Namibians must count their blessings

Home Letters Namibians must count their blessings

It is high time Namibian people express their appreciation to and thank the Government and individual persons whenever good things are done. Yes, constructive criticism is needed while people are still alive.

It is worth mentioning that the former president Dr Hifikepunye Pohamba was good in using the “stick and carrot” approach. He would call you to his office and hammer you very seriously but at the end he talked about the good things you did, then advised you and coached you on how to do things better.
Now the President of the Republic of Namibia, His Excellency Dr Hage Geingob and his Cabinet are only two months and four days in office. However, he has already introduced good things. For instance, the declaration of his assets, and the First Lady’s, and ministers, permanent secretaries’ programmes of intent, and giving as a token of appreciation to the Brave Warriors players N$50 000 each and creating a Ministry of Poverty Reduction and other many good things.

The aim of having ministers’ programmes of intent be made public by the President is for the communities and people to know what various ministries will do or provide in their area, like development projects and so on.

Now what we hear is only dry criticism, not constructive criticism – ‘N$1.2 million is too much, there are many poor people, drought, people sleep in the cold’, etc.
It is not good to be so pessimistic, only looking at the dark side of the issue and not looking at the bright side.
I do not know why it is always like this. Might be because our people (most) are not exposed to seeing and looking at what other countries are busy with, even those that got independence in the 60’s.

Things are not so bad here and there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Give the President with his wide experience and his new administration time and space – adequate for evaluation – to perform. However, constructive criticism is very essential and very required.