ONGWEDIVA – The Secretary General of Swapo Party, Nangolo Mbumba, has called on Namibians to unite and work towards strengthening democracy against the backdrop of the presidential and National Assembly elections taking place in November.
Mbumba said the country’s citizens should vote to uphold the peace and tranquillity Namibia still enjoys 24 years after gaining its independence. Mbumba was addressing an independence celebration at Ompito in Omuntele constituency in the Oshikoto Region last week.
Mbumba encouraged Namibians to refrain from the scourge of discriminatory tribalism and ethnicity by voting for the leaders and parties of their choice. He also called for equal gender representation in the government and private sector and urged men to sanction women in leadership positions.
Also attending the event was the son of the famous independence leader and first democratically elected prime minister of the Republic of Congo, which is now the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Patrice Lumumba, who was assassinated in 1961 at the age of 35.
Fran’ois Lumumba acknowledged that Namibia has an impressive political system that sees politicians stepping down without a war. Lumumba said Namibia is indeed one of the few countries where political leaders pave the way for new leaders to take up their elected positions without causing havoc and disturbing the peace.
Lumumba said politics is like playing football. “Once a player is old or is no longer in the position to be in par with the other players in the team it is only right for the player to step down and to make way for the new promising players,” said Lumumba.
Lumumba applauded Namibia’s political leaders for honouring the constitution by stepping down when their term of office ceases, stressing that in some African countries stepping down “does not come cheap and many a times causes civil war between the communities because the assumption is that the successor should be family or from the same tribe”.
By Nuusita Ashipala