N$8 million to buy cars for six managers? Yes, you read right. N$8 million. How can the tax-funded Namibian Agronomic Board even begin to justify spending so much money on luxury?

Only the twisted logic that has become common among state-owned enterprises (SOEs) can find such extravagance defensible. While an elite handful of managers and other top brass drive flashy vehicles, many are driven deeper into poverty.

In the mid-1990s, the Windhoek municipality defended exorbitant salaries and perks by claiming that they had to "benchmark" the capital's remuneration with cities such Paris, Johannesburg and Cape Town.

So-called benchmarking has become a tool for the gross self-enrichment of individuals granted the privilege of working at SOEs that rely heavily on taxes and similar statutory charges.

Benchmarking at Namibian parastatals has reached such ludicrous levels that institutions that depend on tax and related revenue pay much more than the private sector.

It is concerning enough that about 70% of Namibia's economy is driven by the government and its entities.

We should not expect the economy to thrive when state-funded institutions out-price the private sector in attracting employees.

Urgent action is needed to stop the parastatal and SOE gravy train.