Thoughts on the fear for tribalism and regionalism (Part 3)

LAZARUS KAIRABEB, SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE NAMA TRADITIONAL LEADERS ASSOCIATION WRITES:

Wiley’s analogy of inaccuracies resulting from poor judgment in Africa holds true for my argument. For example; the economic situation currently surfacing in Namibia is attributed to global factors more than the local variances affecting success or failure of any experiment.

Much as I concur with some theorist – “that global factors are important in determining local events” - I beg to argue, as shown by the South African case of state capture; corruption in Namibia, particularly the way it has become skilled in almost every public outlet lately, and the fact that little or nothing is done about it, is more puzzling than ever before.

The patent hesitance by the leadership to flog corrupt elements to submission is possibly the worsts weakness of the Hage Geingob era. His apologetic utterance of “Govern by the rule of Law” is something that is long proven dysfunctional, particularly in the space of corrupt activities, and nothing but a pernicious form of encouraging rent-seeking behaviour in the country.

My vote during the last general election was, and so were the expectations from thousand other voters - for him to address corruption head-on. And for some reason this went missing from his vocals, even-though it was one of his election chorus lines, after becoming the president with the highest count of votes compared to the two previous presidents.

Truth be told, President Hage Geingob inherited this situation as a known anomaly mutely pervading the entire public sector and the expectations therefore was that he be the one competent enough to change it. And here we are again entering a new round of electioneering and his concern is tribalism and the unhappiness of people because of ancestral land.

What we need is a government open to full examination by its citizens and subjected to vigorous discussion and debate, then I believe the corrupt misuse of public power for private gain will become more difficult to conceal. And the rule of reason, parallel to the rule of law should be the standards by which every use of official power is evaluated, then even the most complex schemes to violate the public’s trust can be uncovered and policed by a well-informed citizenry.

All Gore, American politician once noted: “When ideas rise and fall according to merit, reason tends to drive us toward decisions that reflect the best available wisdom of the group as a whole."

My message to Dr. Hage G. Geingob is: The rise of the descendants of the genocide victims to own up to the process of negotiations and valorize the losses of their ancestors, which by extension are theirs, and to decide on the nature of restorative justice, is not as something induced by tribalism or regionalism but common sense. Also not by privilege, but a right profoundly vested in them by being born of gallant men and women whose actions has held on to the land, today called Namibia.

Our fear is not tribalism but corruption and what it is doing to the country. Our country has entered a state where the challenge is directly on the citizenry with the singular question: “How long shall we endure this dreary behaviour of the politicians entrusted with power to address such conditions?”

Let us explore this question keeping in sight the massive contribution made by a young man like Malema whose radical thinking and engagement has propelled South African politics into a course where government is made open to full examination by its citizens. I think it is about time that young men and women realize that we have only ourselves to blame for whatever goes wrong in this country.

Let us own up the task to change the course of this country.