The Investment Board and the Investment That Never Was

In March 2020, the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB) was formed by president Hage Geingob with great fanfare.

The aim was to primarily focus on investment promotion and SME development.

The president then assembled a crop of accountants to lead the new entity. CEO Nangula Uaandja is an accountant as is James Mnyupe, a board member.

Then there are 10 advisory board members and six executive directors. This is quite a bloated structure.

Apparently to strengthen the board, the CEO hand-picked an investment ‘A-Team’ – in the words of State House.

The five people appointed are responsible for securing much-vaunted FDI (foreign direct investment) for Namibia worldwide.

The new investment foot soldiers and their families were issued with diplomatic passports. Their destinations: Cairo, Beijing, New York, London and Pretoria.

All five previously worked at the Namibia Investment Centre under the trade ministry.

This raises two questions. Why were vacancies at this level never advertised? Secondly, why take people who are already employed while you have university graduates roaming our streets?

TREASURE HUNTS

While board members were still setting up office and arranging the furniture it had already won an international award at Expo 2020 Dubai. 

The NIPDB allegedly paid N$70 000 as a participation fee for the quality achievement award it received.

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) revealed this and called out the NIPDB and Namibia University of Science and Technology for using public funds for participatory fees, according to IPPR researcher Frederico Links.

This was 12 months after the board was founded. What do we make of that?

This is a board that has not secured a single ruble, real, rand or rupee for the country.

We are actually spending more on the board than we’re getting from it.

Last year, for example, NIPDB was given NS135m to promote investment.

This year the government set aside N$120,1 million to fund its activities.

Now while the NIPDB is on its investment hunt, Lucia Iipumbu, the minister of industrialisation and trade, said her ministry allocated N$4,1 million for investment promotion and N$138 million for trade promotion.

Most of this money goes towards salaries and S&Ts – basically to attend expos and trade fairs worldwide.

In one investment treasure hunt, the NIPDB spent more than N$20 million to take part in the six-month Dubai Expo 2020.

Add to that the cost of the five new investment foot soldiers in five different capitals – these people are actually on paid vacations.

‘TRUTHINESS’

Someone might jump in and say that’s not true. Because last year, around March, we were told Namibia had secured about N$94 billion in investment opportunities with the potential to create 122 000 jobs, according to NIPDB CEO Uaandja.

“We have a significant pipeline, what we call active investments that we are using. In this pipeline, there is that huge amount,” she said.

Now hold your breath. If you thought N$94 billion was just more than enough to take this country to another level of socio-economic development and job creation, here is another bombshell.

In April, we were told Namibia had secured about N$161 billion in investment opportunities as of March 2023 with the potential to create more jobs.

“Namibia has a drastic pipeline, signifying that the country has been heard by world players. Delegations that have been visiting our offices have increased drastically, and are coming from all over the world. We have facilitated 46 delegations,” Uaandja said.

These billions are more than the national budget.

Uaandja said those operational amount to about N$2,8 billion, while funding from investors yet to make a final decision for the flow of capital to start was N$24,1 billion.

The third stage – investors still getting procedures in place to kick-start their projects – stands at N$38,8 billion.

The final stage, known as the lead stage, where investors enquire about final investment decisions, is N$95,3 billion.   

CONFUSIONS

But some of us are getting confused.

While Uaandja is giving us her impressive figures, you have Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, minister of international relations, saying Namibia has secured FDI of just N$13,5 billion in the last seven years.

She said this while motivating her ministry’s budget for the next financial year which started on 1 April.

The other confusion, in my view, is that these investors/companies/institutions don’t have names, which sectors they’ve invested in, where they’ve set up factories, and how many people they’ve employed.

When you’re told about potential, pledges and pipelines, then you know there is a problem.  

• Alexactus T Kaure is a freelance writer