MPs brainstorm global crisis

NAMIBIA needs to get its foot in the door to ensure it gets a chunk of the globally pledged financial aid and assistance to recover from the world’s economic crisis.

‘We have a choice: we can stay home and do nothing, or we can go out there and fight,’ Member of Parliament Johan de Waal said.
De Waal was part of a delegation of five local MPs who attended the Global Economic Crisis Parliamentary Conference in Geneva under the wing of Theo-Ben Gurirab, Speaker of Namibia’s Parliament and President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), last week.
The rest of the party were Peya Mushelenga, Tommy Nambahu, Hansina Christiaan and Sebastiaan !Gobs.
In his closing remarks at the two-day conference, Gurirab said the immediate solution to the economic crisis is the disbursement of ‘very significant amounts of remedial funding’.
‘The economy must be revived, jobs need to be created, the financial system must be repaired, trust has to be re-established, and trade and investment need a major boost.’
Gurirab quoted the G20 meeting in London last month, saying: ‘We need to build an inclusive, green and sustainable recovery, and that will recover significant amounts of funds.’
De Waal said Namibia’s biggest financial challenge is still to come.
The 2009-10 Budget, with its increased spending in capital projects, poses no problem as ‘we are spending last year’s money’. The million dollar-question, however, is next year’s budget, he said.
‘What are we going to do if we run up too much debt which will take us years and years to pay back?’
Determined to secure its fair share of the US$130 billion aid which the G8 pledged at Gleneagles Summit in 2005, as well as the billions of assistance available from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Namibia intends attending similar international meetings, including the upcoming conference of the United Nations’ General Assembly in New York and the G20 meeting in September.
De Waal said Namibia has a solid financial track record and as such should be able to secure the necessary financial help.
‘Namibia is vulnerable. Not as vulnerable as some developing countries, but we are vulnerable. Our budget relies on income from diamonds and the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu), and both these sources are in trouble.
‘Our diamonds are nearly depleted and the price has dropped drastically. As for Sacu, we don’t now what is going to happen if the economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU) is signed,’ De Waal said.
Gurirab said the conference also stressed the importance of greater regulation of the financial sector. International financial institutions, like the IMF, must be reformed.
Employment should also be central to the debate, he said.
‘The health of the world economy should not be measured as a function of stock market recovery, but rather in terms of the recovery of job markets, offering employment that provides a basis for survival and which values the dignity of work.’
MP Mushelenga said Government should not just address job losses in mining, but should also assist the various towns in Namibia which have been affected by the closing of mines or production holidays.
‘These towns should not become ghost towns,’ he said.
Gurirab said particular care should be taken that the economic crisis doesn’t drive women further into poverty.
‘Women are the driving force of our economies, formally and informally, and the solutions to this crisis must therefore build on their potential, recognise their contributions and promote gender equality,’ he said.
The current crisis is reversible, the Speaker said.
‘It is an opportunity to achieve real progress in our societies, remedying existing inequalities and imbalances, and building new systems based on inclusion, transparency and good governance.’