Joyce Kamwanga

RUNDU – Prime Minister Elijah Ngurare has cautioned graduates against the temptation of abandoning their communities but instead to use their qualifications to uplift their villages.

Addressing 398 graduates at the University of Namibia (Unam) Rundu campus last week, the premier buttressed a message centred on “humility and the power of the beginning”.

“The bottom is what made you. Don’t look down on them; do not forget where you come from – your home, your parents, and your traditional leaders,” Ngurare said.

‘Ndjikiti’, in Rukwangali, refers to strength and deeply rooted. A vintage Ngurare phrase, it is used to describe rocks that withstand high water pressure at waterfalls and are generally classified as hard, erosion-resistant caprock. The most common types are igneous and metamorphic rocks, though specific dense sedimentary rocks also serve this purpose.

He urged the cohort to embrace government initiatives while simultaneously identifying and creating local opportunities in their places of residence.

Ngurare’s address tied the milestone to Namibia’s long-standing commitment to the right to education, which he described as the “centre of public spending” since March 1990. Reflecting on the country’s economic journey, Ngurare recalled the first national budget of July 1990, which stood at N$2.5 billion. Despite inheriting a N$556 million deficit and N$727 million in foreign debt, he noted that the government prioritised education and health to correct colonial-era inequalities.

“The country itself would only develop economically if its population were adequately educated to meet the challenges of modern-day economic dynamics,” he noted.

Grace Ithete, a junior primary education graduate from Shinyungwe, emerged as one of the campus’s top performers despite significant financial hurdles.

“Know where you come from, set goals, and work towards them. Fellow youth, do not give in to negative peer pressure,” Ithete said on the sideline of the ceremony, reflecting on her academic journey.

Similarly, Tency Liswani, an accounting graduate from the Zambezi region, shared a message of persistence after overcoming a gap year to finish his degree. “Failure is not final. Nothing is impossible,” he said.

*Joyce Kamwanga is an information officer intern at the MICT Kavango East.