The phrase ‘whatever you do in the dark shall come out in the light’ has never rung so true when it comes to our political leaders. It is one thing to be caught in shady dealings, but it is totally embarrassing and despicable to be caught doing shady dealings by a foreign organisation with your pants down. Obviously, there was a huge outcry from the public, especially youth.
Politicians have always had to carry a reputation of being corrupt by default, especially in Namibia where many politicians and high-ranking government officials seem to land themselves in some corrupt deals or mess every now and then. I guess they have now become complacent in their ways as their dirty dealings come out in the light.
It is never a good look on the country when our ministers and prominent leaders are being caught in corrupt dealings in foreign lands, especially when the people in the country were absolutely unaware what is happening. If these are the people who are representing our great nation, they are doing a terrible job, and in a sense misrepresenting us.
Our country has been looted by the very same people who were meant to help and represent us. In many cases, they got away with it – scot-free or with a simple slap on the wrist. So, it would not surprise me or the country in general if the culprits from the #fishrot saga got the same treatment – maybe the ‘higher ups’ are encouraging them somehow.
The youth are fed up with these unruly actions of our leaders. Through their selfishness, they are killing their dreams and selling their jobs; they are taking away their bright futures and eating it up with their allies. They are doing the complete opposite of what they were mandated to do for the country and its people.
Nobody knows how much damage has been done, because we will never know the depth that some of these corruption rings run. The local organisations that were set up to investigate these corrupt practices and people has not been much of a help either. While they do get some work done, they always seem to come up short in the big cases. They can be quite useless too.
To our leaders and anyone else thinking or is already involved in shady and corrupt dealings, just know it will not be worth it when you are caught. As the saying goes, whatever happens in the dark will eventually come to light.
*Olavi Popyeinawa has a diploma in Alternative Dispute Resolution and is currently studying law (LLB) at the University of Namibia. He writes on youth matters. Twitter: @OlaviPopyeinawa and olavipopyeinawa@gmail.com