Fire Saara, LPM tells Geingob

JEMIMA BEUKES

WINDHOEK



The Landless People's Movement (LPM) has urged president Hage Geingob to dismiss Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, following a newspaper article which claims that her husband Onesmus Amadhila has received special treatment from the Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) - which he owes N$ N$180 million – because of his wife's position.

It is alleged that Onesmus enjoys this amnesty while other defaulters are dragged to court - because his wife was finance minister and therefore DBN's line minister at the time the loans were accessed.

The prime minister last week dismissed the allegations, saying her husband is a businessman in his own right and does not rely on her when dealing with public institutions such as DBN.

She also denied having played a role in how her husband is purported to be treated by DBN. “I have never been involved in the operational activities of the bank.”





LPM yesterday said: “We call on President Hage Geingob to dismiss the prime minister from his cabinet, as she is too controversial and is surely an enabler of and mastermind of these grand schemes.”

According to LPM member of parliament Henny Seibeb, there is an unholy special relationship between those in power, their next of kin, and state-owned financial institutions, allowing to them to unfairly accrue state resources.

He also calls for an investigation by the parliamentary Standing Committee of Public Accounts, as well as a special commission of inquiry into the DBN's affairs by the finance ministry.

“The special relationship between the chief executive officer of the DBN, Mr Martin Inkumbi, and Onesmus Amadhila should be investigated and henceforth Mr Inkumbi put on special leave or summary dismissal. A section of Namibians is denied access to DBN funding whereas powerful families linked to the politically exposed persons continue to benefit unabatedly,” said Seibeb.



Also take the land

LPM also urged Geingob to expropriate the controversial farm Duwib formerly owned by Kuugongelwa-Amadhila and her husband, and give it to the Hai//om community that are currently occupying the land.

Last year, the government bought Farm Duwib, which measures 7 485 hectares, for N$3.8 million, raising objections from political parties that it had overpaid.

In an interview with Namibian Sun in April last year, lands minister Calle Schlettwein said they were not yet sure who would be allocated the farm.

At a press conference yesterday, Seibeb said they rejected the current resettlement policy which reportedly creates a façade for indigenous communities to access land.

“There still exists skewed distribution of resources in land distribution in favour of well-off beneficiaries. This is attributable to policy biases which prioritise commercial success as an overriding goal in land reform.

“In our understanding, elite capture unfolds at various points within the land reform process and is attributable to a number of factors, which include manipulative practices where different actors exploit policy ambiguities and institutional weaknesses and implicit and explicit forms of corruption, nepotism and rent-seeking practices.

“Elite capture is occasioned by the presence of unequal power based on various factors which may include economic wealth, gender, and political affiliation,” he said.

Seibeb added that well-off beneficiaries and urban-based business individuals, former state bureaucrats and local politicians with access to material resources, knowledge and information, often qualify as beneficiaries.

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