EDITORIAL: An inconvenient truth
Namibians are starving to death. And yet, there is an unsettling silence around the horror of dozens of people having died from the slow, painful and complex process of malnutrition this year. And the year before. And the year before.
Have Namibians grown immune to the endless stories of human deprivation? One death from starvation in a country as endowed with riches as ours should set the alarm bells tolling - loudly and non-stop. And yet, it seems the whole country is just shrugging its shoulders.
With election antics at fever pitch, perhaps dying from hunger in an election year is an inconvenient truth? Every opportunity politicians get, they slam each other energetically – full bellies fuel mind, body and soul after all – pointing to their own pie-in-the-sky promises as the solution to all our problems.
When will they host a rally and hand out free food in the villages where people are watching their kids suffer from malnutrition and worry it might cost their lives? When will politicians join families at the graveside of a loved one who died from starvation?
And yet, politicians make sweeping promises at each pit-stop rally, urging Namibians to cast aside their hunger, cynicism and hopelessness, and vote for them come November.
It is a well-known fact that elections are, in a democracy, one of the few chances citizens have to say ‘enough is enough’. The problem is that trust in political parties and politicians has been eroded severely, and most Namibians know that no matter which box you tick, the pantry remaining empty and bellies screaming for sustenance is more than likely.
Have Namibians grown immune to the endless stories of human deprivation? One death from starvation in a country as endowed with riches as ours should set the alarm bells tolling - loudly and non-stop. And yet, it seems the whole country is just shrugging its shoulders.
With election antics at fever pitch, perhaps dying from hunger in an election year is an inconvenient truth? Every opportunity politicians get, they slam each other energetically – full bellies fuel mind, body and soul after all – pointing to their own pie-in-the-sky promises as the solution to all our problems.
When will they host a rally and hand out free food in the villages where people are watching their kids suffer from malnutrition and worry it might cost their lives? When will politicians join families at the graveside of a loved one who died from starvation?
And yet, politicians make sweeping promises at each pit-stop rally, urging Namibians to cast aside their hunger, cynicism and hopelessness, and vote for them come November.
It is a well-known fact that elections are, in a democracy, one of the few chances citizens have to say ‘enough is enough’. The problem is that trust in political parties and politicians has been eroded severely, and most Namibians know that no matter which box you tick, the pantry remaining empty and bellies screaming for sustenance is more than likely.
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