EDITORIAL: Our democracy is still alive
Say what you may, but our democracy is still - to a large extent - alive. Several events in our political fraternity this week cement this view.
The fact that nearly any Joe Sixpack can put up their hand and run for president is testimony to how accommodative our electoral laws are. Elsie Chen? Who on God’s green earth is that? And there was a bloke Jeremiah Kaambo whose name no one had ever heard of before.
The one independent candidate that is fairly known, sometimes for nefarious acts like failure to pay her debts, is Ally Angula. An ambitious chartered accountant, she was told where to get off by the Electoral Commission of Namibia yesterday, as far as her lust for presidency was concerned.
This year, it was the enigma Chen - but in the future, our democracy will deliver a proper independent candidate to run for office. Therefore, what transpired this year should not distract us from the fact that this very provision of our Electoral Act will one day deliver contenders instead of pretenders.
Similarly, the political promiscuity of Michael Amushelelo, who cannot nail down a single partner to save his own life, is also compatible with democratic ideals and values. In a free society, people must be allowed to change parties as their mood and desires dictate. Of course, this political fornication - like all sins - has its consequences. One day, anyone known for these ‘John Walker’ antics is sure to be rejected by formations that know he is a ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ kind of activist. But amid all this mess, the signs are that our democracy is well.
The fact that nearly any Joe Sixpack can put up their hand and run for president is testimony to how accommodative our electoral laws are. Elsie Chen? Who on God’s green earth is that? And there was a bloke Jeremiah Kaambo whose name no one had ever heard of before.
The one independent candidate that is fairly known, sometimes for nefarious acts like failure to pay her debts, is Ally Angula. An ambitious chartered accountant, she was told where to get off by the Electoral Commission of Namibia yesterday, as far as her lust for presidency was concerned.
This year, it was the enigma Chen - but in the future, our democracy will deliver a proper independent candidate to run for office. Therefore, what transpired this year should not distract us from the fact that this very provision of our Electoral Act will one day deliver contenders instead of pretenders.
Similarly, the political promiscuity of Michael Amushelelo, who cannot nail down a single partner to save his own life, is also compatible with democratic ideals and values. In a free society, people must be allowed to change parties as their mood and desires dictate. Of course, this political fornication - like all sins - has its consequences. One day, anyone known for these ‘John Walker’ antics is sure to be rejected by formations that know he is a ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ kind of activist. But amid all this mess, the signs are that our democracy is well.
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