Geingob's approval rating soars

While a majority of Namibians gave the government bad grades for its handling of issues such as job creation and the economy, President Hage Geingob scored high in terms of public approval and trust, according to the latest round of the Afrobarometer that gauges public opinion on governance, democracy and related matters. Further key findings of the latest Afrobarometer, presented by the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) yesterday, indicate that a majority of Namibians (78%) say that the level of corruption has increased over the past year, and 65% of Namibians believe the government's handling of the fight against corruption is a fail. It was further revealed that a majority of Namibians, 56%, believe the country is “going in the wrong direction”, double the 24% who felt this way in the 2012 and 2014 Afrobarometer results. In terms of perceptions on the government's handling of key issues, 74% of Namibian citizens said it had been performing “fairly badly” or “very badly” on creating jobs and narrowing income gaps (73%) and 63% felt its handling of the economy was “fairly bad” or “very bad”. Although most Namibians said they believed ordinary citizens could help put a dent in corruption, six in ten (62%) felt they would put themselves at risk if they reported corruption to authorities. In contrast, 74% of Namibians said they believed the government was handling the protection of disabled people well, and 67% believed road maintenance, addressing educational needs and improving basic health services were being done fairly well or very well. Institutions versus individuals In what was described by many as contradictory and worthy of further exploration, the low score for the government's overall handling of key issues contrasted sharply with the high ratings on performance and trust received by Geingob. Among nine key public officials, the president was given a 77% approval rating for his performance over the past 12 months and 64% of Namibians said they trusted the president somewhat or a lot, a higher trust level than 15 other public institutions. Nevertheless, over the years, trust in the presidential office has dropped, from 80% recorded in 2008 and 80% in 2014. In line with this, distrust in the presidential office increased from 19% in 2012 and 2014 to 33% in the latest survey. Other public institutions that scored low on the trust level included Inland Revenue, with 43% of Namibians saying they didn't trust the institution at all or only a little, and local councils, which received a 44% disapproval in the trust area. Further, of a total of 1 200 citizens surveyed, 71% approved or strongly approved of the prime minister's performance, compared to 20% who strongly disapproved or disapproved. Traditional leaders also ranked high in the performance scores, with 62% of Namibians approving of their performance, compared to 21% who strongly disapproved or disapproved. On the question of trust, following the 64% of Namibians saying they trust the president, 63% indicated a high level of trust in the police, and 63% in religious leaders. And, while the police scored high in terms of trust in the public institution (63%), compared to 35% of respondents who said they trust the police only a little or not at all, it ranked first in the question of corruption among public officials.Forty-one percent of Namibians said some police officials were corrupt and 42% said most or all police officials were corrupt. Nine percent said no police officers were corrupt. Government officials were rated the second most corrupt. Thirty-nine percent viewed some government officials as corrupt, and 42% said most or all government officials were corrupt. The Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan research network that conducts public attitude surveys on democracy, governance and other issues in Africa. Namibia has taken part in the survey since its launch in 1999. JANA-MARI SMITH

Geingob's approval rating soars

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-03

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Geingob's approval rating soars

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-03

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