Kuvee Kangueehi It is strange how individuals commit various crimes on a daily basis and get away with it, blaming the organization or the institution they are working for. How many of us are guilty of tribalism, nepotism, inefficiency, laziness, mismanagement and many other shortcomings and yet we tend to blame the institutions that we work for? For example, if one goes to the Ministry of Home affairs and one does not get the assistance one expects, the obvious remark will be ‘ag this Home Affairs is useless’. But at a closer look you will realize it is not the institution but some individuals who simply do not do their jobs. The institution has made provision that there is always someone to attend to enquiries from clients, but this employee spends most of his/her time in other offices or just roaming around town. So who is useless, Home Affairs or the individual? We read and sometimes witness cases of unfair dismissals by various companies, whether private or public. A clique of managers plots to dismiss an employee for no apparent reason. Using the powers entrusted in them by virtue of the office they hold, they manipulate and dismiss you unfairly using the resources of the very institution that you have served for years. What do the managers care, the money that they are using to commit this crime is not theirs and even in the end if they are found guilty of improper conduct the company will pay the damages. The perception that is created in public is that X-company is not a healthy company to work for but the truth is it was an agenda pushed by an individual or individuals for personal reasons. At times to create employment for his/her cronies. In the end who victimizes the citizens – is it the company or the individual? When travelling around the country, especially rural areas, you hear people complain of tribalism and nepotism. Namibian citizens strongly air their frustrations that they have no access to state resources and only a selected few enjoy these resources. It becomes very difficult and almost impossible to explain to them that it is not the policy of government that anybody should be excluded from government programmes or opportunities, be it Black Economic Empowerment deals, fishing quotas, scholarships, resettlement or mining concessions. The facts on the ground are that some individuals are practising tribalism and nepotism and not the Namibian government. Although it might be difficult to distinguish between the institution and individual, we can still make the difference. Namibia is our heritage and will be inherited by our children and our grandchildren. As people entrusted with the private and public institutions of this country, let us create a good image and a better future for ourselves. Individuals must be held accountable for their actions and not go free after bringing an institution down to its knees due to poor management. Let us stop tribalism, injustice and nepotism because we might not feel their ugly consequences but our grandchildren might become their victims. Eewa!