News
Press Releases: I'M CONCERNED ABOUT THE FUTURE OF MY COUNTRY
Published: Mar 09, 2010 - 11:16 AMThis article received 210 reads.
By Rev. Dr Abisai Shejavali
I am so much worried about the political leadership of my country, Namibia, which has no fear of God and there is much inclination towards selfishness. The National Assembly and Presidential Elections of last year bear witness to this fact. Certainly, violations of human rights and freedoms took place during all the phases of these elections amounting to their rigging. The Electoral Act of 1992, as amended, stipulates that the election results should be announced and displayed at the polling stations. The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) decided to disobey this important provision and this led to the results taking one week to be announced. This is clear abuse of power, which means that justice could be twisted by those in positions of trust for their own benefit and thereby leaving the nation disappointed. Namibia is fast becoming a second Zimbabwe!
When a government has no fear of God, it cannot do justice to its people in its dealings. But it should be clear that it is a sin against God and a betrayal of the trust and wishes of the nation when a government twists justice for the interests of those in power. Now public money is being used to pay expensive lawyers to defend what is naked injustice. This is unbelievable!
There is lack of respect among our political leaders for the Namibian Constitution. Many of these leaders were the ones who drafted and adopted the Constitution and took oath to defend it. Now they are the ones who are not bound by it. The Constitution states that Namibians should have the right to form and belong to any political party of their choice. When people do this, they are met with intimidation and violence especially coming from the ruling SWAPO Party. This point has become clearer since the establishment in 2007 of the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP). People cannot choose freely to which political party they want to belong as the amount of intimidation causes them to be overwhelmed by fear. Truly, leaders as well as members and supporters of RDP have their freedom to organize meetings or display their party colours being severely undermined. As a nation we must only thank God that so far He has saved us from an open civil conflict.
Last year a discussion came up in the National Assembly about African people not coming back home after completing their studies abroad; so they rather choose to stay and work there while Africa is losing out on brain power. Here the blame should not be put on these young men and women who choose to stay and work in those foreign countries. The blame should be laid at the door of African leaders who do not allow room in African societies for these educated young people. A clear example is the recent drama at our Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC). The former acting director-general, Matthew Gowaseb, is known as a talented and hard-working young person who had brought remarkable changes to this public broadcaster in a very short period of time. Under him the NBC was moving into the right direction. But his plans were undermined by certain people who did not want him to utilise his knowledge to reorganise the NBC. So he had to leave disappointed. The same thing happened to his predecessor, Vezera Kandetu, as he was labelled to be a sympathiser of the RDP. He too was undermined and pushed out of the NBC. Like in many African countries, political leadership in Namibia is frustrating young people to make a meaningful contribution to the development of their country.
The destructive seeds of witch-hunting and anti-Kwanyamism have now been sown within SWAPO. Innocent people are witch-hunted, denied opportunities, transferred unreasonably or lose their jobs simply because they happen to be of Kwanyama origin. Allegations are rife that some people within SWAPO have started to incite hatred between Ndonga and Kwanyama communities in north-central Namibia. In the east of Ondonga and Oukwanyama, members of these two communities who had lived peacefully together over the ages are now made to stand against each other over the tribal boundary. This all means that civil conflicts among Namibians are being groomed. One cannot understand why people are led into disputes over tribal boundaries when the country is independent. During the colonial time there were no such issues. Why should independent Namibia be interested in tribal area boundaries while we were supposed to forge tribal groups into a real united Namibia?
According to media reports, Lilly Johannes was awarded a scholarship to study in India. This opportunity was taken away from her by Jerry Ekandjo simply because of tribalism. However, as a nation we must thank God that we have in our midst people like Kazenambo Kazenambo, Nahas Angula and a few others in the national political leadership who try their best to combat the dark forces of tribalism which seek to destroy the God-given unity and harmony of the Namibian people. Through their intervention, Lilly was able to regain her opportunity to further her studies.
Before independence, individual churches and through the Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN) had worked tirelessly to unite our nation. The slogan "One Namibia, One Nation!" was embraced throughout the country. But now those whom the nation has entrusted with the responsibility of promoting this unity further are the ones who cause disunity among the people. This makes me to be deeply concerned about the future of my Country!
It is no secret about the alleged existence of a group with a hidden agenda within the SWAPO leadership. As most of its alleged adherents are from Omusati Region, the group is being referred to as "Omusati Clique". The group's alleged agenda is to disrupt the unity and harmony of the nation and is using the tactics of divide- -and-rule to dominate other groups for its own selfish ends. It is further alleged that this group does not want Kwanyamas to continue living in peace in this land of their birth. It is moving to dominate other tribal groups, especially in north-central Namibia, politically, socially and economically. Some observers state that many people who are working as chief executive officers (CEOs) in towns and cities are from Omusati Region, specifically from Ongandjera and Uukwambi districts. They are in Windhoek, Oshakati, Ongwediva, Eenhana, Oshikango/Helao Nafidi, Omaruru and other towns. It is said that some people who wanted to purchase plots to put up businesses are often blocked in some of these places. For example at Eenhana, it is alleged, some local people applied to open up a petrol filling station. They were denied the opportunity only to find out later that someone from Omusati Region was given the opportunity. I am not against people from any other part of the country working or putting up businesses anywhere in Namibia. I am against the injustice of preferring someone from far away over a local person who even applied first and can do the very same job. The moment the local people realize what is happening, this may lead to them being overcome by hatred and that hatred might blast into a conflict. The churches in north-central Namibia had by the grace of God successfully united the different Oshiwambo-speaking groups. I sincerely appeal to the churches in this part of the country and to the CCN to come together and discuss current political developments in this part of Namibia!
The rumour which was hinted by Joel Kaapanda about weapons being brought into the country is of deepest concern to me. (See The Namibian of 29 January and of 1 February 2010). These are probably just rumours, but in Oshiwambo there is a saying that "Momeva ihamu li nyenge ongaho" (There is no smoke without fire). And I think that by knowing the truth of the rumour, Kaapanda decided to circumvent this truth in order to silence the media. Namibian nation should therefore be vigilant not to allow itself to be forced into a civil conflict that will cause lives and destroy properties. We must draw lessons from other countries which had experienced the evils of civil conflicts!
I am also concerned about the allegations going around in the country that there is a list of people targeted for assassination, some from opposition parties, the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), the editor of Informanté and others who are regarded as critics of the ruling SWAPO Party. (See Informanté of 10 December 2009, the NSHR Press Release of 10 December 2009 and The Namibian of 16 February 2010). If Namibia starts to feed itself on slaughtering its own people, then its existence as a nation will soon be numbered!
Throughout the length and breadth of Namibia, our nation is continuing with the trend of the rich becoming richer and the poor becoming even poorer. There is injustice in the distribution of the resources of the land and this has led to such a rich country having the majority of its people living under abject poverty. Before independence we were struggling against the exploitation of our country’s resources by foreigners. Now the country is independent and we continue seeing the wealth of the country being concentrated in the hands of foreigners while Namibian business people are left only selling liquor and other inferior consumables. Some of these foreigners have just arrived after independence.
The education system is causing much damage to the nation because so many grade 10 and grade 12 learners continue to fail even in the last year's examinations. Where is this education system leading the Namibian people with so many young people roaming the streets uneducated and unemployed? How can the Namibian government allow things to continue like this? For how long will the Namibian people endure the dehumanising misery of poverty? All these things make me be very concerned about the future of my beloved Country, Namibia!
*Courtesy: Rev Dr. Abisai Shejavali, March 3 2010
There is lack of respect among our political leaders for the Namibian Constitution. Many of these leaders were the ones who drafted and adopted the Constitution and took oath to defend it. Now they are the ones who are not bound by it. The Constitution states that Namibians should have the right to form and belong to any political party of their choice. When people do this, they are met with intimidation and violence especially coming from the ruling SWAPO Party. This point has become clearer since the establishment in 2007 of the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP). People cannot choose freely to which political party they want to belong as the amount of intimidation causes them to be overwhelmed by fear. Truly, leaders as well as members and supporters of RDP have their freedom to organize meetings or display their party colours being severely undermined. As a nation we must only thank God that so far He has saved us from an open civil conflict.
Last year a discussion came up in the National Assembly about African people not coming back home after completing their studies abroad; so they rather choose to stay and work there while Africa is losing out on brain power. Here the blame should not be put on these young men and women who choose to stay and work in those foreign countries. The blame should be laid at the door of African leaders who do not allow room in African societies for these educated young people. A clear example is the recent drama at our Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC). The former acting director-general, Matthew Gowaseb, is known as a talented and hard-working young person who had brought remarkable changes to this public broadcaster in a very short period of time. Under him the NBC was moving into the right direction. But his plans were undermined by certain people who did not want him to utilise his knowledge to reorganise the NBC. So he had to leave disappointed. The same thing happened to his predecessor, Vezera Kandetu, as he was labelled to be a sympathiser of the RDP. He too was undermined and pushed out of the NBC. Like in many African countries, political leadership in Namibia is frustrating young people to make a meaningful contribution to the development of their country.
The destructive seeds of witch-hunting and anti-Kwanyamism have now been sown within SWAPO. Innocent people are witch-hunted, denied opportunities, transferred unreasonably or lose their jobs simply because they happen to be of Kwanyama origin. Allegations are rife that some people within SWAPO have started to incite hatred between Ndonga and Kwanyama communities in north-central Namibia. In the east of Ondonga and Oukwanyama, members of these two communities who had lived peacefully together over the ages are now made to stand against each other over the tribal boundary. This all means that civil conflicts among Namibians are being groomed. One cannot understand why people are led into disputes over tribal boundaries when the country is independent. During the colonial time there were no such issues. Why should independent Namibia be interested in tribal area boundaries while we were supposed to forge tribal groups into a real united Namibia?
According to media reports, Lilly Johannes was awarded a scholarship to study in India. This opportunity was taken away from her by Jerry Ekandjo simply because of tribalism. However, as a nation we must thank God that we have in our midst people like Kazenambo Kazenambo, Nahas Angula and a few others in the national political leadership who try their best to combat the dark forces of tribalism which seek to destroy the God-given unity and harmony of the Namibian people. Through their intervention, Lilly was able to regain her opportunity to further her studies.
Before independence, individual churches and through the Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN) had worked tirelessly to unite our nation. The slogan "One Namibia, One Nation!" was embraced throughout the country. But now those whom the nation has entrusted with the responsibility of promoting this unity further are the ones who cause disunity among the people. This makes me to be deeply concerned about the future of my Country!
It is no secret about the alleged existence of a group with a hidden agenda within the SWAPO leadership. As most of its alleged adherents are from Omusati Region, the group is being referred to as "Omusati Clique". The group's alleged agenda is to disrupt the unity and harmony of the nation and is using the tactics of divide- -and-rule to dominate other groups for its own selfish ends. It is further alleged that this group does not want Kwanyamas to continue living in peace in this land of their birth. It is moving to dominate other tribal groups, especially in north-central Namibia, politically, socially and economically. Some observers state that many people who are working as chief executive officers (CEOs) in towns and cities are from Omusati Region, specifically from Ongandjera and Uukwambi districts. They are in Windhoek, Oshakati, Ongwediva, Eenhana, Oshikango/Helao Nafidi, Omaruru and other towns. It is said that some people who wanted to purchase plots to put up businesses are often blocked in some of these places. For example at Eenhana, it is alleged, some local people applied to open up a petrol filling station. They were denied the opportunity only to find out later that someone from Omusati Region was given the opportunity. I am not against people from any other part of the country working or putting up businesses anywhere in Namibia. I am against the injustice of preferring someone from far away over a local person who even applied first and can do the very same job. The moment the local people realize what is happening, this may lead to them being overcome by hatred and that hatred might blast into a conflict. The churches in north-central Namibia had by the grace of God successfully united the different Oshiwambo-speaking groups. I sincerely appeal to the churches in this part of the country and to the CCN to come together and discuss current political developments in this part of Namibia!
The rumour which was hinted by Joel Kaapanda about weapons being brought into the country is of deepest concern to me. (See The Namibian of 29 January and of 1 February 2010). These are probably just rumours, but in Oshiwambo there is a saying that "Momeva ihamu li nyenge ongaho" (There is no smoke without fire). And I think that by knowing the truth of the rumour, Kaapanda decided to circumvent this truth in order to silence the media. Namibian nation should therefore be vigilant not to allow itself to be forced into a civil conflict that will cause lives and destroy properties. We must draw lessons from other countries which had experienced the evils of civil conflicts!
I am also concerned about the allegations going around in the country that there is a list of people targeted for assassination, some from opposition parties, the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), the editor of Informanté and others who are regarded as critics of the ruling SWAPO Party. (See Informanté of 10 December 2009, the NSHR Press Release of 10 December 2009 and The Namibian of 16 February 2010). If Namibia starts to feed itself on slaughtering its own people, then its existence as a nation will soon be numbered!
Throughout the length and breadth of Namibia, our nation is continuing with the trend of the rich becoming richer and the poor becoming even poorer. There is injustice in the distribution of the resources of the land and this has led to such a rich country having the majority of its people living under abject poverty. Before independence we were struggling against the exploitation of our country’s resources by foreigners. Now the country is independent and we continue seeing the wealth of the country being concentrated in the hands of foreigners while Namibian business people are left only selling liquor and other inferior consumables. Some of these foreigners have just arrived after independence.
The education system is causing much damage to the nation because so many grade 10 and grade 12 learners continue to fail even in the last year's examinations. Where is this education system leading the Namibian people with so many young people roaming the streets uneducated and unemployed? How can the Namibian government allow things to continue like this? For how long will the Namibian people endure the dehumanising misery of poverty? All these things make me be very concerned about the future of my beloved Country, Namibia!
*Courtesy: Rev Dr. Abisai Shejavali, March 3 2010
RSS