Let’s trace the original sin of economic deals

The concept of ‘original sin' became more pronounced in the Christian doctrine in the 16th century, where it was argued that human beings are born with some urge to commit evil or disobey God.

A baby born yesterday at Othimbika, the doctrine holds, is similarly 'damaged' due to the original sin committed by biblical Adam and Eve, who scrumptiously “ate the forbidden fruit”.

Outside Christianity, similar perspectives were shared by political philosophers of the time. English philosopher Thomas Hobbes submitted that human beings are evil by nature. Without a state, he persuasively argued, competitive humans will make life solitary, nasty and short. This state-led society, in existence since the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, is organised to avoid the original sin – the chaotic ‘state of nature'. Modern societies are seemingly organised to avoid some undesired state – the original sin. Peace is sacrosanct to those who once experienced its absence. Does ‘heaven' make sense without ‘hell'? Development is meant to avoid under-development once experienced. Indeed, human society is arranged around avoiding some original sin. A conversation we once had with a politically connected property developer on the Mass Housing programme comes to mind. When a colleague said the programme was poorly conceived, this developer pricelessly reacted, “who told you that it was not thought through, and how do you know that the end did not justify the means?”

It then became clear that there was a Mass Housing original sin. It is not always the number of casualties that determines the victors. Differently stated, one can win the war although they suffered more casualties. It is the objectives that matter.

The shadows that conceptualised Mass Housing envisaged a swift smooth programme to release accessible billions into the construction industry. For this, they needed a social problem – housing – as it were. So smooth was the design that mere award letters were sold for millions in neighbouring South Africa. The public was where it needed to be – jubilant and grateful to a ‘caring government'. The blueprint was well written: a N$45 billion programme to build 185 000 houses. Servicing one plot was to be capped at N$75 000. The unsuspecting in our docile society even associated the programme with the mind of a military general, then minister Charles Namholo, heading the driving ministry. When it was found and exposed that the programme was a well-orchestrated scheme, previous jubilant politicians announced the stoppage and investigation of the programme. The shadows anticipated this – and at this stage, the government had signed their watertight contracts. When politicians returned to their offices after public speeches, they found invoices on penalties during the suspension period. These invoices were indeed paid in millions. As commentators and opposition politicians agonised about a failed programme, the shadows responsible for the original sin gathered in hotels, toasting glasses of champagne. In short, to the architects of the original sin, the objectives were met – the war was won albeit with many casualties.

Consider another example: when unemployment soared during President Hifikepunye Pohamba's second term, those surrounding him feared a youth uprising as was the case in the Middle East. In response, President Pohamba announced that “government has decided to adopt a special job creation programme, called Targeted Intervention Programme for Employment and Economic Growth (TIPEEG).

The main purpose of TIPEEG is to effectively reduce the high unemployment rate in Namibia. TIPEEG set out to create 104 000 job opportunities, costing N$14 billion within three years.

Many Namibians, including the media, missed the deliberate wording – “opportunities” and at times dropping the word to just “104 000 jobs”.

At the end of the programme, when some wanted to declare it a failed project, the shadows whispered into the ears of Swapo politicians, “we said 104 000 job opportunities". Such manipulative phraseology is common. A water pipeline passing through the village results in all the households, even two kilometres away, being declared as “having access to water” even if there is no actual water connection to the house.

To the shadows of TIPEEG, the objectives were met, although there were no 104 000 job opportunities created. There was no youth unrest, and Pohamba finished his term and went to Okanghudi, where he annually receives his combined millions from the government and the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. We cannot understand our economic and developmental tragedies and trajectories without locating the original sin.

The Ramatex tragedies and trajectories cannot be understood without tracing the original sin. It is the same with the general mismanagement of our natural resources. Indeed, the secretive green hydrogen agreement, signed with the German company, cannot be understood without tracing the original sin. If there is anything foreign investors have studied well is the psyche of Namibian politicians. They have understood that approaching a Namibian politician with a proposal of an imaginary high number of jobs and multi-million investments will result only in this question, “where do I need to sign because we need to announce this?” Consider the 2017 case of an American opportunist Christopher Cox, who managed to sneak into the State House to hold a closed-door meeting with President Hage Geingob.

The State House announced him as President Donald Trump's advisor. After the meeting, the US Embassy embarrassingly announced that Cox is not part of the American government. I recall this social media comment from a mischievous youth when Prime Minister Geingob and his speculative friends used the State House to announce an oil find: “how do we know it is oil in that bottle and not cooking oil or urine of a dehydrated dude”? To the astute observers of our politics, the numbers from ruling politicians' mouths no longer carry meaning. In 10 years, we limped from 104 000 jobs, 185 000 houses, 200 000 plots and now 18 000 green hydrogen jobs. We can only liberate ourselves from the tyranny of mega announcements by tracing the original sin.

Thirty-nine-year-old Tony Gaskins is worth listening to: “Know who you are. Know what you want. Know what you deserve. And don't settle for less”.