In some ways it is quite incredible that President Sam Nujoma, with his larger-than-life image, has left office with barely a ripple.

It was an event that some even dreaded because the prospect of Namibian public life without him was almost unthinkable, which was largely why he succeeded in his bid for a third term in office.

CHANGE, therefore, is as healthy as it is necessary.

Placing too much emphasis on indispensability and the iron-man 'untouchable' image often results in the negation of a country's progress.

So those who justified a third term for President Nujoma and changed the Constitution accordingly, need not have been as obsessed as they were that instability would be the result of his departure from office.

The fact that he hadn't 'groomed a successor' was a weak excuse for arguing in favour of a constitutional amendment.

But in future, I believe, Namibians won't use that rationale again.

After all, he didn't 'groom' Pohamba, but simply nominated him only months before his fourth term came to an end.

Hopefully, we will never make 'gods' of our leaders again.

That was probably one of the most fundamental mistakes.

Life does go on when they leave.

Probably though, while former President Nujoma continues to command respect, most of all for his contribution to spearheading the fight for the self-determination and independence of Namibia, rather than the 15-year phase of heading up a democracy, I feel that we've been more generous than necessary with his package.

I feel it is both unaffordable for a country with limited resources as well as impractical, and also sets a precedent that all future retired presidents will get similar benefits.

If it is so that he is occupying the former Office of the Ombudsman, then it is truly an absurdity as well as a waste of money.

This building has housed some 28 officials up to now, who must now be shifted so that the place can be renovated for Nujoma.

To do what in, may we ask? He could have been rewarded well in his package, but not excessively, as seems to be the case, and I truly wish that this could be reversed.

And again, this points to the danger of allowing a person to become untouchable.

It almost looks as if the package was aimed at getting him to go quietly and with minimal disruption.

If so, it is unacceptable.

I do believe that President Nujoma, who has had decades of pure adulation from a huge portion of Namibian society, lost much of this in the last few months because in my view he succeeded in alienating many who had been loyal allies for many years.

Had the nation as a whole, and Swapo in particular, stuck to their guns on the Constitution and refused to amend it, President Nujoma would have left on a far better note than he did.

There are a number of aggrieved colleagues around because he could 'make' or 'break' people for his own reasons and agenda, which does not serve the country well.

But then we, and in particular the Swapo leadership, gave him the power to build up or destroy, and it was only in recent months that they began to assert themselves and say 'no more'.

It was commonly thought, that he would 'remote-control' the incumbent President simply because Pohamba was his candidate of choice.

But I'm not so sure anymore and I hope I'm correct in thinking that our new President will make his own decisions and choices.

President Nujoma did a lot of things before he left office.

He placed certain people in key positions, and he probably would have liked to have more influence over Pohamba's Cabinet, but he also tried to isolate certain people in the political wilderness, and they include, of course, Hidipo Hamutenya as well as, it now appears, former Prime Minister Hage Geingob.

It was generally thought that the latter had been 'brought back' from the US to serve in the Pohamba administration in a key post, but I'm now led to believe this is not the case.

To conclude though, President Nujoma's departure was smoother than anticipated, and has undone, to a large extent, the argument of many of those who saw him as irreplaceable.

In the new order, I am sure, presidents and politicians will be judged on merit rather than be worshipped as idols.

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