Government must wake up and face reality.

By- Simeon Tonata Angombe

Our government have adopted a very bad tendency of choosing whom to and not to listen and the Basic Income Grant is very good example to justify this view.

I write this article airing my personal opinion criticising government’s position on the Basic Income Grant (BIG). Stated here are facts and results of though rough logical thinking, on the remarks by the head of state that “we cannot hand out money for free to people for doing nothing”, and at the same time chair a Cabinet meeting that en-Acts a huge budgetary allocation of lump sums to War Veterans is a big joke in the adversity of those social responsible and a BIG insult to those uninsured of life in Namibia, especially the youth.

I must clearly state that I am not against rewarding War Veterans or assisting them financially as already put in place, but I want to level the playing field by pointing out that veterans are receiving enough (N$ 2 000.00) and are currently not earning that grant by any current efforts just the same route that the BIG would follow.

Clearly I must be declared insane to turn a blind eye at the current state of poverty that most of our youths and most of the rural population is confronted with, and the way forward towards poverty reduction is basically via implementing the BIG as a matter of urgency. I don’t know what is wrong with most African states, that they all tend to ignore pertinent issues until problems get out of hand.

As explained by the programme, taxing incentives would be put in place to support the programme and ensure its maintenance, and I was fortunate enough to be at the briefing session at the National Youth Council in my capacity as a NEC member of that institution about how the BIG currently works and the mechanisms to be put in place should government adopt the programme, and against that understanding we opted to join the band wagon because the programme makes sense and affords the Namibian population a second chance in life.

As a patriotic social democrat Namibian in the employment force I would not be bothered if I should be taxed a further N$ 300.00 or more to allocate towards the BIG because it will help my eight siblings living with my grandmother in a village at Uukwiyuushona back home, most children do not have parents and they look at granny’s grant of N$450.00 a month.

Basically if you look at N$450.00 and imagine the pressure put on the beneficiary of such peanuts one can only imagine the stress and traumatic impact it has on the old girls. Epya tali longwa (field work), uunona tawu yi kosikola (School fund logistics and costs), iipangelo (vulnerability of children and hospital fees), iikulya (meat and other groceries), Omalweendo transport costs, omagadhi (cosmetics), and of course, (maintenance of the homestead).

All I know is that a N$100.00 would not make a person lazy, in fact that little the person can get, empowers them by encouraging the people to commute to towns and other places to job-hunt and also seek opportunities to come up with business initiatives to help themselves and others. The little N$100.00 affords the older lady and gentleman living with granny a certain degree of independence in terms of buying themselves cosmetics and attend to their private affairs with much ease.

Most households in both rural and urban Namibia are comprised of an extended family setting, and in one house, there could be around eight or more people. Imagine, if one multiplies N$100.00 x eight that results in = N$800.00 and this money per month in a house can greatly help improve their livelihoods enormously.

I am sure as a responsible citizen reading this article, you anonymously agree with the views I am enlightening on here. It is about time the Namibian government let go of its fears and arrogant attitude of negativity towards social responsibility initiatives. It is the fault of the Namibian government at independence to have adopted a capitalist system which they are failing to make incentives to maintain. Our government lacks social responsibility and I know that there are NO social policies put in place to oblige the private sector to be socially responsible either and that is a fact.

All they think of a lavish lifestyles and salary increment for those already fortunate while -ignoring the plight of those at their mercy. The BIG is a model that could cause a paradigm shift in the global view and classify Namibia as a well performing developing country because it is a foreseen effort that solves both Social and Economic woes facing our rural population especially and the nation at large.

ü Is the government ignoring the BIG leadership or the programme?

ü Are the efforts to alleviate poverty a political song during campaign or are they really taken serious?

ü If the BIG is not a feasible programme to run, does government have a better suggestion than the BIG?

ü Is it a pre-requisite for a BIG or similar programme to have been implemented elsewhere for Namibia to implement it here? If it is a pre-requisite, is Namibian poverty justified by the societal setting of ANY other society or nation? and

ü Can’t Namibia be the leading country in implementing such a social programme, do we always have to be copycats?

ü Up to what level of percentage is poverty in Namibia expected to be in order for our political Messiahs to come to the rescue of this eminent social pandemic?

ü Should people start dying first so that government will realise its basic responsibility?

ü When we are campaigning during elections I hear a lot about poverty alleviation, is this just a phrase that is being copied from one manifesto to the next year in year out over the twenty years of independence?

Can someone please answer these questions for the Namibian who is in poverty and those of us who are socially responsible? Thank you in advance...

· Mr. Angombe is a Humanities and Social Sciences expert, Historian Rearcher by Profession, Swanu Youth League Secretary, Member of the National Executive Committee of the National Youth Council of Namibian, a Pan-Africanist, and International Relations Consultant.

“ACTIVE YOUTH PARTICIPATION TOWARDS PROMOTING PAN-AFRICANISM”

ANGOMBE’S SPEECH OF THE 16^TH JUNE 2010 ON THE AFRICAN CHILD DAY AND THE COMMEMORATION OF THE SOWETO UPRISING AGAINST OPPRESSIVE COLONIAL RULE IN SOUTH AFRICA.

June 16^th marks the celebration of the African Child Day, it thus further mark an important youth day in our sister country South Africa when we commemorate in solidarity the Soweto Uprising during the years of the struggle for freedom for all in South Africa by black young South Africans.

The theme for this years’ African Child Day celebration is “Active Youth Participation Towards Promoting Pan-Africanism” this theme serves the purpose to signify the eminent fact that, it is high time that the Youth of Africa takes ownership of the goal to recognise, study, and acknowledge the much desired need for Africans to come together in principle and join forces.

· To revive and preserve the spirit of ubuntu.

· To preserve and defend the African cultural and linguistic identity. And

· To ensure that Africa comes together as one, socio-economically and then politically, for my understanding is that as Africans first we all have similar aims on how to enhance in our own spaces; but does an individual capacity possess the potential to solve problems in isolation?

The answer is, No, because previously, until now, in most African societies once a problem arises in a family, the whole family gathers to devise a way forward, and so my African view is that, Africans are one BIG family that ought to come together and defy all odds levelled against it by the imperialist world. Look at what Europe has done to contend against the stronger US and emerge as an economic block in the driving seat; they have adopted a single currency but not a universal political system because of the persistent existence of the arrogance to power and so-called national purity – identity.

Should our African national leaders of today really entertain the ever ongoing fear of adopting a resolution that would en-act the African Union in practical terms? Obviously adopting universal socio-economic goals and policies from Cape to Cairo – Addis Ababa to Abuja would elevate the malnourished much young population of earths’ most rich and populous continent.

African leaders must put aside their fears of losing power and concentrate on the people whom they represent in their political capacities. In this era, a possible united Africa does not need an Executive President because we understand the era our current leaders are coming from, but a common currency and universal socio-economic policies are a pre-requisite for Africa to rightfully take it’s worldly position in this life and ensure better opportunities for her youths and children.

Today is African Child Day, and as an African Youth – Child I owe and dedicate it to the babies at home and those who can’t speak for themselves to publicly call for African justice from within, for it is a responsibility to my fellow African Children to advocate for an agenda that the current generation knows, is the way forward towards economic emancipation in our African system.

With these few words, I say;

· Say no to violence and abuse against children

· Say no to child labour

· Say no to human trafficking

· Say no to a bleak future for the African Child; and

· Loudly say YES towards Pan-Africanism

I thank you!