WINDHOEK – Deputy Prime Minister Marco Hausiku has poured cold water on speculation about his retirement from politics next year, saying the speculation is by those who want to create unnecessary confusion.
“If the time is right I will just go because I [also] did not announce my arrival when I came. When I came I did not make a big story out of it,” Hausiku, who turns 61 next year, told New Era this week. Commenting on his age, he said: “It is true that we are ageing and there will come a time when you will see Hausiku going be cause it has been a very long journey.”
The journey is not about to end though with the veteran politician saying that rumours about his retirement are being spread by “individuals who want to create unnecessary confusion” but he sees no point in announcing in advance his stepping down.
“When you announce your retirement you create uneasiness among the people and the party [Swapo]. [It] is something you consider when the time is right,” said Hausiku who was equally tight-lipped about any plans to keep himself busy when he does eventually quit politics.
“There are many things one can do [when in retirement] because there is no time to rest in life,” was all he said.
Hausiko was a member of the country’s first-ever Constituent Assembly which sat in 1990 and, prior to his appointment as Deputy Prime Minister, served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as Minister of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation, Minister of Works, Transport and Communication, and Minister of Prisons and Correctional Services. He is also the founding president of the Namibia National Teachers Union.
By Mathias Haufiku