Uproar over Chinese ‘affair’

SOME politicians this week described claims that the Namibia-China relationship was a win-win situation as being far-fetched.

All People’s Party (APP) president Ignatius Shixwameni, who was contributing to a debate in the National Assembly on Tuesday, asked if there was any win-win relationship in the real world.

“Can Manchester United play Orlando Pirates on the same terms?” Shixwameni asked finance minister Calle Schlettwein.

While Shixwameni was still talking to Schlettwein, land reform minister Utoni Nujoma interjected.

“Why not? Why not?” Nujoma shouted while attorney general Albert Kawana, who was sitting next to Nujoma, barged into the debate, shouting “A draw is fine”.

“… with Zambia, it was 1-1, that’s a win-win,” Kawana said, referring to the football match two weeks ago between Namibia and Zambia which ended in a draw.

Shixwameni shot back, saying the politicians are living in denial.

“The Chinese will give you money. You cannot say it’s a win-win. You are the beggar. The beggar cannot demand,” the APP leader stated.

Before that exchange, the Popular Democratic Movement’s (PDM) Vipuakuje Muharukua had warned fellow lawmakers that China prefers working with African countries because they don’t care if the money ends up in corrupt hands.

He said China must be saying: “We can buy them [African leaders] with money. Whether the money that we give them is corruptly dealt with like the Targeted Intervention Programme for Employment and Economic Growth (Tipeeg), we don’t care”.

The debate about China and Tipeeg started when Schlettwein made a ministerial statement, reacting to comments by PDM president McHenry Venaani.

reported on Monday that Venaani warned the government not to squander taxpayers’ money on failed projects like the N$14 billion Tipeeg, which was initiated to create 104 000 jobs between 2012 and 2014.

Schlettwein maintained this week that Tipeeg was not a failure, as stated by Venaani. He said over 15 800 permanent and 87 000 temporary jobs had been created through the state programme at a cost of N$13 billion.

“The opportunistic statement [by Venaani] that there was no trickle-down of growth and incomes is far-fetched, and contrary to this best available empirical evidence,” the finance minister stated.

He said Namibia’s foreign debt in 2011 was N$8,4 billion, which is way bellow Tipeeg’s N$14,7 billion budget at the time. Schlettwein made these remarks to prove that Tipeeg’s money did not come from foreign countries. He said the question to be raised is whether the overall outcome of Tipeeg, positive as it is, was good enough.

“I reiterate that the results should have been better; that the productive, industrial and digital capacity of the economy would have improved; that the outcomes are sustainable, and more permanent jobs should have been created,” the minister added.

Turning to China’s loan offer, he said Namibia can take up other loans, as long as the terms are favourable and not attached to high interest rates, like past borrowings.

Schlettwein said the plan to borrow N$10 billion in the next five years could not only include China if there are better options from other countries. The government has been criticised for insisting on upgrading the Hosea Kutako International Airport because a lot of senior government officials were allegedly bribed to push for the project.

The finance minister has been one of the officials who has had reservations about splashing billions into the project, instead of asking a private company to upgrade the airport and co-manage it for several years.

Schlettwein now said the Chinese loan “offers an opportunity for some of this loan uptake, and funding for the Hosea Kutako International Airport is one such priority undertaking”.

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