Namibian president defends trip overseas

Namibian President Hage Geingob has had to defend his trip to the U.S after the media questioned why he is taking along a huge delegation and staying for three weeks when the government has admitted that there is no money.

Geingob leaves Namibia Saturday to attend the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York and will return on Oct. 4. He is accompanied by seven ministers, several advisors and officials.

Addressing the media Friday at an impromptu press conference at State House in Windhoek, Geingob said because he is aware of the government's precarious financial position, he had to cut down the number of ministers who had initially been on the list.

"I'm not going to the UN to sleep. We have reduced the size of the delegation. Some have been asked to drop out. We are not careless people," he said.

The trip comes when teachers are likely to go on strike against the government's 5 percent salary increase instead of the 8 percent they want.

It also comes when the government announced that it was freezing hundreds of jobs in the civil service, while the Fitch Rating has raised red flags by downgrading the country's economic outlook from stable to negative on Sept. 2.

Fitch based their decision on depleted foreign reserves; weak revenue collection; budget deficit; ballooning government debt; and weakened earnings from the Southern African Customs Union of which Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho are members. Endit