Inequalities: What we may discern

Inequalities: What we may discern By Johannes Shekeni

In our quest to overcome poverty and inequalities, it is important that we do not limit ourselves to income inequality. There are some aspects that should be considered in our approaches to reducing inequalities. On face value, such aspects may seem disconnected from impact, but there is a link.

The concentration of development efforts in urban areas has demonstrated that the smaller towns struggle to grow their local economic bases. By way of example, this scenario would mean that only fewer towns in this country have the capacity to host international events owing to lack of services and infrastructure. One would have loved that some of the matches of the 2016 Cosafa Cup were held in other parts of the country other than Windhoek. Bigger local events such as the NAMA awards cannot be hosted in just any town due to lack of services and infrastructure.

Many people are becoming dependent on the telecommunication services. Imagine the teachers who are working in rural areas and would want to advance their skills through distance learning. These folks would struggle to submit documents, communicating with supervisors and conducting research online. Imagine a scenario where members of a remote area require urgent assistance but they cannot call for it because of a lack of communication networks.

MTC launched its 4G service for selected areas. The same company has embarked on selling budget smart phones targeting low earners to have access to the internet. It is said that the company invested millions in improving its 3G network to support the gadgets. However, in my last visit to my village, the connectivity remained poor. This is despite a cell phone tower in the area. Those that make regular visits to the villages would testify that one could abandon the smart phone and use ordinary phones. Without recognising it, telecommunication services are becoming one of the determining factors for certain individuals or investors to reside or set up businesses in hinterlands.

The media is not widely represented across the country. The lack of wider media coverage does not only mean that the inhabitants are deprived of important information but it also that issues in some areas remain under- and/or unreported.

We have created a precedence of institutionalising middlemen or middle service providers. Consequently the consumers bear the brunt of profit making interest by such actors. The adverse effects of having middle service providers are also true if the statement by the Oshakati Town Council early in the year holds water. The council informed us that one of the reasons why it is able to sell affordable land is because they cut out the middlemen in the provision of land.

Those less fortunate amongst us will continue to suffer for as long as there are monopoly service providers because the prices they charge on their goods and services do not consider different economic background of consumers. The less fortunate amongst us will continue to suffer for as long as we opt for import quotas instead of subsidising the local industries as a means to grow their capacity. By offering subsidies would compel the local companies to decrease prices to recover production costs (assuming it would be a subsidy condition), and the affordability of their goods would enable them to compete with the cheap imports and it would be a relief to the poor.

It is well known that some sectors are found wanting. The provision of decent public services such as health and education lag behind when compared with the demand. The same cannot be said for some sectors, especially the private sector that is serving a small number. The quality of services can be directly linked to the life expectancy or wellbeing of its dependents. Despite the good intention of creating Vision Schools, government instead was supposed to roll out the concept to all the public schools. The products of such schools are likely to fare well over ordinary public schools. Let us recall how many people we know that have been disadvantaged, crippled or perished as a results of laxity in service provision in sectors such as education, health and transport.

Wittingly or unwittingly, the overemphasis on certain professions and sectors (i.e. doctors, engineers, etc.), is creating privilege around them and as such, services they offer will be of high quality and employees from such sectors will be well off. Meanwhile, other sectors will continue play catch up and their services will remain poor.

The lack of support systems will continue to impact the vulnerable among us. Those that are not able to access services such as counselling or rehabilitation, labour, legal, and financial assistance, will become less productive, lose their incomes and property, become junkies, thieves and prostitutes, imprisoned, crippled, commit suicide and abortion, infanticide, and ultimately, face death.

Without taking anything away from our efforts to redress gender imbalances and acknowledging that our patriarchal world has not been favourable to women, it is my hope that we do not neglect men. Observation shows that the attention given to a girl child is of greater proportion compared to a boy child. As such, the wicked men in society today are as a result of how society has prepared them. Our efforts in this regard should strike a balance instead of “robbing Peter to pay Paul”.

It is thus imperative that our drive towards reducing inequalities should address issues of their causes if we are to engender efforts that will create a more equal society.

*Johannes Shekeni is studying towards a Masters of Arts degree in political Science at the University of Namibia