Namibia in darkest hour – Swanu

SWANU president Tangeni Iiyambo deems Namibia’s current state as the country’s darkest hour, attributing it to the constant corruption allegations and the harm the pandemic caused to the economy.

“Our country has entered its darkest hour as we go through the menacing clutches of a deadly plague and a three-decade-long rule of corruption and greed, which threatens the viability of our republic,” he said.

Iiyambo, who was speaking at a press conference yesterday, said the country’s “bleeding economy” sees no recovery anytime soon because of corruption and the paralysing pandemic.

Despite labelling the economy as “haemorrhaging”, Iiyambo wants the government to introduce a basic income grant (BIG) to help the jobless and the impoverished.

“If you have an economy that is bad but you have an alternative like BIG whereby each person receives something monthly for a living, I should think that is an alleviatory situation, which can go a long way for the poverty-stricken people,” Iiyambo added.

Namibia last year introduced an emergency income grant (EIG), which was a one-off payment of N$750, to cushion people who lost income or experienced difficulties during the Covid-19 lockdown periods.

Finance minister Iipumbu Shiimi then said the government will assess whether there is a need to introduce a grant similar to the EIG.

The executive director in the poverty eradication ministry, Esther Lusepani, was quoted saying the government is finalising a feasibility study to determine whether the country can introduce BIG to benefit roughly 1,2 million unemployed people.

Iiyambo has further accused Swapo of capturing the state along with foreign investors and wants the ruling party to prove otherwise.

“The onus is now on the ruling party and its leadership to prove that there is no state capture in Namibia because, as far as we are concerned, the signs are there and include the phenomena of clientelism, exploitation, state-party fusion, and predation by well-connected elites.

“How did it happen that Reconnaissance Energy Africa bought the entire 8,75 million acre sedimentary Okavango Basin with all the rights to it? Be advised that your silence will only fuel damaging speculation and worse,” he added.

The Canadian oil and gas company, ReconAfrica, has bought rights from Namibia and Botswana to drill for oil in more than 35 000 square kilometres of the Okavango Basin.

The exploration sites are within the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Park – the largest terrestrial transfrontier conservation area in the world incorporating protected and communal land in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Iiyambo also argues that the state capture strengthens certain institutions, including the state security apparatus, revenue services and legal oversight institutions whose independence is reduced by placing “network actors carefully in veto positions”.

Swapo’s secretary general, Sophia Shaningwa, did not respond to questions sent to her at the time of going to print.

Iiyambo wants president Hage Geingob, as well as Cabinet ministers and their deputies to be vaccinated first when the Pfizer vaccine arrives in Namibia.

“Comrade president, please take it under further advise that to inspire trust and dispel fear and doubt, your excellency, Cabinet ministers and members of both houses of parliament should volunteer to be vaccinated first in full view of cameras,” he said.

Swanu further believes the government has not done enough to debunk the myths around the vaccines, especially referring to the rumour that patients at Katutura are being forcefully vaccinated.

These claims were made by forex fraud-accused Michael Amushelelo, who said patients in state hospitals are receiving the coronavirus vaccine and then dying.

Health executive director Ben Nangombe rubbished these claims last month, saying Amushelelo is an agent of chaos.

“Anybody with rudimentary knowledge about health would know that a vaccine is not something that is used for treatment. It is not given to people who are admitted in hospital. It is administered to prevent a person from contracting a particular infection,” Nangombe added.