By Josef Kefas Sheehama
This time of year is always a welcome opportunity to reflect on what is most important. His Excellency Dr Hage G. Geingob, the President of the Republic of Namibia has declared 2023 as “the Year of Revival”.
What do His Excellency Dr Hage G. Geingob mean by “the Year of Revival”? Nothing more or less than the profound right of all people to live their lives in accordance with the decrees of their own conscience. It is a heartfelt return to God and His commandments. As stipulated by the Constitution of Namibia, Namibia is a Secular State which means that the government is neutral in religious matters and is neither a proponent nor an opponent of any religion. The constitution allows for freedom of religion, and the government generally respects this right.
Therefore, in this context of diversity and individuality of wholesome intentions, His Excellency Dr Hage G. Geingob means renewed hope and optimism. It reinforces the relevance of performing certain modes of anticipatory exercises, to revive our economy. The radical constructive and critical-reflective character in the dynamics of inclusive scrutiny and cooperation about the plausibility and desirability of the envisioned or created futures.
Light at the end of the tunnel.
The New Year brings positive news for Namibians as fuel prices slashed. The diesel prices decrease by N$2.20 cents per litre and the petrol price decrease by N$ 1.80 cents per litre. These reductions are certainly good news for all consumers and signal a positive start to fuel pricing for the New Year. Hence, this alleviating the fuel price burden and its related effect on goods prices, felt by Namibians in 2022. His Excellency Dr Hage G. Geingob outlines economic rescue measures to revive the country’s ailing economy. This collective attitude is no empty metaphor. It is the attitude which now guides the behavior of those cabinet members every time they are acting in their official capacity.
Headwinds
The countries are raising fears that a new and potentially more dangerous COVID-19 variant will emerge in China. Countries are concerned that a recent surge in Covid-19 cases in China could result in new variants of the coronavirus, as well as a spike in cases. Many countries are monitoring the situation in China to implement certain measures for people travelling from China. Our Ministry of Health and Social Services has alerted the regions to increase Covid-19 testing due to an increase in the number of cases. Furthermore, Inflationary pressures have intensified, which has pushed up energy and food commodity prices.
We need to understand that, the risks to sustain the recovery are mostly external. The economy continues to face structural challenges such as chronic high inflation, unemployment; high levels of informality, a huge competitiveness gap, weak corporate governance institutions, challenging doing business environment, high levels of indebtedness, high inequalities, high levels of food insecurity; and high levels of poverty. The annual inflation rate increase to 7% in November of 2022, compare to 4.10% in the corresponding period of 2021. South Africa annual inflation rate in October 2022 was 7.6%, while in Botswana it was 13.1%. In the US, inflation rate was 7.7% in October 2022; in the United Kingdom inflation rate was 11.1% in October; in the European Union inflation reached 11.5% in October 2022.
Therefore, the 2023 will not a walk in the park as it will have own challenges. The recent flood in Windhoek estimated to cost insurance companies close to N$ 1.2 billion. The flood halt business operation resulting loss of income for that specific days. Also the loss of inventory, valuable documents, damaged computer drives, damage to valuable machinery may cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to replace. We need also to understand the period of ordering products amongst other things.
It is very interesting to witness the evolution of business interruption coverage and how courts seem to be broadening their interpretation of these policies as more and more non-physical property damage losses become prevalent. Hence, it’s a crucial survival tactic as it insures a business against loss of revenue and helps it to continue to pay overheads and expenses during a period of downtime. The lack of definite and comprehensive legal regulatory framework in the insurance industry is thus, not unconnected to the dearth of BI insurance in Namibia.
In a world of growing complexity and the interrelated nature of risks, no company can rest on its laurels in terms of its Business Interruption recovery strategy. Continuity plans should always be ongoing works of improvement and constant risk mitigation. Therefore, a fortified and robust business continuity plan will boost a company’s resilience in the event of a Business Interruption.
Tailwinds
The government should not focus only on increasing GDP but also on improving the quality of life for the Namibians. It is therefore, of vital importance that Namibian restructure the economy so that its wealth is shared by all people, to ensure that everybody enjoys a decent and rising standard of living.
Education Reform
The Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture released disappointing grade 11 and 12 examination results of which approximately 75% learners fail to qualify for university admission. Blaming and shaming Namibia’s schoolteachers will do nothing to heal the country’s dysfunctional education system. The Minister of education should understand that education is a collective efforts.
Therefore, we failed our children. As an Independent Economic and Business Researcher, a random sampling done from various schools across the country reveals that, some schools are resistant to change, and teachers who are educated about learning trends may not receive funding or support to adopt them.
Solution: In order to build more comprehensive education systems that will allow dealing with crises such as this one, it is essential to modernize the collection and analysis of information and to make these systems more efficient. The Minister must now produce detailed guidance for schools and provide support to assist learners, particularly those in areas of disadvantage. The failure of our education system can’t be blamed on one group of individuals.
Moreover, clearly the task ahead will not be an easy one, but will require serious efforts from government, the business sector and union. In my opinion, it is critical that a stakeholder’s engagement be held in order for all of us to pull in one direction. Increasing investments in rural infrastructure. We must make exceptional efforts to strengthen the Micro and SME sector. SMEs mostly do not receive government services. They are left to access them with their own methods. SMEs have the potential to create jobs and create entrepreneurship. Improve governance to support private sectors. Embracing technology, to ensuring that holistically embrace technology across the whole country. We haven’t really done this before, but we can do it.
In conclusion, Namibia exhibits a key competitive edge that can be leveraged as focus areas for economic growth and diversification. The continued growth and diversification of knowledge based industries is a significant area of focus for growing and diversifying the economy.
We must boldly implement the proposed social, economic and educational reforms to build a prosperous and productive Namibia for the next generation.
Finally, His Excellency Dr Hage G. Geingob asserted, “Play the ball not the man”.