Male or female: Namibia needs a competent president
The race for the State House has started. That's assuming a third term is ruled out. Let us call it our season of madness. Solicited views are now being paraded as "calls" for a female president. This is unfortunate.
Prominent figures such as founding president Sam Nujoma and retired chief of the defence force lieutenant general, Martin Shalli, have been quoted as having "called" for a female President. This is not true.
One thing needs context here. Dr Nujoma had never called for a female president. It was New Era that solicited Nujoma's views on whether Namibia was ready for a female president or not.
Dr Nujoma's answer was: "Yes, why not?" And he expanded on his answer. Surprisingly, New Era twisted the answer and presented it as if it was Dr Nujoma himself who made that call without being asked such a question. If Dr Nujoma was not asked such a question, he wouldn't have said that.
To say that Dr Nujoma had "called for a female president" is as misleading as it is unfortunate. It would therefore only be correct to say he made that call if Dr Nujoma himself had, on his own initiative, issued a prepared and unsolicited statement calling for a female president. This he did not do. His views were solicited.
It is the same with lieutenant general Shalli. His views, too, were solicited. He didn't wake up one day to make that call. True, we have competent women who can make good presidents. But let us not blindfold ourselves with these gender antics and fail to look at the larger picture and the huge responsibilities that come with the presidency.
There is a sharp difference between a firm call for a female president and solicited views on the same subject. Recognizing the difference is the beginning of wisdom. So far, there has never been a call for a female president, only solicited views. And those are not calls but solicited views. They must remain and be treated as such. We must swim carefully in the maze of such disinformation.
Let us therefore not stretch or twist facts to portray a picture to fit a mould we seek to vindicate. Former prime minister, Nahas Angula, is correct that competency and vision, not gender, should determine who our next president is.
Gender not a factor
Namibian Sun Editor, Toivo Ndjebela, aptly put it this way on Wednesday this week: "State House is too big an office to be occupied through sentimentalism on genitalia and pity narratives. We don't need anyone ripping off their pants to show us why they deserve our vote for the highest office."
It seems we have short memories. We are still reeling from the effects of the non-Oshiwambo speaking presidential mantra, which has landed us in a mess we are in today, largely because we awfully failed to vet the competency and vision a person should possess to deserve our vote. And the mandate to lead us. Tribalism was a deciding factor. We deeply regret that unfortunate oversight.
With the current female presidential narrative, we are, once again, compromising quality and competency over gender, foolishly repeating the same mistake we made with the non-Oshiwambo speaking presidential demons we blindly swallowed, lock, stock and barrel many moons ago. When will we learn?
I am neither against Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila nor against Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, who is also the vice-resident of Swapo, in their bids for the presidency. They need to tell us more than just telling us that they are women. Any fool can do that.
Namibia is going through many difficult and traumatising challenges such as unemployment, rising debts, lack of housing, a collapsing healthcare system, socio-economic inequalities, a stagnant economy, extreme poverty, dropping living standards and more.
We need a leader who can lead us out of these challenges. Our treasury is full of cobwebs. There is no money. We are borrowing heavily to address those challenges. With that in mind, how we navigate ourselves out of those challenges depends on who we choose as our next president. We will only inflict more harm on ourselves if we make that choice recklessly. And we will never heal.
Prominent figures such as founding president Sam Nujoma and retired chief of the defence force lieutenant general, Martin Shalli, have been quoted as having "called" for a female President. This is not true.
One thing needs context here. Dr Nujoma had never called for a female president. It was New Era that solicited Nujoma's views on whether Namibia was ready for a female president or not.
Dr Nujoma's answer was: "Yes, why not?" And he expanded on his answer. Surprisingly, New Era twisted the answer and presented it as if it was Dr Nujoma himself who made that call without being asked such a question. If Dr Nujoma was not asked such a question, he wouldn't have said that.
To say that Dr Nujoma had "called for a female president" is as misleading as it is unfortunate. It would therefore only be correct to say he made that call if Dr Nujoma himself had, on his own initiative, issued a prepared and unsolicited statement calling for a female president. This he did not do. His views were solicited.
It is the same with lieutenant general Shalli. His views, too, were solicited. He didn't wake up one day to make that call. True, we have competent women who can make good presidents. But let us not blindfold ourselves with these gender antics and fail to look at the larger picture and the huge responsibilities that come with the presidency.
There is a sharp difference between a firm call for a female president and solicited views on the same subject. Recognizing the difference is the beginning of wisdom. So far, there has never been a call for a female president, only solicited views. And those are not calls but solicited views. They must remain and be treated as such. We must swim carefully in the maze of such disinformation.
Let us therefore not stretch or twist facts to portray a picture to fit a mould we seek to vindicate. Former prime minister, Nahas Angula, is correct that competency and vision, not gender, should determine who our next president is.
Gender not a factor
Namibian Sun Editor, Toivo Ndjebela, aptly put it this way on Wednesday this week: "State House is too big an office to be occupied through sentimentalism on genitalia and pity narratives. We don't need anyone ripping off their pants to show us why they deserve our vote for the highest office."
It seems we have short memories. We are still reeling from the effects of the non-Oshiwambo speaking presidential mantra, which has landed us in a mess we are in today, largely because we awfully failed to vet the competency and vision a person should possess to deserve our vote. And the mandate to lead us. Tribalism was a deciding factor. We deeply regret that unfortunate oversight.
With the current female presidential narrative, we are, once again, compromising quality and competency over gender, foolishly repeating the same mistake we made with the non-Oshiwambo speaking presidential demons we blindly swallowed, lock, stock and barrel many moons ago. When will we learn?
I am neither against Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila nor against Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, who is also the vice-resident of Swapo, in their bids for the presidency. They need to tell us more than just telling us that they are women. Any fool can do that.
Namibia is going through many difficult and traumatising challenges such as unemployment, rising debts, lack of housing, a collapsing healthcare system, socio-economic inequalities, a stagnant economy, extreme poverty, dropping living standards and more.
We need a leader who can lead us out of these challenges. Our treasury is full of cobwebs. There is no money. We are borrowing heavily to address those challenges. With that in mind, how we navigate ourselves out of those challenges depends on who we choose as our next president. We will only inflict more harm on ourselves if we make that choice recklessly. And we will never heal.
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