Making A Better World - Milton Louw

Dear people who care about me, the consumers of Namibia, My humble apologies. Over the past 20 years it has been my honour of being the custodian of your personal digital information. I have on a laptop in the possession of the Namibian Police a software program I wrote in 2004 called the "Namibian Consumer Database". In that database of over 3 million records I have stored the following personal digital information if the people in it. They are: Voters Register of Namibia 1999 (VRS99) City of Windhoek debtors book 2003 Namibian Taxpayers Excel Sheet not dated Voters Register of Namibia 2009 Nambiz database 1999, 2004, 2013 Box holders of Nampost Thank you for the honour and the understanding. We in the world, and very much so here in Namibia, (where I reside with my Captain Adorable), need: Consumer Protection Act Privacy and Data Protection Protection of Personal Digital Information I believe in standards. I thank you. Milton (whose...

I have just received a briefing paper from the Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik / German Development Institute concerning "The potential of pro-market activism as a tool for making finance work for Africa: a political economy perspective". The author argues that: " This suggests that information on creditworthiness is basically a public good, in the sense that it is non-rival in consumption and it is very costly to exclude anyone from using it. When the market fails to let banks appropriate the returns of information about their costumers, banks will under-invest in the acquisition of such information. ..... Credit registries give access to clients’ credit history and increase the transparency of borrower quality, which makes it safer for financial institutions to lend to new customers. ....... The Kenyan Central Bank (CBK) took the initiative and issued a regulation which mandated financial institutions to share information with credit bureaus ." ...

I am just finishing off this note then I am on my way to my flat here in Düsseldorf, Germany. The past few months have been an uphill battle to get here, but WOW, it was worth it. This morning I woke up and looked out the window. (First, I must add, that the flat I am in has the most wonderful central heating;-) The view was one of the Rhine river and the skyline of Düssledorf. After a shower, small breakfast with some great coffee - it was off to work. My office is less than 10 minutes walk away and the pathway travels along the river almost the whole way. At the office most of the collegues greet me and always have time to ask how I am getting along with the German langhuage, and the updating of my knowledge on their new software systems. At lunch, have to choose from so many various types of bread to go with my chees and salami sandwich (Have decided to take the same filling, just change the bread everyday.) After lunch, received my laptop (the iPad is not yet ready - damn...

Your bank manager looks at your credit report – Not at You. This is one list you never want to be on – the Credit Blacklist. A bad credit rating can put your life on hold for many years as it makes getting credit impossible. More and more Namibians are getting caught out, sometime unfairly, and the Namibia Consumer Protection Group felt more information must be circulated to consumers about the issue. A credit default is a black mark against your name that doesn't wash away and the three Credit Bureaus, (Transunion ITC, Compuscan and Credit Information Bureau Namibia) currently list over 50 000 Namibians that are branded as credit lepers. I have found that mostly young Namibians are prone to having problems with credit. The advertising makes it sound so easy, “Buy Now, Pay Later”. Unfortunately, when it comes time to pay, these items are not always first on their list. This then causes problems as they start falling in arrears and eventual find themselves blacklisted. Often...