SONA must reflect realities

JANA-MARI SMITH



Experts say what they expect from President Geingob’s State of the Nation Address tomorrow.

Namibians expect President Hage Geingob to deliver a State of the Nation Address (SONA) this week that gives a frank, clear and fact-filled review of the country’s current situation as well as progress on the implementation of the Harambee Prosperity Plan (HPP) over the past year.

During the 2016 SONA, Geingob announced the HPP, which analysts say allowed him to avoid an honest discussion of the nation’s situation at the time.

“This SONA will surely be less bombastic than last year, when the president unveiled his new plan. Last year, he spent so much time on explaining the plan that his speech was light on details about the actual state of the nation,” says Maximilian Weylandt, a researcher at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).

DTA parliamentarian Nico Smit says the president “gave us no assessment of the situation” last year and instead launched the HPP.

“Therefore, and especially considering the current economic situation in Namibia, it is essential that the president fulfil his constitutional duty to brief the Namibian nation on the state of development,” Smit says.

“There is a need for President Geingob to provide the Namibian nation with hard facts and figures when accounting for the state of governance and service delivery in the country over the past 12 months.”

Economist and senior Unam lecturer Dr Omu Kakujaha-Matundu says while the SONA should provide a clear direction on a number of pressing issues, it could also serve as a valuable platform for the president to “reassure the nation that despite the difficult times that our economy is going through, and is going to face post RSA downgrade, government is still in control and there is no need to panic.”

HPP scorecard

Although many have praised the introduction of the HPP as an invaluable tool to help the nation achieve critical goals, Kakujaha-Matundu says he would score the progress on its implementation at one out of ten.

He says the low score is not entirely because of government failures, but that the HPP was launched “at a very unfortunate time, when the economy is faltering and strict austerity measures have to be introduced”.

He says that even in the absence of formal data it appears that the HPP has not led to substantial results and that not much has happened in terms of implementation.

Examples include the ‘war on poverty’, which has been bogged down by poor implementation and planning, and slow progress on youth enterprises.

Smit says although the mid-year review of the HPP last year painted a positive picture, the subsequent spending cuts introduced by the government have likely affected implementation since then.

In particular, Smit says that considering the austerity measures, “one has to wonder whether those doing the planning and development of the HPP did any scenario planning and whether the weakening of the economic situation was seriously considered”.

IPPR’s Weylandt says although the HPP implementation “seems to be a bit of a mixed bag”, few of the targets have failed outright and a number of targets were added later.

“But this is not necessarily a bad thing. Some timelines in the plan were rather optimistic and I think most Namibians would prefer a thorough implementation after some time, rather than a rush job.”

He adds that it is important for Geingob to review the plan in his address, and to state what areas could improve. “This would show a commitment to the accountability the plan promises.”

Kakujaha-Matundu warns that the economic situation should not be used as an excuse to slow down progress on all issues.

“I don’t think we need money to curb corruption, which siphons funds from much-needed projects such as hospitals and schools. Thus there is much that the HPP can achieve without a lot of money.”

Priorities

Poverty, education, health, and land remain top priorities, the experts agree, and these should be addressed in the SONA, especially in view of the economic constraints.

“The pressing issues are the same they have always been – high unemployment and a lack of housing and land, reflected in huge levels of inequality,” Weylandt says.

He says the president should include “bold ideas for dealing with these problems” during the address.

According to Kakujaha-Matundu, the most pressing issues facing the country right now are slow economic growth, high unemployment, poverty and the issue of land.

He adds that the president should talk about education reform and how budgeting will be prioritised to ensure that changes to the school curriculum remain on schedule.

He says the downgrade in South Africa credit raging will affect Namibia and the president should look at ways to restructure the economy. The reparation talks with Germany remain high on the agenda, the economist adds.

Smit agrees that the economic situation is a primary concern because it determines the way the government will be able to execute its development plans.

Another issue is the dialogue about land reform and the second national land conference, for which no date has been set.

Education, housing and healthcare are crucial issues that need immediate attention and rectification, he says.

“However, the sad truth is that there has almost never been a time in independent Namibia where these have not been a cause for concern, as such their deteriorating status has become the new normal,” Smit says.