EDITORIAL: Free tertiary education - where is the money?
It's normal for everyone to love free things. That explains why President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah was so happy to announce the introduction of free university education next year and why no one in parliament has questioned the source of the funds.
We can speculate about oil and gas, mining royalties and taxes and agricultural earnings. But because we all love free things, we avoid asking just this one question – where is the money coming from? Hifikepunye Pohamba's free basic education is not working. Yet we do not want to admit this for the love of freebies. We also shy away from discussing under-the-tree classrooms, dilapidated infrastructure and massively underfunded school operations.
Namibia is already neck-deep in debt.
Any further borrowing will hang future generations out to dry.
For some time now, government has been enjoying cheap local loans. However, a Simonis Storm report says even the home loan market is exhausted.
The state's bid to raise N$2.4 billion in April fell short by N$400 000. A biting report by The Brief suggested this is not because there is no money but that investors have no confidence and trust in government.
Sadly, numerous promises have been made that require vast amounts of funding, but nothing has been said about how to raise the money. It's understandable wanting to follow in the footsteps of developed countries like Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Germany. However, we must understand that the GDP of these countries is 400 times higher than Namibia's. Denmark's GDP is US$431.23 billion, Finland's is US$322 billion, and Sweden's is about US$ 590 billion. Namibia has a GDP of just US$13.37 billion. Should we not first get some things right before we start applauding initiatives like free tertiary education?
We can speculate about oil and gas, mining royalties and taxes and agricultural earnings. But because we all love free things, we avoid asking just this one question – where is the money coming from? Hifikepunye Pohamba's free basic education is not working. Yet we do not want to admit this for the love of freebies. We also shy away from discussing under-the-tree classrooms, dilapidated infrastructure and massively underfunded school operations.
Namibia is already neck-deep in debt.
Any further borrowing will hang future generations out to dry.
For some time now, government has been enjoying cheap local loans. However, a Simonis Storm report says even the home loan market is exhausted.
The state's bid to raise N$2.4 billion in April fell short by N$400 000. A biting report by The Brief suggested this is not because there is no money but that investors have no confidence and trust in government.
Sadly, numerous promises have been made that require vast amounts of funding, but nothing has been said about how to raise the money. It's understandable wanting to follow in the footsteps of developed countries like Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Germany. However, we must understand that the GDP of these countries is 400 times higher than Namibia's. Denmark's GDP is US$431.23 billion, Finland's is US$322 billion, and Sweden's is about US$ 590 billion. Namibia has a GDP of just US$13.37 billion. Should we not first get some things right before we start applauding initiatives like free tertiary education?
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