Political Perspective

I DOUBT that I was the only person to reel in disbelief at the news recently that a certain Chief Executive Officer whose contract at a parastatal was not renewed, was suing his employers for N$6-million. Naked greed is the first thought that springs to mind on learning of this scandalous demand. This, from a person who earned just short of N$100 000 a month in any case, is truly indefensible and it is sickening that this kind of plunder continues at the parastatals.

HAVEN’T we just spent a considerable amount of money on a probe into the remuneration schemes of parastatals, and weren’t certain recommendations made by the Minister in charge? If only there was more transparency we might know what these were. But this happened long enough ago to raise the suspicion that perhaps the commission in question felt the CEO’s at these ‘enterprises’ weren’t earning enough anyway, and recommended further increases! In a country like Namibia, whose Government pleads least-developed status to the outside world, these salaries and payouts are unacceptable.How can we ever hope to try and bridge the gap between rich and poor when we cannot justify such financial rewards to the elite? But not only that, the personal greed of some of the CEO’s is reprehensible.Government may argue that good salaries are necessary to obtain a high-quality hierarchy in State-owned enterprises, and this may well be so.But this kind of remuneration goes beyond the bounds of the ridiculous.At a rough calculation, the former Agribank CEO’s salary of an estimated N$83 000 (excluding bonuses and probably other perks) would pay at least 276 pensioners their meagre N$300 a month! There is something badly wrong somewhere, and I wonder at Government’s silence under the circumstances.His intended lawsuit comes in the wake of an offer of apparently more than N$1-million as severance package; an offer the former incumbent apparently rejected.Truly, if this matter is heard in our courts, then people should make their anger known and publicly demonstrate against such a scandalous waste of money.It may be an election year and Swapo doesn’t want to rock the boat; but if they did in fact decide to do so – as they should – they might find that they stand to gain more votes if they act against such naked profligacy.And if the Party itself won’t, then hopefully one of the three presidential candidates may take up the cudgel on the part of their many unemployed countrymen and women, who surely don’t approve of such waste of precious resources.It is tantamount to corruption in any case.People tend to read shock news such as this in isolation.They often fail to realise that these salaries are approved by Government, and it is they who should be held responsible.Truly, if silence continues to reign over this scandal from the ranks of the ruling party, then it can truly be said that they have forever lost touch with their socialist roots.I sincerely hope that someone, somewhere in the top echelons of Government, takes serious issue and advocates an immediate end to excess of this nature.But this happened long enough ago to raise the suspicion that perhaps the commission in question felt the CEO’s at these ‘enterprises’ weren’t earning enough anyway, and recommended further increases! In a country like Namibia, whose Government pleads least-developed status to the outside world, these salaries and payouts are unacceptable.How can we ever hope to try and bridge the gap between rich and poor when we cannot justify such financial rewards to the elite? But not only that, the personal greed of some of the CEO’s is reprehensible.Government may argue that good salaries are necessary to obtain a high-quality hierarchy in State-owned enterprises, and this may well be so.But this kind of remuneration goes beyond the bounds of the ridiculous.At a rough calculation, the former Agribank CEO’s salary of an estimated N$83 000 (excluding bonuses and probably other perks) would pay at least 276 pensioners their meagre N$300 a month! There is something badly wrong somewhere, and I wonder at Government’s silence under the circumstances.His intended lawsuit comes in the wake of an offer of apparently more than N$1-million as severance package; an offer the former incumbent apparently rejected.Truly, if this matter is heard in our courts, then people should make their anger known and publicly demonstrate against such a scandalous waste of money.It may be an election year and Swapo doesn’t want to rock the boat; but if they did in fact decide to do so – as they should – they might find that they stand to gain more votes if they act against such naked profligacy.And if the Party itself won’t, then hopefully one of the three presidential candidates may take up the cudgel on the part of their many unemployed countrymen and women, who surely don’t approve of such waste of precious resources.It is tantamount to corruption in any case.People tend to read shock news such as this in isolation.They often fail to realise that these salaries are approved by Government, and it is they who should be held responsible.Truly, if silence continues to reign over this scandal from the ranks of the ruling party, then it can truly be said that they have forever lost touch with their socialist roots.I sincerely hope that someone, somewhere in the top echelons of Government, takes serious issue and advocates an immediate end to excess of this nature.