Hidipo Hamutenya breaks his silence

FOR the first time since returning to the National Assembly amidst much controversy last November, Hidipo Hamutenya yesterday broke his silence – questioning Government’s resolve to spur on economic growth.

The onetime Foreign Affairs and Trade and Industry Minister had firm words of advice to Government, as well as a fair amount of criticism to dish out, during the debate on the 2006-07 Budget, opining that Namibia could have been further along the track of development than where it currently is. The concept of black economic empowerment was being misunderstood, Hamutenya maintained, and the tourism sector was failing the country.Agricultural projects had not yet yielded the intended outcomes and Namibia remained too reliant on its limited resource base generated by traditional activities such as fishing and mining.”Despite her impressive effort to come up with a Budget that gives something to everyone, not everyone is satisfied and this is due to the fact that resources are very limited.Against this background, we may not be able to achieve a broad consensus about national priorities.I believe that we are all in agreement that above everything else, this nation is deeply yearning for accelerated economic growth as the absolute pre-requisite for job creation and poverty reduction,” said Hamutenya.However, Namibia’s economic growth continued to be sluggish.Was the nation satisfied that Government was doing all it needed to do to put the country on the path of rapid and sustained growth? Was Namibia being competitive in terms of the regional and global market? How firm was Government’s “much-vaunted” commitment to public private partnership? Hamutenya put these questions to the House.At the current rate, the economy was off the target set for Vision 2030 and needed to grow between 6 and 7 per cent a year to achieve these goals.”Investment in the productive sectors must significantly go beyond every single allocation we have in the current capital budget.The nation must see strong measures of diversification of economic activities.Diversification is critical to broaden the productive base and accordingly the revenue base of the economy,” said Hamutenya.Namibia needed to move away from its reliance on traditional forms of income – mining, fishing and cattle ranching.”We have been half-hearted in our effort to even introduce diversification in individual sectors,” said Hamutenya.”I sense there is fatigue, there is lack of momentum and this does not augur well for the competitiveness of our economy.”The Green Scheme, for example, had not yielded impressive results, said Hamutenya.In a rather quiet House, Nudo MPs were the only ones to voice support for Hamutenya’s sentiments on the need to boost agricultural projects as a means to attack rural poverty.”Without revolutionising smallholdings’ agricultural production, the talks about rural development will remain idle talks,” said Hamutenya.Hamutenya intimated that Namibia had not fully explored its irrigation potential in the southern regions and the Kavango, as key to reducing poverty among rural people.”The burning problems in combating rural poverty have been and continue to be the access to capital and the dire scarcity of entrepreneurial skills and expertise,” said Hamutenya.”We need to show a high degree of focus.We need to show that the identified priorities of poverty reduction and growth are truly accorded the resources they need,” said Hamutenya.Hamutenya also turned his attention to black economic empowerment, (BEE) saying that while Namibia shared a colonial legacy with South Africa, it had not yet legislated this commitment as South Africa had.”It is therefore hoped that Namibia will soon face up to this challenge.Because it is an appropriate mechanism to address post-colonial inequity,” said Hamutenya.He said BEE was being misunderstood in Namibia as the cause of all financial scandals that involved black people.”Yes, some of these scandals are a result of deceit by groups in which certain black individuals have been involved.Others are a consequence of entrepreneurial ineptitude and inefficiency, rather than being BEE-induced thefts,” said Hamutenya.”This misunderstanding calls for broad-ranging and deep-going national discussion of the issue because it would be unfortunate for us to throw away the BEE baby with the sewerage water.”In Namibia, BEE had extended to white-owned private enterprises “cajoling and prodding” interested black businesses to take up shares in their companies.Hamutenya said it was well known that many white business people were doing this for their own interests to guarantee the stability of their operations.Nevertheless, he said even if BEE in Namibia took this form, it should be encouraged rather than discouraged, because it remained a mechanism to reduce the gap between rich and poor – which he said remained largely racially defined.The tourism sector also did not escape Hamutenya’s wrath – he said resorts were in a “sorry state”.He said tourism was definitely one of, if not the most promising sector to create jobs.Government had to consider leasing national resorts to private-sector operations to bring them on par with international standards, he said, because the country had failed to market itself aggressively enough in recent years.”We have done very little to attract people to our land and this is a key element of economic growth and poverty reduction that we need to support and finance adequately,” said Hamutenya.The concept of black economic empowerment was being misunderstood, Hamutenya maintained, and the tourism sector was failing the country.Agricultural projects had not yet yielded the intended outcomes and Namibia remained too reliant on its limited resource base generated by traditional activities such as fishing and mining.”Despite her impressive effort to come up with a Budget that gives something to everyone, not everyone is satisfied and this is due to the fact that resources are very limited.Against this background, we may not be able to achieve a broad consensus about national priorities.I believe that we are all in agreement that above everything else, this nation is deeply yearning for accelerated economic growth as the absolute pre-requisite for job creation and poverty reduction,” said Hamutenya.However, Namibia’s economic growth continued to be sluggish.Was the nation satisfied that Government was doing all it needed to do to put the country on the path of rapid and sustained growth? Was Namibia being competitive in terms of the regional and global market? How firm was Government’s “much-vaunted” commitment to public private partnership? Hamutenya put these questions to the House.At the current rate, the economy was off the target set for Vision 2030 and needed to grow between 6 and 7 per cent a year to achieve these goals.”Investment in the productive sectors must significantly go beyond every single allocation we have in the current capital budget.The nation must see strong measures of diversification of economic activities.Diversification is critical to broaden the productive base and accordingly the revenue base of the economy,” said Hamutenya.Namibia needed to move away from its reliance on traditional forms of income – mining, fishing and cattle ranching.”We have been half-hearted in our effort to even introduce diversification in individual sectors,” said Hamutenya.”I sense there is fatigue, there is lack of momentum and this does not augur well for the competitiveness of our economy.”The Green Scheme, for example, had not yielded impressive results, said Hamutenya.In a rather quiet House, Nudo MPs were the only ones to voice support for Hamutenya’s sentiments on the need to boost agricultural projects as a means to attack rural poverty.”Without revolutionising smallholdings’ agricultural production, the talks about rural development will remain idle talks,” said Hamutenya.Hamutenya intimated that Namibia had not fully explored its irrigation potential in the southern regions and the Kavango, as key to reducing poverty among rural people.”The burning problems in combating rural poverty have been and continue to be the access to capital and the dire scarcity of entrepreneurial skills and expertise,” said Hamutenya.”We need to show a high degree of focus.We need to show that the identified priorities of poverty reduction and growth are truly accorded the resources they need,” said Hamutenya.Hamutenya also turned his attention to black economic empowerment, (BEE) saying that while Namibia shared a colonial legacy with South Africa, it had not yet legislated this commitment as South Africa had.”It is therefore hoped that Namibia will soon face up to this challenge.Because it is an appropriate mechanism to address post-colonial inequity,” said Hamutenya.He said BEE was being misunderstood in Namibia as the cause of all financial scandals that involved black people.”Yes, some of these scandals are a result of deceit by groups in which certain black individuals have been involved.Others are a consequence of entrepreneurial ineptitude and inefficiency, rather than being BEE-induced thefts,” said Hamutenya.”This misunderstanding calls for broad-ranging and deep-going national discussion of the issue because it would be unfortunate for us to throw away the BEE baby with the sewerage water.”In Namibia, BEE had extended to white-owned private enterprises “cajoling and prodding” interested black businesses to take up shares in their companies.Hamutenya said it was well known that many white business people were doing this for their own interests to guarantee the stability of their operations.Nevertheless, he said even if BEE in Namibia took this form, it should be encouraged rather than discouraged, because it remained a mechanism to reduce the gap between rich and poor – which he said remained largely racially defined.The tourism sector also did not escape Hamutenya’s wrath – he said resorts were in a “sorry state”.He said tourism was definitely one of, if not the most promising sector to create jobs.Government had to consider leasing national resorts to private-sector operations to bring them on par with international standards, he said, because the country had failed to market itself aggressively enough in recent years.”We have done very little to attract people to our land and this is a key element of economic growth and poverty reduction that we need to support and finance adequately,” said Hamutenya.