By Joseph Diescho
IN all honesty, whether one likes it or not, SWAPO had held the centre in and of our national life with excellence, supported by the elegance of the leaders at the top. Starting with the first cabinet of the Founding President, all Namibians regardless of political persuasions felt comforted by the quality of leadership representing them anywhere anytime. When world leaders encountered SWAPO leaders, they walked away with a story about Namibia. Good stories because of the quality of leaders that carried the banner of Namibia. One is no longer sure and there are rumblings of discomfort and lack of confidence. This is not about exiles and insiles, it is about the quality of leaders we are likely to have come next year. It would appear that we are likely to end up with a qualitatively poor National Assembly and cabinet and at best with an extraordinarily mediocre lot of legislators and executives. This was clearly not the intention of and with the changes, and it would make governing the nation very difficult.
There are rumblings of dismay within our body politic. If such rumblings within in SWAPO grow in size then we are likely to witness visible cracks in the cohesion that held the political centre in this country together. One thing Namibia had, for which we must all be grateful, is that SWAPO held the centre together. If disequilibrium enters SWAPO it can cause SWAPO to become nervous and apologetic not only to the citizens but the world whereas to all intents and purposes SWAPO’s record speaks for itself as the foundation and the edifice for ONE NAMIBIA ONE NATION! SWAPO got all the economic fundamentals in place for sustainable socio-economic development, and exhibited to the world that indeed out of Afrika can come something new.
It is unfortunate that in the year of national elections for the next parliament and the next President, and while the vexing issue of gender equality in leadership is being experimented with, the signs on the horizon are scary. The changes are not all good. It seems like we are throwing out the baby with the bath water. We cannot rejoice at the eruptions of the youth if such eruptions are accompanied by a lack of respect for good counsel, experience and good old wise minds. We have come this far by wisdom and maturity monitored by the hierarchy of values that fuelled the struggle for freedom and liberation – not self-enrichment and personal power. Human beings are generally suspicious of change, and when change is introduced and managed with such speed and urgency that these amendments are receiving, it is normal that the country experiences angst. There is a paucity of good and clear communication to assuage this state of anxiety in the nation. Again, what is needed is the confidence with humility in the leadership to communicate what is going on in order to reframe the citizenry.
As a matter of fact a hallmark of good leadership is the education of the followers. The lack of education leads to ignorance and ignorance leads to misperceptions and misperceptions lead to apathy and apathy leads to non-participation and alienation. The end result is a disconnection of leaders from the people which is the bed on which dictatorship sleeps. Dictatorship is the converse of instability and instability is the absence of peace, and ultimately, no development takes place in the atmosphere of strife and the survival of the fittest. This we cannot afford! We had seen what happened elsewhere around us. It is better to prevent this disaffection before it is too late.
Namibia has so much going for it, there is so much to be proud of and be grateful for – thanks to the leaders who steered the ship since 1990 when we became a nation. One therefore hopes and prays that the current political leaders and those around them will neither see the questioning nor hear the crying voices as oppositional. One hopes and prays that they will see these reactions of citizens as part of the participatory process which can only make our governance system better and stronger. One hopes and prays that the critical voices on the other hand will be constructive not to destroy what we have even if they have issues with leaders. Let us converge somewhere and agree to improve on what we have. The leaders we have need our support to take this nation forward, and let’s trust that they listen. Brave we must be, however, to point out when leaders are faltering or flat-footed to lift them up to be the best they can be so that we can also be. We cannot afford to wish one another away. Let us tackle, as and when we must, the issues, not one another. Those who wish to be in the game of politics must learn to play the game not the people. After all, it is about the quality of our life in a country that so many have sacrificed for. It is, after all, about strengthening our democracy and presiding over the birth of a new world for our children and their heirs. Let us hope and trust that the leaders who wish to bring the changes have good intentions, and when people talk back, they also mean well. The challenge is that communication must be better, in good faith, and in good time. Good intentions are not good enough when affecting other people’s lives. The devil is always in the detail. Admittedly, the process of democratization requires time, patience and mutual communication on the part of all role players. Elections alone do not make democracy. Building a democratic culture requires the participation of the people so that they are the owners and the best defenders of the system.
In the final analysis, it is important to learn from history and how leaders rise and fall as a consequence of people’s will. People are feeling disaffected now and are worried, for better or for worse.
Scholarship instructs that there come times when people who occupy by a fluke of history positions of leadership take a few steps back to listen to what people, as in ordinary folk, are saying and use it as primary raw material for decision making, transformation and peace. History teaches that leaders who focus too much on themselves and make themselves great by making others and their countries small, disappear into historical oblivion as fast as they came. As we all must partake of the project of building a better Namibia for all who live in it, it might be helpful to bear in mind that it is, after all, not just about us and today, that ordinary people are affected positively or negatively, and that we are building a legacy. Perhaps it is not a bad idea to heed the words of Maya Angelou: ‘People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’