Consequences of the state’s inability to provide services By White-Love KadhilaFor any nation to be called a state, it must be able to provide basic necessities to its citizens. Therefore, the functions of the state among others include provision of education, social welfare, health and the protection of its citizens under the law. In the Namibian context as everywhere in the world, the government is the one responsible for the provision of such services. However, with the current state of affairs, there is poor delivery of service and such services are at risk of not being provided at all, the more signifying example currently being that of the problem in the Ministry of Education. Teachers in the country have been demanding for an 8% increment which the government has been reluctant to give, but rather it is willing to give them a 5% increment. Due to the fact that the government is refusing to give what the teachers are asking, a strike was actioned by demanding teachers on 13 October which led to school children not being taught and the examination papers being cancelled and moved to later date. What causes this problem is the misappropriation of government funds and choosing those in power over the masses.
This situation is just one of the examples that show that the public is not happy with the state of affairs of the government and how it generally operates. In the event that the government gives the teachers the 8% increment, the situation may or may not cause more problems. For examples, teachers will have more money and making them afford to certain products they couldn’t before, this will cause the increase in the demand of those products. When there is such a demand it means that the prices of products will also increase and then other public servants that didn’t get such an increment, e.g., police officers and nurses will not be able to afford such products as the prices have increased, this will then lead to an inequality in the increments of public servants within society, where teachers may have more money than other public servants. The fact that the government doesn’t have money to increase the salaries of teachers due to the misappropriation of funds means that for the government to meet the demand of the teachers, it has to borrow money which will then need to be paid back with interest to the lenders.
When borrowed money is being paid back it is at a taxpayers’ expense, therefore, this means that the option of borrowing to increase the salaries of teachers will then put a burden on the taxpayers. As a result people will no longer have enough money to cater for their needs due to high taxes and they can’t invest in their own businesses. Lack of these business investments may in turn lead to a poor economic growth of the country. It will also increase poverty, people will not be able to buy land or properties which are already expensive. If the salaries of teachers increase other public servants and other ordinary employees will then feel like they don’t earn enough and they might also end up going on strikes. This will then create an unstable environment, where the conditions of political instability will be experienced. Should political instability erupt, we might end up losing investors going to invest to in other countries where there are political stability causing capital flights in Namibia. Other public servants who might not get salary increment might be pushed to move from the public sectors and go work for the private sector in search of greener pastures, this then causes the reductions of skilled and qualified public servants and the end of the day it will lead to poor performances of the public sector.
On the other hand, if teachers don’t get the increment that they are demanding, it might lead to the continuation of the strike and learners will still not be taught in our schools. When learners are untaught, it will increase the level of illiteracy among the youth and when more people are not educated in the country, especially the youths it increases the level of unemployment rate. Lack of employment can reduce the country to a higher crime rate and inequalities. This lack of education also means that the future government officials and political leaders will also be uneducated. What will happen when such people are not educated is that they will become more corrupt and they will not act in the public interest and it will increase kleptocracy. This high level of corruption may spill over to the members of the public losing trust in their government and political leaders and this reduces the level of accountability, transparency, efficiency and effectiveness of the public sector.
The performance of the state is cardinal to the economic performance of Namibia as a country. For instance, when the government fails to maintain its primary functions of providing the basic services to the public, it will be difficult to achieve the goal of Vision 2030. Vision 2030 entails that by the year 2030, Namibia must have a highly educated population and highly trained individuals whose job is to propel Namibia from level A to B where level B is a better place.
*White-Love Kadhila is a fourth-year student studying towards a Bachelor’s degree in Public Management at the University of Namibia