Joseph Mulife Muchali
One could not help but share views on Namibia’s upcoming elections in November 2024, especially the highly-anticipated presidential election, where seemingly ideas have run out by some contenders who think winning is hauling those personal attacks.
That should never be part of the playbook.
Just because it is election time, let this not be a silly season where character assassination and the like will win the day.
There is so much to talk about and tell the Namibian people than wasting time on questioning one’s age. Surely, there are better things to promise the electorates than pounding sand.
Today, thousands of Namibians – young and old – remain unemployed, many are still landless, infrastructure development is found wanting, destituteness is becoming a norm, gender-based violence robs families of loved ones, suicide scares us all, students cannot see a way of paying for their university studies, exploitation and abuse of Namibian workers is a daily occurrence.
Many in the working class are living from hand to mouth, and many other issues are worth addressing. Those are the ‘nightmares’ the masses want to hear solutions to.
It is not about age.
Old age is not a disability, but with it comes maturity, experience, stability, tolerance and a bigger vision to advance the interest of a country. To join the race, the presidential hopefuls must bring bright ideas to the table, rather than thinking a youthful face will buy a one-way ticket to State House.
To refresh, in October 2023, yours truly penned an article that was published by the same esteemed newspaper where the question was, ‘Who was going to fill the Geingob void’?
With the clock ticking, Namibians must now seriously consider the question rather than ending up caught up with a fly-by-night presidential aspirant with no vision.
Namibia is not a guinea pig, but wants a president who has been tried, and tested and remains true to championing the Namibian quest for economic emancipation – after political freedom – where no one will feel left out. With the right leadership, Namibia could be a success story where all can feed on that milk and honey.
For anyone to run around claiming that Swapo’s Presidential candidate, the current vice-president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah is too old or a pensioner to run for the presidency, is living in a world of the dead. One does not run for political office because of age, but of one’s political conviction to bring about change.
As things stand today, amongst many presidential contenders, the vice president is the only one coming in with a vast rich experience of governance – filled with wisdom – at the national and international level. If there was anyone who fits the package to lead the nation from day one of being sworn in as President, it would be Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah. She has what it takes to be the next president of Namibia.
Without trying to blow the horn for the current vice president and Swapo’s presidential candidate, let us look at and study a few historic highly-contested presidential elections around the world. For any politician, that should not break a sweat to pick good examples, so that one does not use age as a campaigning tool.
Indeed, the United States of America could teach a few lessons, where president Donald Trump ran the race against the likes of youthful and highly-educated Marco Rubio (a US Senator) within the Republican Party vying for candidacy. Trump won, and became president of the United States of America at 70 years.
In the Democratic Party, president Joe Biden faced the likes of Cory Booker (senator), Steve Bullock (governor of Montana), and many highly enlightened politicians, but they all could not beat a 77-year-old Biden.
Now, with the 44-year-old Senegalese president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, that a few Namibian presidential hopefuls keep parading as the yard-stick to the upcoming 2024 elections is missing the point. President Faye championed his cause fighting for the people. If anything, Faye restored hope and painted a bright picture of where he wanted to take the Senegalese people. Against his contenders, age was the least of his worries.
At home, in Namibia, Nandi-Ndaitwah competed against the youthful face of Pohamba Shifeta and others, but she won. For Namibia and those within the ruling party Swapo, that was not an accident. Nandi-Ndaitwah inspires millions with her untinted political life and immaculate track record. She will be everything for the Namibian House.
All in all, if there is one thing Namibians should have picked from the late people’s president, Hage Geingob, is when he said, “Play the ball, but not the man”. Surely, that should have sunk in with any presidential hopeful. If anything, trying to win elections by calling people names like “pensioner” and the like is just below the belt. Finally, with the election campaigns having kicked off, let’s heed President Nangolo Mbumba’s call that all Namibians should play their part and participate in the upcoming Presidential and National Sssembly elections. It is a civil duty bestowed on all of us. Let us all cast our vote and vote wisely!
*Joseph Mulife Muchali is a keen student of political studies. The views expressed in the article are all mine and do not represent anyone or any organisation.