"Tribalism and ethnicity are starting to influence events in Namibia," she said.

Despite saying that the Namibian Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, Nandi-Ndaitwah condemned the mushrooming of political parties in a country with a small population of 1,8 million.

She said the possibility of these new parties "becoming tribal" is high and they are dividing a united nation.

"It is therefore important that, as individuals, we need to do soul searching to identify the problems and address them as a team and move forward, as dividing ourselves in small groups called political parties will not help this young nation of ours to develop at the pace we all want," the Minister said.

Nandi-Ndaitwah said poverty, ignorance, disease and underdevelopment could only be stamped out if the nation rededicated itself to unity and hard work.

The Minister also challenged the perception that the country's education system is a failure, saying those who criticise the education system have failed to look at the whole system consistently.

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