EDITORIAL: A playground for foreign business interests
Recent weeks have been dominated by screaming headlines of foreign companies - or their owners - circumventing Namibian policies to secure huge state contracts.
That foreign businesses are dominating our economy is not unusual. In fact, it’s not an issue as long as they got here legally and their operations are beyond reproach.
But when we are outsmarted by foreigners through loopholes identified in our procurement laws and systems, we must look ourselves in the mirror with enormous shame.
Our laws, particularly those governing procurement, were passed in an effort to empower locals, draw in the required international talent and foster openness.
But when foreigners engage their five-year-old children in public bids just to tick the ‘localisation’ box – and we then award tenders to these organisations – we are making a mockery of the whole purpose of public procurement.
The same goes for the Karibib-Usakos road upgrade. We have a foreign entity that has acquired that contract, using a tax good standing certificate that contains deliberate falsehoods. The company has lied to the taxman that it has not declared any taxes locally because it has not made any money in Namibia – yet it scored and completed state contracts worth nearly N$1 billion.
The facts about this fraudulent conduct are there for all to see, but the award of this contract is continuing without further questions being asked. We’ve become a playground for dodgy foreign business interests - at our own expense.
That foreign businesses are dominating our economy is not unusual. In fact, it’s not an issue as long as they got here legally and their operations are beyond reproach.
But when we are outsmarted by foreigners through loopholes identified in our procurement laws and systems, we must look ourselves in the mirror with enormous shame.
Our laws, particularly those governing procurement, were passed in an effort to empower locals, draw in the required international talent and foster openness.
But when foreigners engage their five-year-old children in public bids just to tick the ‘localisation’ box – and we then award tenders to these organisations – we are making a mockery of the whole purpose of public procurement.
The same goes for the Karibib-Usakos road upgrade. We have a foreign entity that has acquired that contract, using a tax good standing certificate that contains deliberate falsehoods. The company has lied to the taxman that it has not declared any taxes locally because it has not made any money in Namibia – yet it scored and completed state contracts worth nearly N$1 billion.
The facts about this fraudulent conduct are there for all to see, but the award of this contract is continuing without further questions being asked. We’ve become a playground for dodgy foreign business interests - at our own expense.
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Namibian Sun
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