Churches Wake Up!
ANDREAS PELTZER, CATHOLIC THEOLOGIAN WRITES:
The video of women fighting for a bag of aid, not only shows the level of starvation.
They reveal very severe structural problems, ending up in an over-reliance on government. Delivering oil and maize to remote areas is the most outdated and expensive way of drought relief. Once the truck arrives at a village there are not 285 but more than 500 families waiting. About six months ago, a pilot study was concluded to successfully introduce a voucher system. Don't know what happened to the idea. In any case other studies applauded Namibia for having a dense network of local retailers able to provide the basic necessities. The churches also operate a network of around 600 outposts countrywide. They should be involved.
All of this points to the key structural issue: Instead of decentralising responsibilities we've returned to centralising everything especially in times of crisis. Government prioritizes the biggest income earners at the expense of regional development. As a result the growth rate and the tax income of the Government rise but the structure of the economy gets more and more monolithic and capitalistic. The Gini-coefficient of economic inequality rises close to 60. A pastor who opens a soup kitchen gets more new parishioners than he can cope with.
Instead of having Ministers of Finance and Trade & Industry we need a Ministry of Economic Justice to recall the basics: Christian social teachings on solidarity and subsidiarity are not nice-to-haves but absolute essentials. Based upon them a Social Market Economy has to prioritize the fair distribution of socio-economic chances. Whether we need a new school, hospital or housing project are issues far down the line of priorities. The human requirements on the spot ranging from mere survival aids to the most basic primary health care and education for local needs are to be prioritized with quality and care.
Once people everywhere have food, water and shelter for the days ahead we can start with real social development towards self-reliance and self-responsibility. Christian communities may corporatize themselves to be stronger and receive cost savings through benefits of scale. Corporations may come down to the community level to serve.
Namibia still has more than sufficient financial capital to revitalise its human capital. What could be more important?
* Rubrieke, meningstukke, briewe en SMS’e deur lesers en meningvormers weerspieël nie noodwendig die siening van Republikein of Namibia Media Holdings (NMH) nie. As mediahuis onderskryf NMH die etiese kode vir Namibiese media, soos toegepas deur die Media-ombudsman.
The video of women fighting for a bag of aid, not only shows the level of starvation.
They reveal very severe structural problems, ending up in an over-reliance on government. Delivering oil and maize to remote areas is the most outdated and expensive way of drought relief. Once the truck arrives at a village there are not 285 but more than 500 families waiting. About six months ago, a pilot study was concluded to successfully introduce a voucher system. Don't know what happened to the idea. In any case other studies applauded Namibia for having a dense network of local retailers able to provide the basic necessities. The churches also operate a network of around 600 outposts countrywide. They should be involved.
All of this points to the key structural issue: Instead of decentralising responsibilities we've returned to centralising everything especially in times of crisis. Government prioritizes the biggest income earners at the expense of regional development. As a result the growth rate and the tax income of the Government rise but the structure of the economy gets more and more monolithic and capitalistic. The Gini-coefficient of economic inequality rises close to 60. A pastor who opens a soup kitchen gets more new parishioners than he can cope with.
Instead of having Ministers of Finance and Trade & Industry we need a Ministry of Economic Justice to recall the basics: Christian social teachings on solidarity and subsidiarity are not nice-to-haves but absolute essentials. Based upon them a Social Market Economy has to prioritize the fair distribution of socio-economic chances. Whether we need a new school, hospital or housing project are issues far down the line of priorities. The human requirements on the spot ranging from mere survival aids to the most basic primary health care and education for local needs are to be prioritized with quality and care.
Once people everywhere have food, water and shelter for the days ahead we can start with real social development towards self-reliance and self-responsibility. Christian communities may corporatize themselves to be stronger and receive cost savings through benefits of scale. Corporations may come down to the community level to serve.
Namibia still has more than sufficient financial capital to revitalise its human capital. What could be more important?
* Rubrieke, meningstukke, briewe en SMS’e deur lesers en meningvormers weerspieël nie noodwendig die siening van Republikein of Namibia Media Holdings (NMH) nie. As mediahuis onderskryf NMH die etiese kode vir Namibiese media, soos toegepas deur die Media-ombudsman.
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