EDITORIAL: Mirrors, middlemen and the mirage of service
In Namibia, middlemen have become more than just facilitators – they are often the main event. But do we always need them?
Sometimes, yes. The complexities of global procurement or technical implementation occasionally justify having someone bridge the gap between state and supplier. But too often, the concept is twisted, mutated into a vehicle not of necessity, but of enrichment. Middlemen have become mirrors – reflecting not efficiency or value, but the bloated faces of patronage, cronyism and greed.
Take us back to 2021. At the height of the Covid-19 crisis, the health ministry was gearing up to spend N$583 million through a middleman for vaccine procurement. Then, a rare thing happened: the tender was scrapped. Government chose instead to procure directly. No middleman. No friend-of-a-friend taking a slice. And you know what? It went just fine.
That lone example stands like an oasis in a desert of dubious deals.
Namibia has seen too many tenders engineered not to deliver services but to deliver wealth to the connected. Construction, pharmaceuticals, fuel, ICT – name the sector, and you’ll find ghost contractors with glossy letterheads, no track record and politically greased palms.
These are not middlemen. These are milking men, draining public coffers under the guise of facilitation.
And yet, we tolerate it. We are told it's "how things work." That the world of business demands such arrangements. But the question is: whose business? Because it’s rarely the people's business that gets done when middlemen step in. Schools remain roofless, roads unfinished, hospitals understocked.
Namibia must learn to separate function from favour. If a middleman adds real value – technical expertise, logistical reach, economies of scale – let them stand. But where they serve merely as a shortcut to state capture, we must shut the door.
Sometimes, yes. The complexities of global procurement or technical implementation occasionally justify having someone bridge the gap between state and supplier. But too often, the concept is twisted, mutated into a vehicle not of necessity, but of enrichment. Middlemen have become mirrors – reflecting not efficiency or value, but the bloated faces of patronage, cronyism and greed.
Take us back to 2021. At the height of the Covid-19 crisis, the health ministry was gearing up to spend N$583 million through a middleman for vaccine procurement. Then, a rare thing happened: the tender was scrapped. Government chose instead to procure directly. No middleman. No friend-of-a-friend taking a slice. And you know what? It went just fine.
That lone example stands like an oasis in a desert of dubious deals.
Namibia has seen too many tenders engineered not to deliver services but to deliver wealth to the connected. Construction, pharmaceuticals, fuel, ICT – name the sector, and you’ll find ghost contractors with glossy letterheads, no track record and politically greased palms.
These are not middlemen. These are milking men, draining public coffers under the guise of facilitation.
And yet, we tolerate it. We are told it's "how things work." That the world of business demands such arrangements. But the question is: whose business? Because it’s rarely the people's business that gets done when middlemen step in. Schools remain roofless, roads unfinished, hospitals understocked.
Namibia must learn to separate function from favour. If a middleman adds real value – technical expertise, logistical reach, economies of scale – let them stand. But where they serve merely as a shortcut to state capture, we must shut the door.
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