Let’s Trace the Original Sin of Economic Deals

The concept of ‘original sin’ became more pronounced in Christian doctrine in the 16th century where it was argued that human beings are born with some urge to commit evil or disobey God.

In terms of the doctrine, a baby born yesterday at Othimbika is similarly ‘damaged’ because of the original sin of the Biblical Adam and Eve, who “ate the forbidden fruit”.

Outside Christianity, similar perspectives were shared by political philosophers.

English philosopher Thomas Hobbes submitted that human beings are evil by nature. Without a state, he persuasively argued, competitive humans will make life solitary, nasty and short.

This state-led society, in existence since the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, is organised to avoid original sin – the chaotic ‘state of nature’.
Modern societies are seemingly structured to avoid some undesired state – original sin.

Peace is sacrosanct to those who once experienced its absence. Does ‘heaven’ make sense without ‘hell’?

Development is meant to avoid under-development.

ENDS AND MEANS

A conversation with a politically connected property developer on the mass housing programme comes to mind.

When a colleague said the programme was poorly conceived, this developer pricelessly reacted “who told you it was not thought through and how do you know that the end did not justify the means?”

It then became clear there was a mass housing original sin.

It is not always the number of casualties that determine the victors. One can win the war despite suffering more casualties. It’s the objectives that matter.

The shadows that conceptualised mass housing envisaged releasing billions into the construction industry.

For this they needed a social problem, housing as it were.

The blueprint was well written: A N$45 billion programme to build 185 000 houses. Servicing one plot was to be capped at N$75 000.

When it was found the programme was a well-orchestrated scheme, previously jubilant politicians announced the stoppage and investigation of the programme.

The shadows had anticipated this and by this stage the government had signed watertight contracts.

Politicians returned to their offices to find invoices amounting to millions for penalties during the suspension period.

The architects of the original sin gathered in hotels to drink champagne toasts.

Their objectives had been met – the war was won albeit with many casualties.

TRAJECTORIES

Consider another example. When unemployment soared during president Pohamba’s second term, those surrounding him feared a youth uprising as had happened in the Middle East.

In response, president Pohamba announced the “government has decided to adopt a special job creation programme called Targeted Intervention Programme for Employment and Economic Growth (Tipeeg).

Tipeeg set out to create 104 000 job opportunities within three years at a cost of N$14 billion.

Many Namibians, including the media, missed the deliberate wording – “opportunities” and at times dropped the word to just “104 000 jobs”.

When some wanted to declare it a failed project, the shadows whispered “we said 104 000 job opportunities” in the ears of Swapo politicians .

A water pipeline passing through a village results in all households, even two kilometres away, declared as “having access to water” even if there is no water connection to all houses.

For the Tipeeg shadows, the objectives were met although 104 000 job opportunities were not created. There was no youth unrest.

We cannot understand our economic and developmental tragedies and trajectories without locating the original sin.

Ramatex is yet another example of this. It’s the same with the general mismanagement of our natural resources.

Indeed, the secretive green hydrogen agreement with a German company cannot be understood without tracing the original sin.

NUMBERS

Foreign investors understand that approaching a Namibian politician with a proposal will result in this question “where do I need to sign because we need to announce this”.

Consider the 2017 case of American businessman Christopher Cox who managed to sneak into State House for a meeting with president Geingob.

State House announced him as then president Trump’s adviser.

The US embassy embarrassingly had to announce that Cox was not part of the US government.

I recall a social media comment from a mischievous youth when State House announced an oil find: “How do we know it’s really oil in that bottle and not cooking oil or urine of a dehydrated dude”?

To astute observers of politics, numbers from the mouths of ruling party politicians no longer carry meaning.

In 10 years, we’ve limped from 104 000 jobs, 185 000 houses to 200 000 plots, and now 18 000 green hydrogen jobs.

We can only liberate ourselves from the tyranny of mega announcements by tracing the original sin.

Motivational speaker Tony Gaskins is worth a listen: “Know who you are. Know what you want. Know what you deserve. And don’t settle for less.” 
 

• Job Shipululo Amupanda is activist-in-chief of Affirmative Repositioning and former mayor of Windhoek. He holds a PhD in Political Studies from the University of Namibia.