Nandi-Ndaitwah is surrounded by people thinking with stomachs – Naloba

Namibia Local Business Association (Naloba) vice president Peter Amadhila has criticised president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s delegation to China, claiming she is surrounded by people who are prioritising personal interests over the country’s economic needs.

Amadhila made the remarks in a statement issued on Thursday, while questioning the composition of the business delegation accompanying Nandi-Ndaitwah on her official visit to China.

“Believe me, we are blessed with a good president. She wants the best for our country and its people. However, she is surrounded by people thinking with stomachs,” Amadhila says.

He says Naloba members were not part of the delegation and questions whether the visit would deliver meaningful benefits for local businesses.

Amadhila says the association views such summits as opportunities where political leaders, at state expense, mobilise foreign partners while local businesses remain vulnerable to increased competition.

“We see this summit as another summit where politicians go at government expenses and secure their own partners to come and do business with them here in darkness while exposing local businesses to business vulnerability,” he says.

He argues that a genuine business mission should have involved extensive consultation with local business representatives before travelling abroad.

“If this was a serious business mission, the president should have met and conducted serious business meetings with business personalities on the mission and strategised in Namibia,” Amadhila says.

He questions the credibility of businesspeople meeting the president for the first time while already on foreign soil.

“It is shameful for a businessman to go and meet the president for the first time in China and there our president is asking: who is this? What business do you do? Imagine them getting to know each other while in foreign soil,” he says.

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