Geingob’s unpopular decisions saved Namibia – Netumbo
Vice-President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has characterised the tenure of late president Hage Geingob as tough, saying he was forced to make difficult and unpopular decisions to prevent the country from descending into a serious crisis.
Although youth unemployment and poverty levels skyrocketed during his time in office, Nandi-Ndaitwah said the situation could have been worse today had Geingob not tightened the belt and implemented fiscal policies, which made it impossible for the 2014 Swapo manifesto to be realised.
Nandi-Ndaitwah, who is the Swapo presidential candidate in the looming November election, made the remarks during a remembrance event held in honour of Geingob – who died on 4 February.
The event took place at the University of Namibia Jose Eduardo Dos Santos campus in Ongwediva on Saturday night.
Multitude of hurdles
She said Geingob’s tenure as head of state faced challenges such as a global economic downfall, severe droughts and the Covid-19 pandemic, which compelled him to focus on saving the lives of Namibians.
“The challenges that we encountered as a country over the past nine years have been well documented,” she explained.
She said the end of the commodity super cycle in 2014 "led to serious fiscal constraints and the inability of the government to implement the expansionary Swapo Party manifesto of 2014.
“The 2014 world economic recession made it difficult for us to implement what we [had] planned, but we have done the best we can do under the circumstances."
Nandi-Ndaitwah said instead of expansionary micro-economic policies, president Geingob was compelled to stabilise public finances and introduce a fiscal consolidation strategy and expenditure prioritisation in 2015, which culminated in the deepest government expenditure cut since independence.
"Currently, we all know that, as a government, we are driving very ageing cars, some from 2013, but there was no choice because [of what] the situation dictated. Any assessment of our performance as a government and the proposal of the leaders of president Geingob should take cognisance of this reality.”
Unpopular decisions
Nandi-Ndaitwah underlined that Geingob’s tenure saw fiscal consolidation and budget cuts, a situation dictated by the circumstances and not by choice at the time.
This, she said, was necessary for Namibia to be led to a better place.
“Fiscal consolidation and expenditure cuts were not his decision, nor were they popular, but they had to be done to safeguard our fiscal sovereignty,” she said.
“We are in a better fiscal position because of the difficult decision President Geingob had to take, otherwise, by this time, we would be dead like this and all of us were going to suffer," she said.
“I know we face problems, and that's why we say it was the time to take hard decisions, which [were] unpopular, but they had to be taken; otherwise, the country would be in serious difficulties.”
Burden of drought
Nandi-Ndaitwah said the 2016 to 2019 droughts forced government to spend over N$2 billion to assist affected communities – money that could have been used to fast-track development.
“That year, we spent N$2 billion just on the drought, and that is not a small amount. It could have built, I don't know, how many classrooms; it could [have] built how many hospitals and rooms, but here there was an emergency because of the drought, and a decision had to be taken.”
She continued, saying that the Covid-19 pandemic severely affected various sectors of the country, resulting in serious job losses.
“All of them were affected, including tourism and retail. Thousands of jobs were lost, businesses closed down and the economy contracted significantly. That's a reality, and this is not because of the government having done anything wrong, it's because of the real situation on the ground," she noted.
“That's why today we talk about high unemployment, and really, it does not mean that when Covid-19 came, we were all 100% employed, but it had a negative impact.”
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Although youth unemployment and poverty levels skyrocketed during his time in office, Nandi-Ndaitwah said the situation could have been worse today had Geingob not tightened the belt and implemented fiscal policies, which made it impossible for the 2014 Swapo manifesto to be realised.
Nandi-Ndaitwah, who is the Swapo presidential candidate in the looming November election, made the remarks during a remembrance event held in honour of Geingob – who died on 4 February.
The event took place at the University of Namibia Jose Eduardo Dos Santos campus in Ongwediva on Saturday night.
Multitude of hurdles
She said Geingob’s tenure as head of state faced challenges such as a global economic downfall, severe droughts and the Covid-19 pandemic, which compelled him to focus on saving the lives of Namibians.
“The challenges that we encountered as a country over the past nine years have been well documented,” she explained.
She said the end of the commodity super cycle in 2014 "led to serious fiscal constraints and the inability of the government to implement the expansionary Swapo Party manifesto of 2014.
“The 2014 world economic recession made it difficult for us to implement what we [had] planned, but we have done the best we can do under the circumstances."
Nandi-Ndaitwah said instead of expansionary micro-economic policies, president Geingob was compelled to stabilise public finances and introduce a fiscal consolidation strategy and expenditure prioritisation in 2015, which culminated in the deepest government expenditure cut since independence.
"Currently, we all know that, as a government, we are driving very ageing cars, some from 2013, but there was no choice because [of what] the situation dictated. Any assessment of our performance as a government and the proposal of the leaders of president Geingob should take cognisance of this reality.”
Unpopular decisions
Nandi-Ndaitwah underlined that Geingob’s tenure saw fiscal consolidation and budget cuts, a situation dictated by the circumstances and not by choice at the time.
This, she said, was necessary for Namibia to be led to a better place.
“Fiscal consolidation and expenditure cuts were not his decision, nor were they popular, but they had to be done to safeguard our fiscal sovereignty,” she said.
“We are in a better fiscal position because of the difficult decision President Geingob had to take, otherwise, by this time, we would be dead like this and all of us were going to suffer," she said.
“I know we face problems, and that's why we say it was the time to take hard decisions, which [were] unpopular, but they had to be taken; otherwise, the country would be in serious difficulties.”
Burden of drought
Nandi-Ndaitwah said the 2016 to 2019 droughts forced government to spend over N$2 billion to assist affected communities – money that could have been used to fast-track development.
“That year, we spent N$2 billion just on the drought, and that is not a small amount. It could have built, I don't know, how many classrooms; it could [have] built how many hospitals and rooms, but here there was an emergency because of the drought, and a decision had to be taken.”
She continued, saying that the Covid-19 pandemic severely affected various sectors of the country, resulting in serious job losses.
“All of them were affected, including tourism and retail. Thousands of jobs were lost, businesses closed down and the economy contracted significantly. That's a reality, and this is not because of the government having done anything wrong, it's because of the real situation on the ground," she noted.
“That's why today we talk about high unemployment, and really, it does not mean that when Covid-19 came, we were all 100% employed, but it had a negative impact.”
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