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Namibia: Even Opposition Serves the People
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The Namibian (Windhoek)
9 April 2008
Posted to the web 9 April 2008
Brigitte Weidlich
Windhoek
The parliamentary debate on the new Budget drew to a close on Thursday with a Swapo backbencher noting that opposition party politicians are part of democracy and have a right to exist.
The only San representative in the National Assembly, Royal Kxao /Ui/o/oo, reminded his fellow MPs that Article 45 of the Constitution stipulated that "Members of the National Assembly shall be representatives of all the people".
"This means that even the opposition is there to serve the people," /Ui/o/oo pointed out, drawing applause from the opposition benches.
He also requested higher salaries for backbenchers and more resources accorded to them to work more independently.
Elma Dienda of the CoD party requested Government to clamp down on Chinese shops that sell goods without receipts, and which she thus suspected of not paying valued-added tax (VAT) to the Receiver of Revenue.
"The Chinese shops sell everything from a needle to US dollars and do not issue receipts.
Is Government not losing money since the Chinese retailers don't seem to do proper record keeping?" Dienda wanted to know.
"Are the Chinese retailers registered as banks, since they exchange US dollars? Money seems to be leaving the country illegally," she criticised.
In his contribution, Agriculture Minister Nickey Iyambo said Namibia's high unemployment rate of 35 per cent was "severely sickening."
A lot of investment like mining, did not translate into large-scale employment, he said.
On the other hand, Namibians should be the preferred employees in labour-intensive sectors.
"It should be imperative that no low-skilled work will be given to foreigners at the expense of Namibians," Minister Iyambo urged.
Deputy Prime Minister Libertina Amathila urged action against alcohol abuse, especially among schoolchildren, and proposed an indefinite moratorium on the issuing of shebeen licences.
"We must act to ensure that the mushrooming of illegal shebeens and alcohol outlets is curbed.
At some towns, shebeens are next to churches and across from schools, and pupils have free access to buy alcohol during school intervals and return to classes afterwards," she said.
"Our youth should take action to stop alcohol abuse, which seems to be defining our society these days.
Alcohol abuse has never had any good effect on any nation that wants to develop itself.
As a result of alcoholism, incidents of rape, murder and the spread of HIV infection occur," she said.
Amathila however did not mention that the very Cabinet she served on gave the nod to the 1996 alcohol laws, which legalised shebeens and allowed the free sale of tombo, a traditional homebrew.
Fisheries Minister Dr Abraham Iyambo proposed to diversify export markets in other countries in order to register significant economic growth.
"Namibia's export markets remain heavily concentrated and based on colonial ties, specifically South Africa," he said.
He also pleaded for easier access to loans for ordinary Namibians.
"Access to affordable finance remains a significant hindrance to economic emancipation and growth.
This is partly so because many of our financial institutions are branches of foreign parent companies," he said.
The last speaker in the debate, Deputy Youth and Sport Minister Pohamba Shifeta, called for more technical and vocational training centres.
Grade 10 pupils who scored less than 20 points in their final exams and thus failed, should be allowed to go for skills training, he said.
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On Friday, the tabling of the individual budget votes of the different ministries will begin.
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