Covid-19 – Page 8 – Windhoek Observer

31 Mar

The Dollar-Rand Peg: Time to Decouple?

ObserverUncategorisedCommon Monetary Area (CMA), Covid-19, Namibia, RMB

Carel Jordaan Namibia’s sophisticated and liquid foreign exchange market plays a crucial role in its economy. Notwithstanding the country’s size, we have a very liquid market. Banks, like FirstRand Namibia, have been playing a key role in establishing this market. Equally, banks are instrumental in developing, capacitating and growing its potential. Although the Namibian Dollar replaced the South African Rand in 1993, following Namibia’s independence from its neighbour, the rand remains widely used in Namibia. Moreover, the dollar has been pegged to the rand at one to one as Namibia is a member of the Common Monetary Area (CMA). The…

30 Mar

Covid-19: Judge calls for parliamentary oversight & democratic accountability

ObserverObserver MoneyCovid-19, Professor Justice Oagile Bethuel Key Dingake, SADC

Moses Magadza WINDHOEK - A widely-acclaimed judge, Professor Justice Oagile Bethuel Key Dingake, has implored legislative functionaries in the SADC region to “ensure the observance of parliamentary oversight and scrutiny, democratic accountability, transparency, legitimacy” at all stages in the legislative process as the world grapples with Covid-19. Dingake is a former Judge of the High Court of Botswana. He is now a Justice of the Residual Special Court of Sierra Leone, the Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea and the Court of Appeal of Seychelles. He made the call when he virtually addressed Clerks of national Parliaments affiliated to the…

30 Mar

Vaccine arrival delayed again

ObserverObserver MoneyCOVAX Facility, Covid-19, Kalumbi Shangula, MoHSS Minister

Andrew Kathindi The Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) has bemoaned the delay in the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccines which it purchased through the COVAX Facility. This comes as the latest communication from the Facility coordinators, which came last week, stated that the vaccines will only arrive in the country in the next three weeks. This is the third time that the vaccine arrival date has been announced, after an email in January from the COVAX Facility, had informed MoHSS Minister, Kalumbi Shangula, that the vaccine would arrive in mid or end of February, and later shifted to…

26 Mar

Low turnout marks COVID vaccination

ObserverObserver MoneyCovid-19, Khomas, Ministry of Health and Social Services (MOHSS), Sinopharm

Andrew Kathindi The Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) has expressed concern at the low turnout of people being vaccinated for COVID-19. Only 218 people have so far been vaccinated with the Sinopharm vaccine under the first phase of the of the ministry roll out plan which ends on the 16th of April. “There is still low uptake of the COVID-19 vaccines, we encourage the target population groups, especially health care workers to get vaccinated,” said Health minister, Kalumbi Shangula. He argued, “Studies continue to show that COVID-19 vaccines work very well at keeping you from getting COVID-19 and…

25 Mar

96 succumb to COVID in one month …As Namibia surpasses the 500 mark in deaths

ObserverObserver MoneyCovid-19, Ministry of Health and Social Services (MOHSS)

Rose-Mary Haufiku and Maria Hamutenya Namibia’s COVID-19 death toll continues to grow at an exponential rate, with the country recording over 96 deaths in one month. Since the outbreak of the virus, the country’s COVID-19 deaths have now surpassed the 500 mark according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS), with a total of 502 deaths recorded. This comes after four deaths were announced from Omuthiya, Tsumeb, Gobabis and Mariental districts. Namibia began its first roll-out of the Chinese manufactured Sinopharm vaccine last Friday after receiving 100 000 doses from China, and an additional…

18 Mar

Shangula rules out relaxing Covid-19 regulations

ObserverObserver MoneyCovid-19, Health and Social Services Minister, Kalumbi Shangula

Kandjemuni Kamuiiri Health and Social Services Minister, Kalumbi Shangula, says Namibia will not be relaxing its COVID-19 regulations despite the arrival of the country’s first batch of vaccines and the beginning of its inoculation role out schedule for Friday. “No, it will not be relaxed. We will still continue to have public health measures because we have not yet vaccinated anybody, we need to vaccinate about 80 percent of the population and then we will see whether they are fully protected, it will be a combination, just like we have the mask, social distance and you get vaccination,” he said.…

09 Mar

The impact of COVID-19 on women

ObserverUncategorisedCovid-19, International Women’s Day

Sepo Haihambo At the core of its purpose, commemorating International Women’s Day is aimed at celebrating women’s accomplishments as well as to honour their contributions to their families and society as a whole. In as much as there is a lot to celebrate in terms of how far society has come in allowing women access to the same opportunities that have always been available to their male counterparts, one needs to concede that much more still needs to be done to ensure broader equality and inclusivity. Progress has indeed been made to enable women to acquire and dispose of property,…

04 Mar

Sustainable finance, a catalyst for Namibia’s recovery

ObserverUncategorisedCovid-19, Standard Bank

Marco Triebner The Covid-19 pandemic has heightened the focus on climate change and financial instruments that promote sustainable economic development. The pandemic has impeded Namibia’s growth and demanded new approaches to economic development. It has also highlighted the importance of sustainability and environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) issues. It is noted that pressure is building on financial institutions and non-banking financial institutions, asset managers and corporates to give more attention to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in their day-to-day operations. We believe that Namibia is primed for a sustainable finance boom, given its potential in the renewable energy…

04 Mar

11 convicted for violating COVID -19 regulations

ObserverObserver MoneyCovid-19, Namibian Correctional Services (NCS)

Kandjemuni Kamuiiri According to Namibian Correctional Services (NCS), only eleven people have been convicted for violating the COVID -19 state of emergency regulations since their enactment. Commissioner of NCS, Meunajo Tjiroze, said the eleven are individuals that were sentenced by the courts, with the Namibia Police Force having arrested 795 suspects for the period March 2020 until January 2021. “Many people are not adhering to the Covid-19 regulations, this comes in as Shikongo announced that a significant number of people are paying the N$2000 fine through admission of being guilty for breaking the Covid-19 regulations,” said Namibia Police Force Commissioner,…

03 Mar

Residents owe CoW N$1 billion

ObserverObserver MoneyCity of Windhoek, Covid-19, Job Amupanda

Andrew Kathindi The City of Windhoek’s (CoW) debts currently stand at around N$ 1 billion, Mayor, Job Amupanda, has revealed on Tuesday. The debt, according to the Mayor, was around N$800 to N$900 million in early 2020, and moved to slightly above N$1 billion when COVID-19 hit to slightly below a billion when restrictions eased. “The City has not been spared by the negative impact of COVID-19, and our debts has drastically increased by N$150 million since the state of emergency was first announced in March 2020. At that point and time, we could not disconnect services for our residents…