Opposition reacts to Geingob speech
JEMIMA BEUKES
Opposition leaders say the problems President Hage Geingob highlighted in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) are a manifestation of his failure to realise the buck stops with him.
Official opposition PDM president McHenry Venaani believes that Geingob is just deferring the Namibian dream on missed targets and that Namibia is going nowhere under his watch.
“He is now saying the borrowing targets of SADC are 60%. He is comparing the Namibian economy to Malawi and all these countries while he knows his internal benchmark and standard is 75%. It was just a lot of talk that would not materialise. Now he wants to borrow money from members of parliament and politicians to aid his large cabinet,” Venaani commented.
Geingob announced in last week’s address that 329 red-flagged financial transactions, involving N$9.2 billion, had been referred by the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) for further investigation by the law-enforcement agencies.
Mike Kavekotora of the Rally for Progress and Democracy (RDP) was disappointed that Geingob failed to link the Chinese element to the cash-flow problem that Namibia is experiencing.
“The Chinese are here. They have planned their operations for a long time. They know exactly what they want out of Africa. The buck stops with him, even the failure of the Harambee Prosperity Plan (HPP), NDP4 and NDP5 and the failure of not achieving the overarching objectives of Vision 2030. We must blame him, He is the one who did not provide proper leadership and facilitate proper planning to make sure the country is run prudently,” said Kavekotora.
Kavekotora also said the president’s talk about fighting corruption was empty rhetoric in the absence of concrete evidence.
Swanu of Namibia president Dr Tangeni Iijambo accused Geingob of blindfolding the nation with lofty promises.
“Most of the things he speaks of like quality education, primary healthcare – these things cannot materialise without effective governance. He also speaks of people sitting on business applications, but that is what you expect when you have the wrong people in the wrong places. This whole thing of jobs for comrades jeopardise Namibia’s progress as a country,” he said.
Iijambo added that the Chinese and the illicit flow of money must be dealt with effectively adding that some of the political elite too had offshore accounts.
“This is unacceptable, and besides that, most of the tenders are given to the Chinese and they do not bank their money in Namibia and so we lose a lot through that,” said Iijambo.
Opposition leaders say the problems President Hage Geingob highlighted in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) are a manifestation of his failure to realise the buck stops with him.
Official opposition PDM president McHenry Venaani believes that Geingob is just deferring the Namibian dream on missed targets and that Namibia is going nowhere under his watch.
“He is now saying the borrowing targets of SADC are 60%. He is comparing the Namibian economy to Malawi and all these countries while he knows his internal benchmark and standard is 75%. It was just a lot of talk that would not materialise. Now he wants to borrow money from members of parliament and politicians to aid his large cabinet,” Venaani commented.
Geingob announced in last week’s address that 329 red-flagged financial transactions, involving N$9.2 billion, had been referred by the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) for further investigation by the law-enforcement agencies.
Mike Kavekotora of the Rally for Progress and Democracy (RDP) was disappointed that Geingob failed to link the Chinese element to the cash-flow problem that Namibia is experiencing.
“The Chinese are here. They have planned their operations for a long time. They know exactly what they want out of Africa. The buck stops with him, even the failure of the Harambee Prosperity Plan (HPP), NDP4 and NDP5 and the failure of not achieving the overarching objectives of Vision 2030. We must blame him, He is the one who did not provide proper leadership and facilitate proper planning to make sure the country is run prudently,” said Kavekotora.
Kavekotora also said the president’s talk about fighting corruption was empty rhetoric in the absence of concrete evidence.
Swanu of Namibia president Dr Tangeni Iijambo accused Geingob of blindfolding the nation with lofty promises.
“Most of the things he speaks of like quality education, primary healthcare – these things cannot materialise without effective governance. He also speaks of people sitting on business applications, but that is what you expect when you have the wrong people in the wrong places. This whole thing of jobs for comrades jeopardise Namibia’s progress as a country,” he said.
Iijambo added that the Chinese and the illicit flow of money must be dealt with effectively adding that some of the political elite too had offshore accounts.
“This is unacceptable, and besides that, most of the tenders are given to the Chinese and they do not bank their money in Namibia and so we lose a lot through that,” said Iijambo.
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