Do We Take Ourselves Seriously?

Government leaders and bureaucrats probably think they are shielding themselves from public scrutiny by avoiding the regular collection of key national statistics.

Or they genuinely believe the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) can be sacrificed for so-called ‘competing national priorities’ instead of allocating money to gather numerical data about the living conditions of Namibians.

Whatever reasons are advanced for not updating the population census, the household income and expenditure survey, and employment data since 2010, 2015 and 2018, it is fair to conclude that Namibia has become considerably worse off with few, if any, solutions in sight largely because of the absence of data.

In fact, nearly every isolated and ad hoc survey done over about 10 years suggests that either no solutions are being devised, or resources aimed at fixing challenges have been wasted because of poor diagnosis and execution.

Once again, statistician general Alex Shimuafeni has to go, cap in hand, to the government and beg for about N$250 million to fund the collection of statistics, especially for the income and expenditure survey (and perhaps the unemployment data).

The population census, as well as the income and expenditure survey are probably the two key sets of statistics on which all other numerical data gathered can be made useful in solving the problems citizens face.

For instance, the government recently announced changes to the minimum wage for certain workers and inflation statistics are released quarterly.

What are such decisions based on and how accurate is the data?

The income and expenditure survey was last carried out 10 years ago while even the five-year update of such information the NSA is required to do is inadequate for reliable decision-making.

How can the government be comfortable embarking on projects like mass housing given the surprise discovery this year that our population had ballooned from 2,1 million in 2010 to 3,1 million now, with a 50-50 urban-rural population split; in the past, about 70% of Namibians lived in rural areas.

It is highly likely government leaders are more comfortable being criticised based on anecdotal information showing poverty has increased and income inequality has worsened.

How can politicians be comfortable making campaign promises without reliable quantitative data? That’s worse than p*ssing in the wind.

There are calls for grants to help struggling households get a meal a day. On what are such grants based if we don’t have up-to-date information on how many people are in need?

Our government is quick to fund certain individuals and communities: About 40 000 Namibians who returned from exile in 1989 remain at the front of the queue whenever state resources are allocated.

On what basis are such policies maintained?

We genuinely hope the government drastically changes its thinking about statistics, which should be a priority for government funding.

Without such data, everything else cannot be planned and executed with optimal effectiveness.

Over the past two years, the government has provided about N$2 billion in bailouts to Meatco and Namcor, which operate in profitable industries.

How logical is it that politicians can do that but fail to fund gathering information that can help the general public, private sector and, above all, the government plan how best to allocate scarce tax funds?

Please come to your senses, president Mbumba, the Cabinet and the parliament.

Fund the Namibia Statistics Agency adequately and consistently so the country can benefit from up-to-date statistics.
Let’s take ourselves seriously as a country.