Baby-making investor plan ludicrous

Politicians, especially those who find themselves in ruling parties, are known to shovel the kind of verbal manure they hope will sprout votes.

At the best of times, they are trying to capture ballots and say things to please audiences.

With this in mind, the utterances of Omusati regional governor Erginus Endjala last week in Outapi, where he was quoted as saying that government wants to introduce so-called “birth incentives” in order to boost the population and the economy were disconcerting to say the least.

Now we don't know under which rainbow Endjala is living, but Namibia is barely able to feed its current population of 2.5 million and is rife with baby dumping.

To be fair, the governor did mention that many investors are reluctant to come to the country, given its small population, while claiming there is no market.

But is “incentivising” the wanton making of babies really something that Namibia should be contemplating?

For example, in a story we published in today's edition, Endjala, in the context of climate change, states the livelihoods of many households in his region and in the northern communal areas generally are faced with a multitude of challenges, which include recurrent droughts, frequent floods, limited grazing, limited access to fresh produce markets, limited value-addition, high unemployment and high incidents of poverty.

Just last month, the gender ministry called on pregnant mothers to turn to it for help instead of dumping their babies, often in life-threatening conditions. Besides advocating for the decriminalising of baby dumping, the ministry underlined this would encourage unwilling mothers to place their infants in places of safety, where social workers could make the necessary arrangements, instead of placing newborns in a deserted place, where the baby is endangered.

Given the unfolding economic climate it is also irresponsible to now push for en masse child-bearing.

Perhaps Endjala should enlighten the nation further about how encouraging more women to bear children will attract more investors into the country.

From where we sit this is quite a perturbing and worrisome strategy, if it indeed emanates from government and not from an overactive imagination.