, we must have 50 000 plots of serviced land,” he noted, adding that the private sector should be part of the land-servicing programme.
He further said that it needs to be made clear that land should not be allocated with an intention to make profit.
Geingob said he believes govern- ment should subsidise the servic- ing of land by municipalities and town councils, and urged financial institutions to be a bit flexible with applicants who are working when asking for collateral for home loans.
“(For) Civil servants for example, collateral should be their income,” said the head of state.
Geingob further said the fact that there are fears of encouraging laziness with the introduction of the food bank does not mean that people should be left hungry.
He said if people are hungry, they will not tolerate peace.
“One day, those people will re- volt. They will kill you,” he warned. He gave an example of the planned mass land grab by the Affirmative Repositioning group
last year. “Look at the land issue. If we did
not have a six-hour discussion, this country would be in another state by now,” he said.
Geingob further declared his war against corruption, and urged busi- ness people to never go to him for deals, unless they are comfortable doing it in front of TV cameras.
First Lady Monica Geingos was also in attendance.
