Namibia is a very unique African country. The country is truly a nation of contrast, of extreme natural beauty, diverse cultures and varied perspective. However, and for some reasons, the country is struggling to harness its diverse blessings to economically lift its people from poverty, destitution, hopelessness, greediness and social injustice.

The country, coming from a protracted war of liberation for its national independence, has all the basic fundamentals to truly become one of the most progressive and economically advanced nation not only on the African continent but also in the world.

The country is sincerely blessed with many natural mineral resources, has some of the best policy documents in the world, an excellent and highly respected national constitution, excellent infrastructures, peace and stability, a relatively very small population compared to other nations to mention just a few. 

The country further has a diverse flora and fauna and last but not least a very rich unique history which was supposed to unite the people to strive as a collective to achieve greater things for the nation.  

Namibians are truly a blessed people relative to other citizens of the world and hence deserve a much better living standard compared with the best in the world. Namibians are to a very large extent very patient people, very tolerant, are extremely talented, very outspoken, willing to learn and have the potential to do great things if given the necessary opportunities and support. 

Namibians can however also be very intolerant, impatient and extremely violent hence the current high levels of crime and gender-based violence. The country has since independence spent a significant part of its budget on education and despite that generous gesture seems to not to achieve desirable pass rates that are at a level to propel it towards an industrialized nation. 

Namibia is among a few nations on the African continent that pay old-age pension and vulnerable children assistance grants a situation that has to a great extent contains poverty levels.

The country has however over the last couple of years, due to a number of reasons including the global economic lower growth rates, hit a snag resulting in domestic economic growth stagnation whilst further entangling itself in petty retrogressive political insignificance. This resulted in its core natural blessings not being fully utilised to cement the country’s absolute economic dominant position to the detriment of the nation’s social well-being.

For what it’s worth, the country is historically linked to three major industrialised western nations namely, Great Britain, Portugal and Germany and to an extent to Cuba and Russia but for unknown reasons the nation has failed to - on a mass emancipation level - strategically position itself to harness this historic link and relationships. These countries have an historic link and the possible holistic support potential to assist the country in many ways for it to fully become an industrialized nation.

The strategic alignment with the above-mentioned nations could have to a very large extent propelled significantly the economic industrialization drive of the country.  Namibia fortunately had the foresight to set itself Vision 2030 which to all intent and purpose was supposed to be benchmarked against the above-mentioned historic linked industrialized nations to ensure that we set and abide by global best practice standards across a spectrum of industries and sectors. 

Namibians could have through this mass training and development model opportunity vis-a-vis these nations have had led the nation to have access to world class academic training institutions, to various technikons and to mega western factories and businesses to acquire the necessary technical know-how, knowledge and skills to come develop and grow the economy of the country. 

This mass upliftment alignment development programs with these few mentioned countries could have set in motion the necessary foundations upon which the country could have been on a right path to industrialization.
In this regard, a highly educated and exposed citizenry in keys industrial areas would have led the nation to create a diverse, strong and stable middle class which as a base would have been the right foundation upon which the industrialization agenda of the country would have been built on.    

The initial intended trajectory towards Namibia being an industrialised nation was the only ideal national goal path to pull many people out of poverty and to uplift their living standards of the masses which they now deserve.
Namibians, in the above context, certainly deserve much better - to live a well dignified and fulfilled life, to live in continued peace and harmony among themselves and to meaningfully play their part to contribute to the socio-economic development of their country whilst ensuring that the next generation build upon this strong heritage and foundation.

This kind of environment is still possible as it was already the original intended objective of Vision 2030 which is for the nation to become an industrialised state for core benefit of its people. The nation therefore needs to go back to basics to ensure that it delivers on its promise to ensure that all Namibians have what they are truly entitled to, which is continued peace, stability, mass economic prosperity and progress. This will however require a significant mind shift change by all concerned.  

*Pendapala Hangala is a Namibian Socio-Economist who strongly believes in the nation’s vision 2030 development agenda