Gone Till November

Decided to head back east and spend the summer in Tanzania. The last couple months took me on a roller coast ride from the rivers of the Okavango (hunting crocs) then spending cold nights in the Kalahari desert then finding my way to the  rapidly developing towns of Northern Namibia.

I saw a side of Namibia you will never hear off in Windhoek. There are so many wonders in the landscape and the amount of conservation going on is implacable.

 The work experience out of Windhoek  really Changed my perspective 180 degrees. There is lots of Government spending on infrastructure development and lots more on education, For example I was in remote villages and would meet a young teacher maybe 23 years  teaching Computer literacy to kids that do not even have a tv at home .  

                Truly this is the Land of the Brave.

 The whole experience taught me that Private Public Partnerships are difficult to achieve at local level, situations in the field are difficult to be planned of-site you can only prepared for the worst and money at times will not fix all the problems especially related to cultural practices and other social dynamics.  I call this the This is Africa Factor.


My favorite part of Namibia will have to be Otjozondijuba region I loved the winter night sky and the beef there has to be the best tasting beef in the world.




 Now the town I loved the most will have to be Gobabis was a true melting pot of Namibian tribes  and people there know how to have a good time with not as much violence as compared to Windhoek. Maybe it due to the ratio of number of churches to the number of bars I estimate it at 1 to 1.

Looking back at the last Quarter It was great working with everyone at UNAM more especially the Multi disciplinary research center and all the technicians from the Ministry of Education and the Good people of Orange IT and Gijima. TechNA!


They say a picture says a thousand words click here for more pictures!!

Strugle Kids

http://www.namibiansun.com

And ya!! This should be my first post of the year. So the first thing on my mind is the whole “struggle kids” issue.  To those not aware who the struggle kids are; To my understanding it’s a group of ADULTS calling themselves children of the struggle who were born and raised in exile and are now squatting in Windhoek. I first heard about them, when they made headlines that they are walking all the way from  Outapi 800km to Windhoek to petition the Prime minister.

http://www.namibian.com.na

Now the current situation is that they have been camping in Tura near the swapo head office, and get evicted like every day, the latest incident is when they went head to head with the cops when they decide to march to the Prime minister’s office. They  are demanding jobs and other entitlements from the Swapo lead government. What comes to mind is that clearly they want free jobs handed down on a silver platter, or are they pawns in a political game.

I know for a fact that they are government programs and legislation that can cater for their needs mainly the Veterans act of 2008, Land tenure act as well as government grants for orphans and children under 18. So basically if government want to solve this issue they can easily deploy a task  force from lets say the ministry of Gender and social welfare register them collect data and conduct a baseline study to determine what instruments the government can use to solve this issue.

On the other had one may ask why they so special? Children from exile have been branded as lazy and have been given special treatment after independence already and they wasted those opportunities. But as for me I just wonder how they been surviving  this whole time in Windhoek, because if you go where they camp you can see litter, meaning they are consuming food, where they get this money??? and its sad now that most of their stuff is under police custody, and tabloid reports suggest that the police denied some of the access to their ARV medication. 

They Want to Ban Facebook

Rumor has it that the Government in Namibia plans to Ban Facebook. The namibian sun reported 'T'here is speculation that the Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Joel Ka-paanda, had submitted a proposal to Cabinet to block the social network throughout the country.

Now this has sparked a heavy debate as to the impact facebook has on Namibian socioeconomic paradigm. Firstly i am confident that very few people earn an income directly from using facebook, i know many companies in namibia use Facebook as socila media marketing tool so there are people in Namibia that essentialy get paid to use facebook.

On the other hand many parents can argue that Facebook distracts their kids, in terms of consuming time and accessing negative information and possibly engage with harmful people i.e peaodophiles and all sort of creeps!!

I think Facebook can be used by the ministry as a tool to engage ICT use in every day life in Namibia with relation to NDP4 objectives. Study have shown that Namibia has more active cell phone users than its population and majority of users access the internet via mobile.

Pambazuka - Biko: Great struggles, great spirits

I do not really conform to black consciousness or any pan-African movement but this speech by Ben Okri got me thinking about leadership and the way forward for many African countries.

Pambazuka - Biko: Great struggles, great spirits
In this lecture, celebrated novelist Ben Okri reflects on the meaning of Biko's life and writings for Africa. He concludes that there are three Africas: the one that we see every day; the one that they write about and the real magical Africa that we don’t see unfolding through all the difficulties of our time

Un-employment vs UN-employable

garr.posterous.com

There is a famous Chinese proverb that says tell me I will forget, show me I will remember and Involve me I will understand. This in my opinion sums up the views of many urban youth in Windhoek Namibia who are studying and or seeking employment. The current situation in Namibia and I am sure in many parts of the world as well, is that to secure employment you need  work experience and to have a experience you need a job. As a result Many Urban youth that have graduated from the University of Namibia find it hard to enter the job market and usually end up working for themselves or doing jobs that pay anything.

thedrivenclass.com

Employers complain that training institutions do not equip students with the right skills and competencies needed; this is due to the fact that formal education focuses more on remembering theories and facts than actual applications in the real world.

blog.guiasenior.com

There is a simple solution to this dilemma the Namibian society needs to embrace a culture of apprenticeship and mentorships as a form of work based training. And government spending on education should support programs that adopt this method of education. To ensure that the right skills are transferred effectively to the urban youth matching the necessary competencies needed in the job market.

For more info on work-based training programs and alternative qualifications in namibia email me 

kalabamufrank@gmail.com

Leo Bringing a Knife to gun fight

shutterstock.com

When I first came to Namibia I was shocked at how cheap texting and calling is on MTC then soon realized that everybody has an MTC number and only a few people have a Leo number. And I thought wow talk about having the lions share.

    

Now with the recent sale of Leo for only two dollars and a threat to liquidate got me thinking, and eventually came to the conclusion that the mobile telecommunication industry in Namibia is a monopoly and the only reason why sms and calls are cheap is based on predatory pricing by MTC so that Leo can get chewed up and fail.

zapiro.com

Now here is a funny story; Leo was owned by Guinea Fowl Investments which is actually a joint venture by two banks NedBank and Investec Bank, Leo was then was recently sold to Telecom Namibia. Bearing in mind that all of telecom Namibia shares are in the hands of  Namibian Post and Telecommunications holding (NPTH) which is 100% owned by the government of Namibia. Which means Tax-payers money is going to pay for loses made by Leo which could have been an indirect effect of MTC's pricing and marketing strategies. Now here is the pun the government owns 66% of MTC through NPTH. So in a nut shell the private sector is getting bailed out with tax payer’s money, due to anti-competitive behavior of MTC.

yaerd.org

 Nobody in their right mind will buy Leo unless its to acquire  infrastructure or a total takeover. I mean with reported exposure of NAD 450 million and monthly losses of over NAD 2 million clearly indicates that Guinea Fowl Investments did not adopt a hands on approach in protecting its investment.  So to the rescue was none other than a government entity which will eventually  create a monopoly in the Namibian Telecom industry that will have cartel tendencies and legally is neither a monopoly nor a cartel.

 The communication authority (CRAN) to me is just another tool used by the puppet master, to justify his actions in producing a good show for the audience. Any way I put my hat down for a game well played by NPTH in maintaining the wealth in the hands of the people of Namibia.

We moving on Up

kids-soupkitchen.org

Over the heroes day long weekend I spent some time in katutura and had a tour of an informal settlement known as Havana 6. The experience got me thinking Why do people migrate from the rural area and move to town only to stay in shacks? And what is the government of Namibia doing to address the need of people migrating to Windhoek.

  Now to my knowledge recently the government has passed two new acts of legislation the Labor Amendment  act and the flexible land Tenure act, which for me clearly show that the government is not making long term strategies in the interest of its people living in informal settlements.

http://www.nbc.na/

Why I say this is that the land act in the long run will benefit the rich. Here is why I think that; in reality the people will be able to organize claim land and have title deeds; Yeah for them. Now these same people will now have aces to loans and use the land/house as surety. I am confident that a high number of people will default and loss the land and end up in the balance sheets of Banks. Hate it or love it that is what will happen.

mafiaspirit.blogspot.com

Now the new labor act is a mess on its own. To me it’s designed to make it hard to get a casual work but when you do get casual work you are protected which is ok, but now comes to the employer this will definitely increase the cost of labor. The clause that allows for the presumption of indefinite employment is going to be abused by employers that I can guarantee, how you ask? You will have to pay me to tell how that’s intellectual property.

   

Now back to my first question why move from the rural area. Well my underlying thought is based two key qualitative variables Hope and Consumerism. On the issues of consumerism people migrate because they come from subsistence farming which make it hard to have access to consumer goods like cell phones, Kentucky fried chicken, toys for kids blah blah. Now hope comes in the sense that there is chance of better life with the supposition of proximity to health care, good teachers, and personal empowerment as in there voice will be heard in the city.

fakeposters.com

  Now Namibia as of at 2009 has 235 informal settlementsapprox. 135,000 household and approx population of 540,000. And the latest census shows this has increased. Will the trend further hurt Namibia when it comes to the geni coefficient score?