At the dawn of independence, the young and inexperienced African nations started drawing up their national development plans, which were hardly implemented, for various reasons. In order to indoctrinate their subjects, the political leaders came up with blueprints and philosophies to guide their socio-economic and political policies. Kaunda hatched humanism, postulating that humankind should be given dignity and respect, and be taught to work together. Nyerere came with ujamaa, with its basic characteristics being work by everyone and exploitation by none, fair sharing of resources produced by joint efforts, and equality and respect for human dignity (Akinpelu, 1981, Barker, 1999). 

Kenyatta created the philosophy of Harambee (Let us pull together at once),
and likened the task of independence of the new nation to that of workers with a burden, which would only be overcome by demanding Whites and Africans work together for the development of Kenya (Ombaka 2008).  Mobutu flirted with the philosophy of authenticity by ordering Congolese to replace their European names with African ones and rejected the imposition of Western values, but motivated Africans to be proud of themselves  (Knight and Newman, 1976). Mandela affirmed that "in Africa, there is a concept known as 'ubuntu', the profound sense that we are human only through the humanity of others; that if we are to accomplish anything in this world, it will in equal measure be due to the work and achievements of others." 

Thinkers like Khoza (1994) and Chinkanda (1990) define Ubuntu as an African view of life, collective consciousness of the African people, their own religion, their ethical values, their political ideologies, alms-giving, sympathy, care, respect, patience and kindness. 

Shutte (1992) interprets Ubuntu in terms of the worthwhile, the good, and the valuable in human life, meaning it is concerned with visions of happiness and fulfillment.’ 

This is a just a sample of African political leaders who broke up with the colonial past, and sought blueprints to guide their leadership styles. 

Whether it is by design or default, Namibia took many years to semi-plagiarise one of the philosophies, termed Harambee Prosperity Plan, emphasising inclusiveness. 

But the concept and its implementation has fallen short of its relevancy in many areas.

Beneficiaries of natural resources: Many Namibians have been excluded from the benefits accrued from its natural resources, like minerals and fishing.  Minerals produced are shipped to European and American markets in their raw form, and again sent back to Namibia after being processed and sold at exhorbitant prices. 

Only the politically- connected and rich are capable of affording the processed products from these resources. 

Fish is equally caught and processed elsewhere, and profit made is distributed among the ruling elite and their cronies. 

We need not to be reminded of the current running Fishrot scandal court case in which ministers were involved. 

Other natural resources like diamonds and zinc, to mention only two, are anathema to an ordinary Namibian.  Efforts to build factories to process these natural resources locally to benefit the people are yet to be seen, or not forthcoming at all.

Equal and fair distribution o
f land: One of the main
objectives of the liberation struggle was the retrieval of stolen land.  Some liberators of this country may not believe that their efforts in getting land, which they fought for, have come to nothing. In some places, it is very difficult to acquire land, unless one is a member of parliament or politically- connected.  

Namibia is one of the countries with many absentee landlords, yet the government remains toothless in retrieving that land through constitutional amendments.  The land policy in place is only benefitting a few Namibians. 

Medical and health services: The country has taken more than 20 years before the establishment of a School of Medicine. 

One may argue that the Ministry of Health and Social Services comes second after education in the national budget, but the state of hospitals in the country needs rehabilitation. 

If indeed the exodus of the 70s was indeed to go and seek quality education, the country should have done better in this aspect of addressing health services. It is unacceptable that after 32 years of independence, Namibia still is heavilydependent on nurses from neighbouring countries, yet there are young graduates who could be trained in these areas over the years. In the wards of the Katima Mulilo general hospital, Nyanja, Shona and Swahili would soon become the medium of communication at the expense of the local languages. 

It seems the policy dealing with the expiry of contracts of non-Namibians is shaky, as these workers come and go as they like, making the country look like no-man’s land. 

There should be reciprocity, as laws and policies all over the world regulate the entry of foreign nationals for security reasons. Education for all: Although there have been improvements in changing from one system of education to the other, the sector did not fare as expected, possibly because of the lack of any philosophy of education guiding and regulating it. The scenario of rule is reminiscent of a hit in the 70s by late Zambian musician Nashil Pichen Kazembe, “A Phiri Anabvwera,” epitomising Phiri, who came back from the city with an empty suitcase. The current ste of affairs may mpel people to think that the liberators only ushered in a period of political freedom with an imagined programme of rule with no philosophy at all.