Geingob should think about ‘mass SME office complexes’
By Victor Angula |
Taking into account the fact that President Hage Geingob is in his second term in office as the chief executive officer of the country he has too little time left for him to do something he will be remembered for.
Former President Sam Nujoma did put in place huge programmes by which he wanted to be remembered such as the construction of the Auasblick State House, Heroes Acre and Omugulugombashe Shrine, and the northern railway line extension.
Former President Hifikepunye Pohamba wanted to be remembered for constructing mass houses, the Neckertal Dam, and his idea of constructing a new parliament didn’t go through due to fierce opposition.
(Please take note that most of these ideas were such that an idea is started and executed by one president but the project concluded by the next president, yet credit goes to the beginner of the project).
But so far President Hage Geingob has not shown anything grand by which he will be remembered. The Harambee Prosperity Plan (HPP) has not produced anything big enough to be counted as an achievement that may be attributed to his time in office.
This is why he must rethink his strategies. It will be a sad thing for him and for the nation if by the time he will go out of office there would not be anything specific by which his administration will be measured.
People want to see physical things before they may know for sure that your time in office was not a wasted period of history. HPP had promised mass pit latrines in the rural areas. And if one goes around one may come across some of the dry toilets which have been built.
But pit latrines is not something the president is worthy of being remembered for.
Something the president might seriously consider is the idea of building mass low-cost SME offices in towns and the small settlements spread across the length and breadth of the country. Small entrepreneurs may then work in those offices at a small rental fee.
This will stimulate the economy because a lot of business ideas are simply aborted as a result of lack of office space to bring these ideas to commercial standard.
A lot of small businesses in the informal sector have been unable to access loans from commercial banks due to the fact that these businesses do not know how to do the work of bookkeeping. And they wouldn’t know how to do bookkeeping because they operate from the houses of their owners; sometimes in their bedrooms.
But if they manage to move out of the house and rent a small office somewhere in the town then this is the best way to motivate them to do bookkeeping and maybe even be in a better position to employ bookkeeping and office admin staff.
This is just an idea the president may seriously consider if he wants his presidency to be remembered for something.
