By: Kandjengo kaMkwaanyoka
From the presidential side of things, she has made all moves at the ministerial levels, given all sorts of speeches, and the Cabinet has also given some directives.
The country is hosting endless conferences and seminars, and inbound investment figures are thrown around.
But during my visit to my barber over the weekend, I was hit with a difficult question – where is the growth?
I have decided to support and spend some of my few coins on a Namibian-made product: malt, barley, and water, as I prepare my answer.
Most of the guys present in the barber shop worked for themselves using their hands, some being drivers.
From Monday to Thursday, I comb my hair, and I tuck in my shirt. The economic questions were directed to me.
Unfortunately, the quarterly figures for GDP for this year are not out, and it has also been noted that GDP is a shallow measure of economic progress.
The guys surrounding me were also not looking for statistical figures, they wanted to feel the economic growth.
Money flows into their pockets through expenditures, apparently, this is not the case.
As an economist, we mostly throw around statistics to explain performance and progress, this approach is becoming quite useless when people cannot practically feel and experience the statistics.
As a result, I had no answer for my dear friends.
They pressed me on government efforts and where the money is.
One taxi driver even went further to say, at Mercure, Country Club, Avani, and Hilton there are always seminars and conferences with leaders to discuss economic matters.
So, where is the growth?
Since social media is now accessible, one added that the President made several appointments and she has been making pronouncements together with the Prime Minister, but they are not feeling such decisions.
This moment at the barber shop, as we quenched our thirst with locally brewed beverages, was one of the best seminars for me on economic building.
We have learned that sentiments move markets, but economic building speeches, conferences and appointments do not translate into growth if the state machinery is not coordinating well.
Economic directives must translate into movements in the transmission channels of the economy – this means a dollar must move around the economy, otherwise it becomes a talk show.
This is the reality check for those in charge of economic building and facilitating, that a normal Namibian doesn’t care about the many conferences we are hosting or the long speeches we are delivering across the country.
Also, to the president, the normal Namibian isn’t very much concerned about who is in charge of a certain ministry at all.
They want money to flow, opportunities created, and an enabling environment created for them to work and earn.
We are fixated on talking to ourselves in halls and hotel venues, but we are not enabling the dollar to circulate; we are not facilitating transactions to happen.
The state machinery needs to be more functional; more time must be dedicated to its functionality than to seminars, conferences, and speeches.
Otherwise, it will be hard for us to answer the question of growth and wealth creation.
During this encounter, I was quite reserved about telling people I am an economist because they would ask more questions I could not answer, nor would I be able to provide statistics portraying economic progress.
To those with the privilege of enabling economic building and facilitating economic activities, less talk and more action.
Every quarter, we must answer where the money is, the jobs, the wealth, and the platforms to earn.
Also, to the NSA, there should be a way to compile high-frequency data on our economic progress, beyond the current economic indicators.
The current economic indicators barely reflect the picture on the ground, and it is hard to measure the effectiveness of the long speeches, the directives, and the countless conferences.
We have met and strategised enough – can we start to coordinate, facilitate, and implement all the initiatives?
Otherwise, it will be quite hard to answer when ordinary Namibians ask us pertinent questions.
They will not appreciate the number of conferences, addresses, and agreements we have signed.
