Otja Kahijambua
Namibian economist, Lasarus Amukeshe is against the 100% taxi fare increment from N$13 to N$ 26 proposed recently by the Namibian Transport and Taxi Union.
This comes after the president of NTTU proposed that the taxi fare should be doubled.
Amukeshe said that the proposal is unreasonable, and it doesn’t make any business sense nor is it fair for an economic that is struggling.
He said he understands the frustration and the reasoning from the taxi drivers that fuel prices keep escalating every month, but the argument brought forward that they’re operating on a loss is absolute unreasonable.
The current price of diesel is now N$20,65 per litre, while petrol increased to N$19,78 per litre from 1 March.
“The argument they are putting forward is not going to help anybody, they will more likely go out of business, and consumers also have the right to reject the proposal that are coming to them, and they can pay what they have and it’s up to the taxi drivers to negotiate whether they take it or not,” he said.
Amukeshe further stated that majority of people will migrate to municipal buses and taxis won’t make enough money as they used to, especial if it’s a going and coming back from work and those are the most people that use taxis. He suggested that NTTU should by all means try to reconsider N$15 taxi fare, not to double the price.
Meanwhile the president of Namibian Transport and taxi Union Werner Januarie stated that in 2019 they have already demanded a 50% increment which was a fair taxi fare increment, which the public should take into consideration that they cannot ask the same 50% they asked three years ago.
“Our demands for service and commodities have grown therefore currently we are asking for 100% increment,” he stated.
Januarie said that the public should remember that taxis are not a charity organization, it is business like any other business and as much as they have to deliver services to the public they have to feed their families.
