Staff Reporter
NAMIBIA’s foremost post-independence entrepreneur, Dr. Quinton van Rooyen, says, “Peace, stability and respect for the rule of law is the most valuable currency Namibia has, but it is not used enough as an investment tool.”
This is one of a range of proposals during his latest QVRCODE on the question whether Namibians were better off during apartheid … or not.
Dr. van Rooyen said — as criminal and cruel as apartheid was — the past will not develop and invest in Namibia, but nationhood will create wealth.
“Every dollar leaving our economy, robs the nation of opportunities – Let’s build capacity and skills within Namibia by supporting local industry development before outsourcing to foreign corporations.”
Dr. Van Rooyen through discussion from the most diverse and representative audiences and engagements on the fringes of the QVRCODE also formulated various proposals to ignite local empowerment towards the improvement of everyday Namibians.
Some of the proposals are:
The Namibian Stock Exchange must be modernised and become the engine of growth in the country. Namibia must reduce national debt by privatising selected SOE’s urgently, even those with perceived monopolies.
“We need to rebuild investor confidence in an insecure region/world. The most efficient way to quickly bring foreign currency to our shores is by promoting our beautiful country to tourists. We must improve our rankings on all international indexes and become more efficient Namibians need to support and trust each other before expecting investors to trust and support us.”
Dr. van Rooyen warned: “We must de-colonize our minds and think: Nationhood.”
His ideas include:
• We’ve been colonized twice before, because our colonizers outsmarted us by putting their own interests first.
• Our elections have always been free and fair – we must strengthen EVN systems so that every vote is accounted for.
• Have one president plus his/her cabinet for one term of 8 – 10 years (single-term president and single-term cabinet). As such, he/she will be free from party politics and can focus on national issues and promote Namibian opportunities and democratic values internationally.
• Non-performing ministers should be relieved of their duties instead of being ‘recycled’ among ministries.
• Unicameral (one chamber) parliament – the National Council is a white elephant and so far did not add value.
• The civil service must focus less on bureaucratic planning and more on executive implementation.
• The past must never be forgotten, but we cannot move forward with our feet stuck in the past.
• Health before wealth – food and water security must be a Namibian priority, i.e. subsistence farmers must be upgraded to commercially viable farmers.
• Social justice spend must be balanced with economic growth – it’s only possible to redress social ills with newly created wealth, not with debt.
• Our peace and stability must become our most valuable currency.
• Government employment is the highest duty to Namibia and its people, not a food-for- work-program – neither is it a reward-for-political-affiliation.
The QVRCODE drew to a close by a collective chain by the audience singing the National Anthem as a group who set a new standard for debate amongst Namibians even on emotional and sensitive issues.
Dr. Van Rooyen said it is only in strong democracy where discussion on burning issues are not only possible, but preferable in the search of nationhood and search for solutions as One Namibia One Nation.
The presentation delivered by Dr. Quinton van Rooyen on apartheid, the current recession and his ideas for the way forward is available to download in the post directly below this one. Please click or tap on the link provided to download and peruse.
