By Frederick Philander WINDHOEK As agents of change we are very excited about the future and welcome the opportunity to explore innovative ways of leading Namibia to greater heights. These were the inspirational words of the Rector of the Polytechnic of Namibia, Dr Tjama Tjivikua, when he addressed more than 1 400 graduates on Saturday in the capital. “However, the topic of leadership is under-explored or misunderstood in Namibia. It is leadership that will direct this country to greater heights and prosperity as economists would make us believe. However, we do not speak enough or deeply enough or nurture leadership with the innovative view to lead a new world. We cannot afford to simply leave leadership to chance or promote individuals simply through insidious tribalism, corruption, nepotism and blind patronage,” Tjivikua warned. He urged Namibians to promote ethics, transparency, fairness, accountability and equity. “Generally we Namibians, individually or collectively tend to focus too much on the past or the present. We also put much emphasis on input, but hardly enough on throughput and output. That is the reason why the country does not perform as well as it should. Hence, a pathetic attitude anywhere cannot be tolerated any longer or else the country will lose out well into the future,” he said. According to Tjivikua, in countries where governments and citizens do not exercise adequate foresight, success dissipates very quickly for wonderful investments do not necessarily lay solid foundations. “Our successes are short-lived and our children’s future is hanging in the balance. Thus, in developing a nation, our foresight must be greater than hindsight and insight. In this world one’s thoughts, wisdom, culture and traditions will not be respected or survive if one does not preserve or share them through respectable leadership,” he concluded. At the same graduation ceremony the chairman of the board of the Polytechnic of Namibia, Mike Hill, suggested a paradigm shift in growing the country’s economy. “The globalised economy is highly competitive, harsh and unforgiving and holds particular challenges to Namibia. Inter alia, the global over-supply of labour is growing exponentially, and a brain-drain and investor attraction to knowledge-based economies will increase the income disparity between unskilled and skilled workers which will continue to increase, and the socio-political instability between the haves and the have-nots is a growing threat like unemployment is a reality in Namibia,” Hill warned.