In my humble and honest opinion, Namibia, a proud child of the international community and solidarity, is currently a politically and economically divided nation. And the longer we live in denial of this fact, the more we will continue to damage and destroy the full potential of this supposed to be great nation to the detrimental effect and impact of its innocent citizens. 

Historically, Namibia’s independence came through the gallant unity of its people, supported by the international community with the sincere hope and expectation of the nation to fully develop and utilise its human capital through the exploitation of its natural resources to build going forward a stable, industrious and prosperous country. This is unfortunately far from what was intended and needs to be seriously interrogated and rectified.  

Namibia has a small population, and against the backdrop of the above brief introduction, it is in my view struggling to maturely manage its internal affairs for the broad economic benefit of its citizens. In essence, national peace, security and stability are clearly in the country, and should be embraced and applauded accordingly but should not blind us that we do have many natural resource blessings, which can be successfully used for the benefit of the people if the political and economic will was there to further cement and strengthen that same peace, security and stability.

The Namibian House is therefore in my view not united, is highly divided both politically and economically and the earlier we admit and face this reality the better for everyone. Playing petty politics and personal slander against each other will not take the nation anywhere forward but rather backward. And any further subsequent movement away from this reality will be putting the nation on a trajectory path, which will be very difficult to emerge from should no amicable solutions be found soon.   

Politically, the nation is in a serious mess with politicians across the board rather opting to serve their own elevated egos, aligning themselves on petty patronage, establishing fake loyalty following, creating henchmen groupings and hence losing focus in the process to sincerely serve the national interest at the expense of their own political survival. This situation is not healthy within political parties, and for their respective members, as it deepens disunity and creates massive distrust among them eroding the governance potential at national levels which as a consequence affects in the process economic progression.   

Economically, Namibian politicians due to the above brief political assessment aspect, have messed up the fundamental economic opportunity upon which the nation’s true industrial base could have been established to contain and propel it towards a sustained human development course, economic progression and prosperity for all. The nation, with a small population, is highly naturally blessed but those in charge have over the years failed dismally through unity of purpose to fully utilise the nation’s core advantage through the implementation of relevant socio-economic development policies, and legislations that were going to ensure that it becomes economically competitive for the sake of its citizens. 

There is hence a huge imbalance between our politicians’ attitude towards the nation’s economic development potential, and their capability to maturely utilise the nation’s natural blessings for the benefit of the people, which as a consequence has over the years led to a highly divided nation.   

With the above said, it reaffirms that “when two elephants fight, the grass suffers” and as such, Namibians as a consequence, are caught in some sort of historic political personality battles of the elders, which is unfortunately destroying the aspirations of the current and future generations, who for what it’s worth, deserve much better than what they are currently getting from their tired leaders. 

This sad situation in the country is seriously having real direct impact on the daily lives of Namibians, and on the direction of the country to such an extent that it leaves the nation exposed for anyone to exploit this gap in the medium to long term detrimental impact on the nation and its people. 

Going forward, it is important in my opinion that we admit that the Namibian House is extremely divided, and that the elders initiate a deliberate process of national unity, building blocks in such a way that they pave the way for a younger but committed generation to take over from them with their guidance. 

Namibia is hence in my view at a very serious political and economic crossroad and needs, for the sake of the future, to go back to basic building blocks based on honesty, transparency and sincerity, which will ensure a national sense of pride and purpose among the citizens to truly benefit from their motherland.    

*Pendapala Hangala is a Namibian socio-economist who strongly believes in the nation’s Vision 2030 development agenda.