EDITORIAL: The middleman maze is Namibia’s costliest illusion
If there’s one thing the incoming administration must tackle head-on, it’s the plague of unnecessary middlemen in public procurement. This isn’t just a bureaucratic headache – it’s a full-blown national scam.
Imagine this: A government office needs a simple stack of stationery. Instead of its in-house procurement unit reaching out to suppliers for competitive quotes, the task is mysteriously handed over to a third-party 'entrepreneur'.
This middleman – whose true expertise is navigating the shadows of bureaucracy – then inflates prices beyond recognition, cashes in and disappears until the next bloated contract lands on their desk. It would be comical if it weren’t so devastatingly expensive.
The rot runs deep. In 2018, a so-called service provider sold spades to the ministry of agriculture for a unit price of N$1 600 – three times its normal retail price. This wasn’t an isolated incident; it was just another day in the business of legalised plunder.
We have somehow convinced ourselves that such absurdity is "empowering small businesses" when, in reality, it’s empowering a handful of well-connected opportunists with a bottomless appetite for public funds.
This is not procurement. This is profiteering at its ugliest.
Taxpayers are not working to fund the mansions and luxury cars of a select few who have turned government tenders into a personal lottery. Every wasted dollar is a school left without books, a hospital without medicine, a road left in ruin.
The Namibian tax dollar was meant to build, not to bleed. It’s time for the custodians of public resources to stop playing accomplice to the heist and start safeguarding the interests of the people. Middlemen add no value – only cost. Let’s cut them out before they cut even deeper into the nation’s future.
Imagine this: A government office needs a simple stack of stationery. Instead of its in-house procurement unit reaching out to suppliers for competitive quotes, the task is mysteriously handed over to a third-party 'entrepreneur'.
This middleman – whose true expertise is navigating the shadows of bureaucracy – then inflates prices beyond recognition, cashes in and disappears until the next bloated contract lands on their desk. It would be comical if it weren’t so devastatingly expensive.
The rot runs deep. In 2018, a so-called service provider sold spades to the ministry of agriculture for a unit price of N$1 600 – three times its normal retail price. This wasn’t an isolated incident; it was just another day in the business of legalised plunder.
We have somehow convinced ourselves that such absurdity is "empowering small businesses" when, in reality, it’s empowering a handful of well-connected opportunists with a bottomless appetite for public funds.
This is not procurement. This is profiteering at its ugliest.
Taxpayers are not working to fund the mansions and luxury cars of a select few who have turned government tenders into a personal lottery. Every wasted dollar is a school left without books, a hospital without medicine, a road left in ruin.
The Namibian tax dollar was meant to build, not to bleed. It’s time for the custodians of public resources to stop playing accomplice to the heist and start safeguarding the interests of the people. Middlemen add no value – only cost. Let’s cut them out before they cut even deeper into the nation’s future.
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Namibian Sun
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