Businessman Desmond Amunyela has expressed his support for Swapo secretary general Sophia Shaningwa’s assertions that those intending to invest in Namibia should do so on Swapo’s terms.
The Namibian last week reported that Shaningwa said Swapo’s election manifesto, which will be launched on 14 September, requires investments to be made on the party’s terms.
Amunyela praised Shaningwa for directing policies toward Swapo’s election manifesto to address the country’s natural resources.
“We fully support Sophia and we must stand behind her,” Amunyela said.
He called for Namibians to prioritise the country’s resources as the number one focus.
Amunyela said Shaningwa’s statement is an opportunity for all Namibians, regardless of whether they own businesses, to identify competitive advantages.
He challenged the notion that Shaningwa’s comments would deter investment in the country and said investors are not exclusively foreign, as Namibians can also be investors.
“We must push back against the fearmongering that investors will be scared off. There are no special people, created by God or otherwise, known as investors. There’s only capital and capital doesn’t care where it comes from. It only cares about returns.”
Amunyela said Namibians can also be good investors worldwide.
“Knowledge Katti started amalgamating assets in Namibia, particularly in the oil sector. He has successfully turned licences and endowments into value.”
He noted that the government’s 10% stake in mining may have initially been beneficial to incentivise private capital to explore the country’s mineral resources because the government lacked the funds to do. However, with the discovery of oil, a significant shift is needed in the government’s approach.
“Now that we have discovered oil, we are no longer in the exploration phase. Those who found oil under the previous 10% regime should be honoured. However, we must impose a moratorium on issuing exploration licences while developing a system that aligns with our national strategic foresight, ensuring that resources such as petroleum are declared national strategic resources.
“We must change the laws so that no individual has exclusive rights to negotiate these resources,” Amunyela added.
He noted that Namibia is now acquiring capacity.
“If we lack the expertise to explore oil, we invite you in to bring your expertise and capital and we will designate the areas where we believe you will find what you are looking for. In return, you receive a portion of the profits, but we will no longer adhere to the previous 10% arrangement . The 10% was an exploratory incentive system.”
Political analyst Henning Melber said the government must draft reliable investment legislation in the best interest of the country.
Rally for Democracy and Progress president Mike Kavekotora said subjecting investors to Swapo’s manifesto is tantamount to promoting corruption and self enrichment.
He noted that investment strategies must be subjected to parliamentary scrutiny and parliament’s budget discussion is the appropriate platform to debate investment strategy, direction and priorities.
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