Africa-Press – Namibia. THE Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB) says an Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement bill to ban foreign land ownership will dent Namibia’s competitiveness and investment opportunities.
NIPDB chief of operations Richwell Lukonga yesterday said if the AR bill was passed, investors would likely see Namibia in a different light.
He was speaking during a public hearing of the parliamentary standing committee on natural resources, which was also attended by the agriculture ministry, Council of Traditional Leaders and the Regional Councils Association and was chaired by Tjekero Tweya.
AR submitted a petition to parliament in which it questioned the legality of foreign land ownership two years ago.
Lukonga said the country’s laws should take the impact of international companies into cognisance.
He said there is already a land bill by the agriculture ministry, and AR’s petition in its current format would create policy uncertainty.
“Generally the [AR] bill in its current format does not promote Namibia’s investment. It makes us very uncompetitive, reduces the ease of doing business and increases the cost of doing businesses,” Lukonga said.
He recommended that lawmakers consider all legislation and how it interlinks, and if an item is not sufficiently addressed, it should be an amendment to a separate act.
Instead of saying no foreign national should own land, Namibia should work to lease the land, said Lukonga.
If the bill is taken as it is, no investor would be able to access urban land, he said.
Agriculture ministry deputy executive director Penda Ithindi said the AR petition was launched at an opportune time as the government, through the ministry, is currently seized with the process of finalising the land bill.
Ithindi said the land bill consolidates the provisions of the current Agricultural Land Act, consolidates the provisions of the Communal Land Act, and consolidates and incorporates the provisions of the second land conference and other matters that may arise.
Ithindi noted that the matters raised in the petition largely deal with land ownership by non-Namibians, and one of the resolutions of the second land conference deals with the same issue.
“It is not a coincidence that most of the issues contained in the petition are the issues we address in the draft bill,” he said.
The agriculture ministry is committed to finalising the legal draft of the bill by September, before it will be handed over to the National Assembly, Ithindi said.
The director of land reform in the ministry, Petrus Nangolo, reiterated that the draft bill by the ministry covers all aspects contained in the AR petition, hence the ministry is against the AR petition being a bill on its own.
He said limiting only Namibians to have access to communal land may exclude other good investments for the benefit of the country, and the ministry was not in support of the proposal of AR, which states that foreign nationals may only lease commercial land and are prohibited from leasing any agricultural or communal land.
“The ministry is not in support of this proposal. Namibia needs to improve food security and in some cases, mega agricultural projects are inevitable. The economic growth and agricultural land must be accessed by foreign nationals, but through strict control and leasing, so that we outline our position.”
For More News And Analysis About Namibia Follow Africa-Press
