Most Namibians favour policy changes from the status quo on several specific policies asked about in the 2014 Afrobarometer Round 6 survey, despite showing strong support for the ruling party. For example, 78% of Namibians interviewed for the Round 6 Afrobarometer
opinion poll favoured the adoption of the Basic Income Grant Programme (BIG) even if it required new taxes such at Value Added Tax (VAT) or income tax. Although the government has rejected BIG, the people favour it nearly 8 out of ten. Similarly, nearly 9 in 10 Namibians
interviewed want reform in the tendering system to “eliminate nepotism and favouritism”. Such a bill was removed from parliamentary debate last November and has not yet returned.
86% of Namibians assert that too much emphasis is placed on party loyalty (“jobs for comrades”) at the expense of better service delivery. In a similar vein, 87% did not want the president to grant pay raises to political office bearers and State Owned Enterprise executives. These officials are already well within the top 1% of income earners in the country. In previous Afrobarometer survey rounds (See Figure 3) substantial majorities held that only a few had benefitted.
Related content