The fact that the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) was this week again caught in a controversy of its own making should make Namibians sit up and notice. During meetings with the political liaison committee this week, the ECN provided an update on the procurement process for the ballot papers for the 2024 Presidential and...
Prime Minister (PM) Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila haswarned officials to not politicise hunger, and ensure that drought relief food gets to those who need it most. The PM was speaking at the opening of the two-day National Platform on the Implementation of the 2024/2025 Drought Relief Programme. Trying to score cheap political points or make political opponents...
The recent barbs exchanged by youth leaders regarding allegations that the ruling party, Swapo, generated parts of its election manifesto using ChatGPT has stirred debate. This commotion comes at the time Namibia celebrated the eighth National Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Summit, centred on digital transformation and artificial intelligence. There, ICT minister Emma Theofelus said...
Fossil-fuel-producing countries and companies are being asked to pay into a new international fund to help poor countries cope with the effects of the climate crisis. The climate investment fund is being set up by the Azerbaijani government, the host country of the COP29 United Nations climate summit in November. The Climate Finance Action Fund...
With Namibia’s National and Presidential Elections less than three months away, chaos, characterised by factionalism, reigns in Namibian politics. It would seem Namibian political operators are passionate about and committed to division. As the African saying goes, “When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.” The saying is true for several political parties...
Preliminary findings of the NaMedia media monitoring project, how these findings were presented, and what the organisers chose to amplify would have left a bitter taste in the mouth of any sane individual. The Media Ombudsman undertook a study with the support of private media, foreign development agencies and a local research outfit. The ombudsman’s...
Namibia relies heavily on imports, and rising geopolitical upheaval may limit the country’s economic growth. Within this framework, the growing geopolitical environment, which includes the war between Russia and Ukraine, unrest in the Middle East, and a series of sanctions aimed at preventing Russia’s military-industrial complex from obtaining critical and essential goods such as sophisticated...
Of the 1.4 million registered voters in Namibia, 901 316 were born after 1982, making them younger than 42 and considered to be part of the youth. This was announced by the Electoral Commission of Namibia at a press conference yesterday where it also handed over voters’ registers to all registered political parties taking part...
The announcement by the Popular Democratic Movement that it will launch its election manifesto this weekend signals a crucial moment on the election calendar. The PDM has since descended on the Zambezi region capital Katima Mulilo for its congress, which kicks off tomorrow. By Wednesday, delegates from different parts of the country had already started...
Schools have been turned into battlegrounds, with those who believe teachers should be allowed to assault children physically as a means of enforcing discipline making quite some noise in recent weeks, while authorities have their hands full trying to remind Namibians that violence in any form is not acceptable in our society. Many onlookers may...