Africa-Press – Namibia. SWAPO member of parliament Tjekero Tweya has accused fellow lawmakers of not being bold enough with regards to creating job opportunities for the youth.
Tweya said this while contributing to the budget debate in the National Assembly last week.
He said the country has been independent for 33 years, but has not even managed to build a factory to manufacture medical supplies and employ young people.
He said the N$2,8 billion medical tender advertised by the Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN) in January this year should have, for example, been used to build a factory rather.
Tweya said it is not acceptable that a single person is awarded a N$140 million tender to supply the government with goods.
“Now we are talking about unemployment … this one person with no experience, no factory, what would that person with N$140 million contribute towards job creation or manufacturing?” he asked.
“We as decision-makers don’t want to apply our minds. We don’t want to be bold enough to create real job opportunities for young people to build our own capacity, but also to be independent,” he said.
Awarding tenders to suppliers to provide the required items is a “deliberate” attempt by lawmakers to export jobs, Tweya said.
“Let’s start somewhere and become independent,” he said.
The former minister of information and communications technology said people are often told if a certain policy is changed, the country would discourage investors.
“The Constitution is clear. Article 98 gives us the economic policy that this will be based on public-private partnership, private ownership, co-ownership or lease.
“It’s the failure of the implementers who hide behind the so-called operational agreement, but the agreement can’t be above the Constitution,” Tweya said.
He said the gross domestic product contribution from the mining sector has decreased.
According to him, only Namdeb pays the government a significant amount of money, while other mining companies do not pay the government “a cent”.
“Some mining companies pay zero. You as a taxpayer pay more than them. Loyalty alone will not develop this country,” Tweya said.
In his state of the nation address last week president Hage Geingob said the government plans to create close to 3 000 new jobs in the police, prisons and Namibian Defence Force (NDF) to address youth unemployment.
He warned that young people could turn to terrorism if they are not employed.
“The youth, if they are all going to rise up, it will be a crisis. We count the youth from 14 to 20. They can get guns somewhere.
“We are talking about terrorism. They are available. There is a danger. That’s true,” Geingob said.
For More News And Analysis About Namibia Follow Africa-Press
