EDITORIAL: Ngurare must turn ‘economic democracy’ from rhetoric to reality
Prime Minister Elijah Ngurare is finally singing the right tunes with his ‘economic democracy’ mantra. If taken seriously, it could be the clearest acknowledgment yet that Namibia’s post-independence economy has been a party for the connected - and a punishment for the poor.
While the academic definition of economic democracy speaks to extending democratic values into the economic sphere, Ngurare’s version calls for the equitable distribution of national resources to all Namibians, not just the usual suspects within arm’s reach of power.
It cannot be morally or politically defensible that shacks continue to mushroom in Walvis Bay — a town sitting on one of Africa’s richest fishing industries. But only a handful, whose names echo in the corridors of quota announcements, are reaping the bounty of the sea.
In Uis, lithium and tin are found like leaves on a tree, yet the town is trapped in economic winter. In the south, where diamonds are plucked from the earth like pebbles, poverty soars like an eagle. Lüderitz’s fishing industry is booming, but locals continue to beg for breadcrumbs falling from quota feasts held behind closed doors.
The paradox becomes even more grotesque when you look at Kavango East and West - regions bursting with agricultural potential. Yet green schemes there have turned brown, and desperation has pushed citizens to forage for poisonous wild food.
Meanwhile, some regions without strategic resources to speak of seem permanently under construction - new varsity campuses, hospitals, roads. It’s almost as if development follows loyalty, not need.
Ngurare’s message is both refreshing and overdue. But rhetoric alone won’t lift a single soul out of poverty. If he is serious, he must end the unwritten rule that proximity to political power is the first requirement for economic participation.
While the academic definition of economic democracy speaks to extending democratic values into the economic sphere, Ngurare’s version calls for the equitable distribution of national resources to all Namibians, not just the usual suspects within arm’s reach of power.
It cannot be morally or politically defensible that shacks continue to mushroom in Walvis Bay — a town sitting on one of Africa’s richest fishing industries. But only a handful, whose names echo in the corridors of quota announcements, are reaping the bounty of the sea.
In Uis, lithium and tin are found like leaves on a tree, yet the town is trapped in economic winter. In the south, where diamonds are plucked from the earth like pebbles, poverty soars like an eagle. Lüderitz’s fishing industry is booming, but locals continue to beg for breadcrumbs falling from quota feasts held behind closed doors.
The paradox becomes even more grotesque when you look at Kavango East and West - regions bursting with agricultural potential. Yet green schemes there have turned brown, and desperation has pushed citizens to forage for poisonous wild food.
Meanwhile, some regions without strategic resources to speak of seem permanently under construction - new varsity campuses, hospitals, roads. It’s almost as if development follows loyalty, not need.
Ngurare’s message is both refreshing and overdue. But rhetoric alone won’t lift a single soul out of poverty. If he is serious, he must end the unwritten rule that proximity to political power is the first requirement for economic participation.
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Namibian Sun
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