It is time for the electorate to grant the mandate to manage the affairs of our republic to an individual of their choosing.
In 2014, Namibians have astutely chosen a courageous and visionary leader, a pacifying and morally indefatigable elder, and a unifying and judicious son of the soil, respectively.
I, therefore, have no doubts that come spring, the citizens of this country will renew the existing mandate. Given the global economic headwinds, which saw a decline in the world’s annual percentage growth rate in 2015 and 2016, just as President Hage Geingob assumed his first mandate, Namibia has been fortunate to count on his leadership to steady the ship.
The country has had the least volatile annual GDP growth rates in recent memory, albeit with declining growth rates. Studies by renowned economists and data from the World Bank indicates that Namibia of late experienced one of its most protracted economic droughts, but not its worst on record.
If this country was in the hands of someone else or if the description of Geingob being flamboyant was anything to go by, this country should have been completely crippled. No one of above-average mind can conclude that it is. The Namibian economy has over the years experienced alarming levels of pilfering of public resources and secrecy, which failed the Harambee Prosperity Plan and not vice versa.
Even the drive to attract foreign investment proved difficult as those who used to assist had their hands full of own economic maladies.
This country will do itself the honour of allowing the President to put the final touches to the proverbial ‘Namibian House’, which house took shape during the first term. President Geingob, despite a persistent hostile environment, created by those in the minority, put his first term to good use to steady the ship.
I have lived long enough to know and understand that conferring any type of a degree in the first year of varsity is like planting a quiver tree in the Omaruru River. To have expected the President to resolve a legacy of structural defects in our economic and political life in his first term is far-fetched.
Despite the anomaly within the ruling party and government, which anomaly we need to confront head-on, we are dealing with centuries-old structural defects and imbalances in a world that underwrites our ability to change same.
The President indeed entered State House, but had to make use of structures and commitments established way before time. He had to choose from people who claimed to have been in the queue already, even though not our best knives to carve out our national maladies.
Despite criticism, which at times exposed hidden intentions more than it revealed facts, he remains the most transparent and engaging President of our time, who successfully established himself as a modern-day president.
According to the constitution of the Swapo Party, the President of the ruling party becomes the candidate in the national election. Since there was no congress-in-between since his election as President of Swapoi, this right will only fall away into his second term.
De-campaigning President Geingob under the same flag, with the hope of embarrassing and humiliating him, will only prove prejudicial to the next President of Swapo and the party itself.
The breaking news of alleged feud between the President and the other members of his administration or former leaders is nothing but ‘insignificant and inconsequential flyers’ being thrown from the social media cybercopters of purveyors of discord and division, akin to the 1989 helicopters of that infamous repressive regime.
I am convinced that most members of this administration are alive to their roles entrusted to them by the country’s Commander-in-Chief.
Worth singling out is Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, a keen student of diplomacy, given her understanding of our national interests and the locus standi of Namibia in global affairs is very much alive to her current role.
Equally, worth singling out is First Lady Monica Geingos, who demonstrated concern, love and passion for the weakest members of our society. Children and women have morphed into a calling she almost unwaveringly and doggedly pursues. The relationship between the president and the former leaders is symbiotic in both substance and form. We need to encourage one another to be selective with what we consume at any given time. There is no discord in the Namibian House warranting a family meeting.
Our loyalty should remain with the President and his vision for the country unless he commits an act of gross negligence, which I doubt he will. The president ought to get strength from the knowledge that he is having citizens to fight for and not idle talk from cynics akin to those that nearly torn our movement asunder had it not been for the implementation of resolution 435.
President Geingob is a political scientist and an administrator par excellence who turned the most daring test in our national history into lasting opportunities and kept us going through the most difficult of times, and indeed earned himself a second term.
*Joshua Razikua Kaumbi is a holder of BA Political Science and Sociology (Unam), LLB (Stellenbosch) and an admitted legal practitioner, currently on legal sabbatical. These are his personal views.