Stay out of business, Govt told

Government has been told to leave the business environment to the private sector with minimal political interference and let economic market forces prevail.

This is the position of the Forum for German-speaking Namibians, who feel government should instead pivot its attention towards the provision of regulatory frameworks and ensure the maintenance of social and economic peace.

The forum’s chairperson, Harald Hecht, said this earlier this week when the forum met deputy prime minister and Swapo Party vice president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Swapo Party secretary general Sophia Shaningwa and other ruling party leaders in the Khomas Region.

The forum presented an array of business proposals, which it feels can help reboot the country’s teetering economy.

Proposed strategies

They want government to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to corruption and improve the ease of doing business.

Hecht also wants government to provide certainty in terms of NEEEB, the Investment Promotion Bill, and investors status and permits.

“Market Namibia as a tax heaven for wealthy individuals where no inheritance tax, donation tax or capital gains tax applies,” he proposed.

With the majority of the country’s commercial entities struggling financially, Hecht stressed the need to implement “serious turnaround strategies for a lot of parastatals”.

“The loss of Agribank of N$250 million for the last financial year, as recently reported in the media, is just one sad example,” he said.

Basic human needs

The forum also called for the activation of the Sovereign Wealth Fund in order to restore the dignity of impoverished Namibians by providing basic human needs like housing, regular water, electricity and sanitary services.

“Maybe now is the time to consider implementing the Basic Income Grant as a short-term measure from royalties, taxes and levies received from the new industry sectors of green hydrogen oil and gas and mineral extraction in general and paid into the Sovereign Wealth Fund. We have to maintain and sustain the social peace in Namibia, which is currently in real jeopardy,” he said.

Hecht further said there is a need for a bold rescue plan to salvage the country’s “health and education ministries, which are seriously compromised and deserve immediate intensive care”.