It’s About The Walk, Not the Talk

AS WE are accustomed to knowing him, finance minister Calle Schlettwein gave a carefully framed speech – during his budget presentation on Wednesday – with a message of hope.

Many economists and ordinary people were left with the impression that Schlettwein knows what he is doing, and wants to change things for the better.

Well, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

For starters, we are encouraged by him stating that we “must do what we know must be done; we must do it with confidence and conviction”. It was immediately followed by a call for “timely and coherent policy interventions”, and the “need for diversification and transformation”.

For too long, it has been all talk and no action. This is what partly led to the cash crunch the country is facing today – apart from the external contributing factors.

Nevertheless, there are several encouraging messages that came out of the minister’s speech.

We note the proposed budget deficit reduction, and the fact that poverty is on a declining path, although income inequality still remains high for a country falling in the “upper middle income” category.

Similarly, we have been able to reduce our spending as a proportion of GDP from 42,8% in the 2015/16 financial year to an estimated 38,7% in the 2017/18 financial year. With minister Schlettwein projecting that the ratios will drop further over the coming years, we can only hope they do.

The increase in the development budget from N$5,6 billion in 2017/18 to N$7,3 billion this year, and to reach N$8,2 billion by the next financial year to stimulate economic growth is something noteworthy too, because it is expected to happen simultaneously with the reduction of total expenditure.

So, while the budget is being cut, correct spending is applied. Or so we understand from the minister.

We are worried though about the high 34% rate of unemployment, and the fact that youth unemployment is “distinctively higher”, while at the same time the skills deficit remains large.

Our expectation is that the two education ministers will, when they motivate their budgets, provide a thorough plan on active undertakings to counter this.

Early indications from the youth ministry’s budget, which was cut severely, was not encouraging, but this is most likely because of a past lack of programmes and spending in that ministry.

With new sports minister Erastus Uutoni showing enthusiasm both to listen and tackle issues, we had hoped that he would have been given the money to enable positive movement.

Another concern, and which minister Schlettwein too pinpointed, is the lack of “commensurate better quality of outcomes” from the billions going into education.

Under the current financial year, basic education is being allocated N$13,5 billion, which is 4% more than the revised allocation for the last financial year.

Schlettwein broke it down to say that Namibia spends over N$18 668 on a single school-going child per annum. In global terms, this is US$1 585 per year, compared to the world average of US$446.

As he stated, the amount actually increases even more, given the high failure rate annually. As a country, we cannot look the other way on this one.

The high investments need to start yielding the much-needed results, instead of the thousands of children who end up on the streets each year. As Schlettwein put it, “money does not buy success”.

There is a need to get rid of the bad apples who fail the Namibian child through “inefficient management systems in schools and tertiary institutions, teaching capacity gaps, weak research and innovation drives, and lack of performance management”, as the minister said.

It is clear from his speech that government knows where the problems lie. What is puzzling is that the awareness is not accompanied by appropriate corrective action. And as long as the status quo prevails, the government and such ministries will be regarded as bottomless pits for state finances.

There are similarities with the country’s health system, where corruption has replaced the word efficiency. The above-mentioned are just a few points of departure.

But unless the first steps are taken, it will remain a case of all talk and no walk.

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