PHOTOGRAPHS are circulating on social networks in Namibia of a Bentley (a British-origin luxury sedan that retails at no less than N$2million)allegedly owned by Collin Venaani.
The Bentley’s arrival on Namibian soil coincided with Venaani getting one of the lucrative National Housing Enterprise (NHE) mass housing scheme contracts under shady circumstances.
Similar reports abound of other mass housing tenderpreneurs who have gone on shopping sprees of consumer goods (TV screens worth N$100 000) on the promise of receiving some of the NHE largesse. The word tenderpreneur was coined in South Africa to reconcile the differences between those calling themselves entrepreneurs and those who the public see as parasites feeding on public jobs.
The government’s handling of the mass housing scheme, a N$47 billion plan allegedly aimed at building houses for the poor, is fast proving that corruption in Namibia has reached alarming proportions. It is about time the scourge is tackled from different angles.
For this uncompromising anti-corruption campaigner, it has even come to a point where we begin to entertain debates as to whether there’s something like ‘good’ corruption. When things get really bad, as corruption has in this country, people tend to entertain oxymorons like “good corruption” as a way out of a deficient situation and to avoid throwing the baby out with the bathwater. For example, empowerment of those who need it is good, but giving money to the greedy to, supposedly, save the poor is a huge mistake.
The worry therefore is that the ruling elite in both government and business tends to limit corruption to a legalistic environment.
President Hifikepunye Pohamba’s defence that he had nothing to do with the NHE awarding a contract for the building of houses to his daughter, who is in partnership with the daughter of a respected business leader, Johannes !Gawaxab, is a case in point.
Not only do the President’s henchmen argue that he did not know, but also insists that Kaupumhote Pohamba and Taschiona !Gawaxab are entitled to do business as they wish because they are adults. So, they are entitled to bid and win a government contract to build Pohamba’s retirement home? Would the president let it be if he were to find out they got such a tender?
The list of those NHE tender beneficiaries as well as of most government contracts show that the relatives of the ruling elite (Venaani, Ekandjo, Hailulu’s in-law) and their closest friends are “winning” them effortlessly. Nothing wrong?
Morality and ethics don’t seem to matter with our ruling elite. But it is moral values and ethics, supported by laws, which mould societies. Right and wrong cannot simply be regulated by laws. State House’s defense is akin to genetically modifying the seeds of corruption and making it resistant against good values and ethics. Propping up a class of so-called business people who are perpetual parasites of government contracts does not add long term value and does not create meaningful jobs. Nor will it empower Namibians to learn the intricacies of doing jobs that will build the country instead of passing them on to (often foreign) experts while we play boss.
The term “good corruption” is often used in relation to the South Korean success from the 1960s, starting with the dictator Park Chung-hee. Park is credited with “democratising corruption” by rewarding people and companies with good government contracts as long as they supported his party. They allegedly did not use state power to benefit either the political elite or personal friends. They reportedly also made sure to clamp down on self-enrichment of officials and busi- ness leaders.
More importantly, Park and his successors reportedly rewarded those who kept resources in the country and improved Korean skills (the best form of empowerment). South Korea has since outstrippedAfrican countries that were better at the time.
Despite the benefit of learning from those before us, we are seeing the opposite. Corruption is getting worse and is hampering economic growth for the majority. Our national statistics show how the gaps in income have been growing between a few rich and the many poor Namibians. Small firms, whereby professionals and unskilled individuals set up real SMEs that are the growth-engines of any economy, hardly get the support they need.
What we see instead is the few political elite, their relatives and friends, running companies while they themselves are employed elsewhere in government or the corporate sector without putting their regular income on the line or learning in order to develop the country.
The state we are in is dire, but we still have an opportunity to turn our backs on the most despicable forms of corruption rather than defend the indefensible.
