Wezi Tjaronda
9 October 2008
Windhoek — National Planning Commission Director, Peter Katjavivi, was at pains yesterday to explain the content of the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) Compact that Namibia and the United States government signed.
Swapo Party Youth League members feel there is more to the N$2.32 billion deal than meets the eye.
"You can keep your money. We do not need your money. Why attach national assets if it's a grant," were some of the interjections as Katjavivi, MCA Namibia's Chief Executive Officer, Penny Akwenye and Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Resident Country Director, John Wingle, tried to answer questions.
Katjavivi stressed that the Government' sole purpose in participating in the MCA funding mechanism was to secure additional resources for the development of Namibians.
"There are no hidden agendas, no sinister plans," he said at a press conference yesterday that was called to clarify the relationship between the MCA Compact and the national parks and the rationale behind the ratification.
Katjavivi said the N$2.32 billion American grant would benefit Namibians in areas of education, tourism and agriculture.
However, other sectors including SPYL feel the deal was made in exchange for Namibia's national assets such as the Etosha National Park. Sentiments at the press conference, which was attended by a number of SPYL cadres including secretary for economic affairs, Veikko Nekundi, were that because of the conditions in the grant, including opening up procurement to international companies, paying back money that accumulates as interest from the grant and the building of lodges in the Etosha National Park by private investors, the deal was not a grant.
But Katjavivi said the conditions were performance targets the Government agreed to in order to qualify for the funding.
Some of the issues in the document such as the building of lodges inside the national park and the procurement procedures and the explanations at the press conference did not add up.
But Katjavivi explained that: "The conditions precedent are not explicitly listed in the Compact yet in the text of the Compact reference is made to the legal, administrative and policy related conditions precedent. A definite listing will appear in the programme implementation agreement (PIA), one of the supplementary agreements to the Compact," he said.
He added that the PIA was still under discussion and that the President, Cabinet and affected ministries were informed.
According to the agreement, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism will award two lodges or exclusive access concessions for Etosha National Park and an additional two lodges or exclusive concessions within other national parks in northern Namibia for 10 years. These would be allocated through a competitive bidding process to the private sector and conservancy joint ventures.
Akwenye said the PIA was still under discussion and only when finalised would it be known whether the lodges were inside or outside the national park.
"We can only say whether the lodges are in or outside the part once the document is signed," she said adding "The document does not mention two lodges in the Etosha National Park but access concessions on the periphery of the park."
Katjavivi said it was part of Government's overall strategy to maintain pristine nature of the prestigious park by creating establishments on the periphery of the park and not inside the national park.
The Compact includes US$45.5 million public investment into Etosha, which includes construction of 100 staff houses at Okaukuejo, Ombika, Galton gate and Otjivasandu as well as construction of and renovation of management infrastructure.
The youth said Namibia was using selective morality by allowing international companies including American ones to provide services when the country has all along preferred using local companies.
"We are moving from certain laws that were being implemented. What is so special with this agreement. Selective morality is being applied here," charged one youth.
Wingle said no one would be excluded from bidding including US companies because the money was from American taxpayers, who should be allowed to bid.
Katjavivi agreed that the MCC procurement rules are different from the current procurement practices in that no preferential treatment of local contractors is provided for.
However, he said the NPC and the MCA would pursue measures to ensure local benefits by negotiating procurement methods that do not require an international competitive tender process even though all other procurement would have to follow international competitive bidding.
The MCA would Namibianise tender requirements by creating smaller packages sized for Namibian companies and ensuring that local materials are used to reduce maintenance costs and also by briefing the Namibia private sector in detail on the procurement process and encourage them to take part in the tenders.
MCA Namibia went around the 13 regions where it collected 500 issues from which four issues emerged as priority areas for funding.
Akwenye said stakeholders in the tourism sector met and settled for the improvement of the management and infrastructure of the Etosha, Bwabwata and Mamili national parks but that they settled for Etosha as a pressing need.
"We told them (MCC) what we wanted. All activities are of our own making as a government," said Akwenye in response to question on who took the initiative to mention the park in the deal.
Namibia is one of the 18 recipients of the MCC grants.
The MCA was tabled in Parliament yesterday but was postponed to October 23 for debate.
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