Saara defends defence, Air Nam, Falcon and Founding Father

FINANCE Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila has come out strongly in defence of the Founding Father, former President Sam Nujoma, for whom Government will build a brand-new office block for about N$42 million spread over several years.

In her official reply to the budget debate in the National Assembly yesterday, the Finance Minister said Parliament and ‘the public’ had noted with ‘utter dismay, the ridicule heaped on Government for providing office space for our Founding President to operate from’.She said Nujoma was a Namibian patriot who had dedicated his whole adult life to the service of his people at a great sacrifice.Instead of taking a well-deserved rest, Nujoma still rendered service to the country ‘without getting compensated for it’, she argued.Nujoma receives a hefty monthly allowance in terms of a special law that was enacted at his retirement in April 2005. ‘I do not understand why opposition MPs object to volunteerism by the Founding Father – or are they saying the Founding President should serve us from the street?’ the Minister asked.Regarding the national airline Air Namibia, which has received bailouts of over N$2 billion in the past nine year and which she admitted was still making losses, Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said that the carrier ‘only’ received N$150 million from the State coffers last year. In the National Budget for 2009-10, the airline is allocated N$100 million. ‘Air Namibia contributed to the national economy with N$1 billion during the past financial year,’ the Minister stated.She further responded to public criticism of the technical competence of ‘black pilots at Air Namibia’, as she put it. ‘These pilots have diligently served this national airline for a good 15 years without endangering its highly valued passengers. This outstanding record should be applauded, not ridiculed by some MPs who had benefited from a very unjust system (before Independence),’ she said. Although the multimillion-dollar budgetary allocation for a new presidential Falcon jet was hidden under the category of ‘Vehicles’ under the Ministry of Works and Transport’s budget for Civil Aviation Infrastructure in last year’s budget, the Minister said criticism of this fact was ‘farfetched.’’Our Government has established a record of transparency and there can be no genuine concerns about the openness of our expenditure proposals,’ she told MPs. ‘Government will not compromise on the safety of our President,’ she added. Kuugongelwa-Amadhila also defended the high defence allocation of N$2,5 billion – about 10 per cent of the total National Budget of N$25,5 billion for the 2009-10 financial year. ‘Some MPs who on the one hand call for a trained defence force but on the other campaign against making the necessary equipment available, deny the fundamental relationship between the two as a basis for a successful defence force. If we agree to have a defence force, we agree to arm it at east to the minimum level required to be able to defend our country,’ the Minister said. ‘Obsolete defence equipment must also be replaced – even for safety reasons.’