To offer a retrospective assessment of his presidency after he was inaugurated as the third President of the Republic of Namibia, President Hage G. Geingob – in his assessment of the progress made during his first 100 days in office – said his first and foremost task as newly elected president (or what he refers to as the new head of the Namibian house) was to inspire and rally the entire nation behind the concepts of “One Namibia, One Nation” and his election mantra that “No Namibian should feel left out”.
He strongly believes that the fervour that was aroused and exuded by the citizenry is a clear indication that he succeeded in his objective of creating a feeling of rejuvenation.
The president also said a leader of a nation must have an overarching theme that will define his or her presidency. In his particular case, he has chosen to declare all-out war on poverty.
Thus, he promised to put in place strategies to rapidly reduce food insecurity, while ultimately aiming at eradicating poverty through the newly created Ministry of Poverty Eradication.
To highlight some of the notable accomplishments of his administration during the first year in office, first on the list, he highlighted the selection and allocation of Cabinet ministers to various ministries, based on their qualifications and levels of expertise and the commitment to consultative leadership, based on the promises made to the electorate during the presidential campaign, which the president regards as sacrosanct. He stands ready to be held accountable to them at any point in time.
According to President Geingob, the mark of a leader is the ability to create a vision for his people and get them to believe in that vision.
Therefore, a great amount of time during his first year as president was dedicated to outlining his vision and he strongly believes that his administration has covered a considerable amount of ground with regard to developing a shared vision.
In this regard, an induction seminar for ministers, deputy ministers and permanent secretaries was conducted to take them through key important concepts and approaches that will mark the tenure of his presidency.
These include good governance and ethics, poverty eradication and reduction of income disparity, accelerated economic growth, job creation and rapid industrialisation.
In addition, President Geingob requested all ministers to prepare declarations of intent, in line with government goals and objectives of NDP 4 and Vision 2030.
From these, performance contracts for all ministers were drafted, including performance agreements at civil servant level, through the Office of the Prime Minister.
Further, the president committed himself to transparency and zero-tolerance of corruption.
For this reason, he publicly declared his assets on May 20, 2015, together with the First Lady, an act which improved the country’s ratings on the transparency index.
The president also released his health records and directed the Prime Minister to ensure that all public servants declare their assets, while setting in motion the amendment of the Public Service Act to compel public servants to declare private interests and engagement in remunerative work outside the public service.
In addition to setting up the Ministry of Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare, the old-age pension was increased, with an additional number of children added to the child grant system, while the number of early childhood caregivers that receive a monthly subsidy from government also increased.
Furthermore, budgetary provision for the introduction of a food bank was made, followed by a national dialogue on poverty eradication and wealth redistribution, all aimed at developing an implementable blueprint for poverty eradication in Namibia.
With regard to ownership of the assets of production and the promotion of local businesses, the president has directed that the Public Procurement Bill be tabled in parliament to stimulate the domestic business sector, especially SMEs, as well as promote transparency in government procurement.
All in all, the president did extremely well during his first year in office. I was also highly impressed by the performance of the First Lady. However, government spending and the perceived sensitivity towards the slightest criticism – including media reports – left a stain on the good efforts of the president.
Surely no leader wants to be called “aloof intellectual, out-of-touch with the people, autocratic, intolerant of different views, sensitive to criticism, paranoid, abusing State power to promote personal political ambitions, marginalising the ruling party by centralising power in the State presidency”, as former President Thabo Mbeki was characterised. Mbeki is now writing essays with a view to correcting what he calls “a gross distortion of history” and “deliberate misinformation” by “observers of truth”.
Against this background, President Geingob as a transformative leader with emotional intelligence and an adaptive leadership approach, should be flexible and address head-on the issues mentioned above in order to reject the narrative of tribal feuding and instead direct our narrative towards nation-building through his metaphor of a Namibian house, where no one will feel left out and the Harambee Prosperity Plan.
So far, he has shown great willingness to make mid-course corrections with a genuine conciliatory tone, as evidenced in recent consultative meetings with the media, with captains of industry and trade union leaders.
Let us hope he will address these issues during his next State of the Nation Address. Whichever way he moves will have major consequences for the country, his party, his presidency and his legacy.
* The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of my employer or this newspaper but solely reflect my personal views as a citizen.