Windhoek
President Hage Geingob yesterday repeated his long-held views about the manner in which Bretton Woods institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund classify countries.
The President made the remarks while delivering his maiden speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York yesterday.
Geingob labelled the ratings as “arbitrary classifications” which do not reflect fairness.
“The distribution of wealth is one of today’s most widely discussed and controversial issues. However, the distribution of wealth is too important of an issue to be left alone to economists at international financial institutions. It is for this reason that Namibia continues to caution about the arbitrary classification of countries based on income alone,” he said.
According to Geingob: “The current approach developed by international financial institutions such as the World Bank and IMF, and subsequently adopted by the United Nations, to classify countries based solely on GDP, does not reflect justice and fairness.”
Namibia is ranked as an upper middle-income country, but Geingob feels the ranking is not correct and should be lower.
The President also stressed Africa’s intolerance towards coup d’états on the continent and at the same time lauded former foes the United States of America and Cuba, for re-establishing diplomatic ties.
Africa has over the years had its fair share of problems with unconstitutional regime changes taking place in many countries on the continent, but in his speech Geingob made it clear that those wanting to come to power through the back door would not be allowed to do so.
He gave the example of the recent coup in Burkina Faso, where the interim government was overthrown, to highlight Africa’s stance towards those who come to power through unlawful ways.
“Africa has turned a new leaf, bidding farewell to the days of coup d’états and embracing electoral democracy. We as Africans, through the African Union, have ostracized those who come to office through unlawful ways. The recent coup in Burkina Faso is an example of our zero-tolerance policy towards those who come to power through illegal means,” he said.
He also emphasized the ongoing crafting of new goals and new commitments under the banner of the African Union, as African leaders look “to establish the New Africa, with its own narrative as told by its sons and daughters”.
Geingob said the thawing of relations between Cuba and the United States of America is encouraging in terms of a more safe and peaceful world..
Until earlier this year, the two countries were not on speaking terms for decades because of ideological and economical reasons.
“For the past 25 years, Namibia has continued to call on the USA and Cuba to walk [towards] peaceful co-existence. In this regard we applaud the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries as well as the laudable efforts of the two leaders in easing political tension,” he said.
He also expressed Namibia’s support for calls for the peoples of Palestine and Western Sahara to enjoy the right of self-determination and national independence “just like all other people because these rights are not divisible; they apply to all of us.”
“Namibia therefore reaffirms its full and unequivocal support for the inalienable rights of the people of Palestine and Western Sahara to self-determination and national independence,” he said.
Geingob also called on the United Nations to urgently implement all Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, with the aim of holding a free and fair referendum in Western Sahara as well as to take full responsibility by implementing all its resolutions and decisions on Palestine with no pre-conditions.