Political perspective

IF Government wants ownership of nearly everything, then they really must learn to manage properly.Because in virtually all respects, they are messing up, and the taxpayer has to foot the bill. If someone took the time to tote up the cost of corruption, unnecessary expenditure and wastage in Government, then, as a country, we could hold our heads up high and we probably wouldn’t have to agitate for ‘least developed’ status either.

MANY Namibians don’t really understand why corruption in Government is such a serious issue. Any corruption is bad, but in Government, particularly so, because this is public money after all.If Government simply did the task to which it is assigned, namely, to govern properly and keep to their budgets, they’d probably be less in the public eye than they are at present.But if they will insist on setting up scores of parastatals or SOEs, even when they are plainly loss-making, then the drain on our coffers will be continual.The examples are there for all to see, but some are worthy of being singled out for a mention: Air Namibia – Government insists on its own flagship airline.At the end of the day, it is a political decision to keep it afloat.In the view of our leadership hierarchy, the national airline of Namibia must be seen to fly international routes, even if they are only two, but it is a very silly decision, given the high price we must pay.And it is not as if Air Namibia hasn’t had more than 15 years to get it right financially.Government need not even be involved in the airline sector if it didn’t want to be, so let it be someone else’s problem to run airlines profitably.Media – Government still regards it as vitally important to maintain a grip on the media sector (for all the good it does them!).This is an archaic and costly business.I don’t need to recap on the sad history of the NBC and its overall cost to the country, and to cut a long story short, they’ve now had to scale back on broadcasting hours primarily because their ill-equipped political appointees in management over recent years have cost the Corporation more than it could afford.If the NBC were not there, other companies would set up in its stead, which could still represent the ‘national interest’ as it is called, although I’ve never fathomed quite what this means! Then there’s the Namibian Press Agency (Nampa), the only conduit for wire service news from abroad.Again, because of a top-heavy and probably overpaid management cadre, they can’t make it either, although private media (like ourselves) are obliged to pay them large amounts of money to keep things afloat.Whether Government pays Government is quite another matter, in the sense that we honestly don’t know whether other State media who subscribe to Nampa actually pay their way! The saga of Government media continues of course.There is in addition, their daily newspaper, New Era, also a loss-making proposition, and other publications from time to time.And finally, probably the worst political decision of all regarding media was the decision to go into a so-called partnership with the Zimbabwean government in the Sunday regional publication, Southern Times.As far as we can gather, it’s no partnership at all – Namibia is simply footing the bill! And to what end? Again, as in the case of Air Namibia, there is absolutely no good reason for Government to involve itself in media.We have a largely free and open media environment for media of all shapes and sizes, and Namibia would be no worse off if we quite honestly dispensed with all of the above.If we insist on a public broadcaster, then let’s keep it lean and mean, and dispense with huge costs, wastage and political manipulation by creating just that.But the NBC, in its present form, must go.This would relieve Government of a number of financial headaches.There is not the time or the space here to go into other examples of the things that Government insists on ‘owning’.But suffice it to say, all, with particular reference to top management, chew up taxpayers’ dollars.If Government shrugged off even the abovementioned institutions, they’d have more money to spend on the urgent priorities that need more of an infusion than they get at present.Any corruption is bad, but in Government, particularly so, because this is public money after all.If Government simply did the task to which it is assigned, namely, to govern properly and keep to their budgets, they’d probably be less in the public eye than they are at present.But if they will insist on setting up scores of parastatals or SOEs, even when they are plainly loss-making, then the drain on our coffers will be continual.The examples are there for all to see, but some are worthy of being singled out for a mention: Air Namibia – Government insists on its own flagship airline.At the end of the day, it is a political decision to keep it afloat.In the view of our leadership hierarchy, the national airline of Namibia must be seen to fly international routes, even if they are only two, but it is a very silly decision, given the high price we must pay.And it is not as if Air Namibia hasn’t had more than 15 years to get it right financially.Government need not even be involved in the airline sector if it didn’t want to be, so let it be someone else’s problem to run airlines profitably.Media – Government still regards it as vitally important to maintain a grip on the media sector (for all the good it does them!).This is an archaic and costly business.I don’t need to recap on the sad history of the NBC and its overall cost to the country, and to cut a long story short, they’ve now had to scale back on broadcasting hours primarily because their ill-equipped political appointees in management over recent years have cost the Corporation more than it could afford.If the NBC were not there, other companies would set up in its stead, which could still represent the ‘national interest’ as it is called, although I’ve never fathomed quite what this means! Then there’s the Namibian Press Agency (Nampa), the only conduit for wire service news from abroad.Again, because of a top-heavy and probably overpaid management cadre, they can’t make it either, although private media (like ourselves) are obliged to pay them large amounts of money to keep things afloat.Whether Government pays Government is quite another matter, in the sense that we honestly don’t know whether other State media who subscribe to Nampa actually pay their way! The saga of Government media continues of course.There is in addition, their daily newspaper, New Era, also a loss-making proposition, and other publications from time to time.And finally, probably the worst political decision of all regarding media was the decision to go into a so-called partnership with the Zimbabwean government in the Sunday regional publication, Southern Times.As far as we can gather, it’s no partnership at all – Namibia is simply footing the bill! And to what end? Again, as in the case of Air Namibia, there is absolutely no good reason for Government to involve itself in media.We have a largely free and open media environment for media of all shapes and sizes, and Namibia would be no worse off if we quite honestly dispensed with all of the above.If we insist on a public broadcaster, then let’s keep it lean and mean, and dispense with huge costs, wastage and political manipulation by creating just that.But the NBC, in its present form, must go.This would relieve Government of a number of financial headaches.There is not the time or the space here to go into other examples of the things that Government insists on ‘owning’.But suffice it to say, all, with particular reference to top management, chew up taxpayers’ dollars.If Government shrugged off even the abovementioned institutions, they’d have more money to spend on the urgent priorities that need more of an infusion than they get at present.