Don’t Be A Tool, Hengari
By: Nahas Angula
ALFREDO Tjiurimo Hengari, the self-proclaimed life-long PhD fellow in political science and researcher at the Centre for Political Research at the University of Paris, is a person full of hate and anger against a fellow citizen - namely Citizen Nahas Angula. Hengari has made it his mission to vilify Citizen Angula at every turn.
He was at it again in his opinion piece in The Namibian of June 22, 2012. He claims to be an academic but his writings are generalisations which are never backed by evidence. Public office invites criticism. That is fair. Such criticism should, however, be supported by facts and evidence.
Hengari titles his opinion piece thus: ‘Is this the right Angula for the top job in land?’ The title is aimed at evoking a negative response. Hengari failed to define the “right characteristics” of a person to hold the top job in the country, yet concludes Angula is not that person. Against some characteristics he should have scored the character of Citizen Angula.
Hengari should be advised that fairness is a virtue. The Goebbels-type character that he adopted does not belong to the world of academia. It belongs to another sphere. If he wants to be a type of Goebbels he should migrate from academia into the propaganda sphere.
Hengari sought to characterise my political stand as “flip-flop”, meaning plastic or unstable. This is not Citizen Angula’s character. What I said during the ‘One-one-One’ NBC programme was a standard answer to persistent questioning by the programme presenter. In Swapo we are assigned responsibilities. We do not apply for responsibilities. I enjoyed many assigned responsibilities in Swapo. This is the tradition I was brought up in Swapo. One gets assigned by other colleagues to perform a function. In the NBC interview I just reminded the presenter that as per tradition, if my comrades assign me a certain function, I shall not refuse.
Hengari’s claim of Citizen Angula being “hesitant, incoherent and inconsistent” is a figment of his imagination. Hengari would do well to promote a candidate of his choice rather than engaging in negative campaign against others he does not support. I suspect he did not write the article in question – his candidate did! He is simply a tool in the hands of others.
Hengari’s claims of incompetence on the part of Citizen Angula as current Prime Minister is an insult to the intelligence and judgment of President Hifikepunye Pohamba who appointed Citizen Angula as his Prime Minister. The functions of a Prime Minister are (a) to lead Government business in Parliament, (b) coordinate the work of the Executive Branch, and (c) to advise and assist the President. Parliament has been doing its best to debate national issues and to pass laws. Yes, at certain times there has not been a quorum in Parliament. This has been due to competing demands on the time of the members of Parliament and not because of the incompetence of the Leader of Government business in Parliament.
Similarly, the Executive has been running the country smoothly. Yes, like in any other country, there are daunting challenges facing us. To blame the Prime Minister for not mobilising the population to address such problems is a little bit unfair. If anything, to use just one example, the Prime Minister has personally for years been mobilising the nation to address the problem of malnutrition. This perhaps means nothing to Hengari who takes his breakfast, lunch and dinner at the Latin Quarter in Paris.
Hengari makes a startling claim that Citizen Angula is driven by “the unfathomable wheels of partisan tribalism”. This is based on no evidence and is purely a blackmail tactic. Those are the tactics of a “tribal entrepreneur” who labels other in order to garner support purely through tribal allegiance and sympathy.
As Citizen Angula does not know Hengari well, perhaps Hengari in turn does not know Citizen Angula very well. Citizen Angula is a Pan-Africanist. During his youth he declined to go and study outside Africa. This was the time when US designated Lincoln University as a reception institution for the African youth. The then USSR established Patrice Lumumba University for a similar purpose. Many of my contemporaries rushed to study outside Africa. I decided to remain on the soil of the motherland in order to learn to understand the challenges of African development. I was socialised in the African milieu under pronouncement of African political ambitions such as the Arusha Declaration of Tanu of 1967 and the Mulungushi Declarations of Unip of 1968.
Those declarations formed my political education. These were progressive statements which denounced the retrogressive tendencies of ethnicity, tribalism and other primordial tendencies.
Hengari claims that Citizen Angula has no capacity to make lucid assessment of the country’s challenges and needs. How did he establish this? Paul Joseph Goebbels wrote in Adolf Hither’s ‘Mein Kampf’: “The bigger the lie, the more it will be believed”. This seems to be the motivation of Hengari’s musings.
Hengari should know that nations are build by a collective. The sooner he leaves the comforts of Sorbonne, the better for him to come home and apply his knowledge and wisdom to the development of the homeland. To be an armchair critic is easy. Equally to be a tool of others is easy! But to be a problem-solver demands courage, stamina and humility to accept failure and success. This is what Citizen Angula does. He needs your patriotic support in order to move Namibia forward.
Above all, do not allow yourself to be used as a tool by others. As a young person you should protect your reputation and character. Politicians come and go. Your reputation is your future. You should protect it. This is brotherly advice from a fair-minded fellow citizen.
Finally, I would like to advise Hengari that he should not abuse the hospitality afforded to him by The Namibian. As a guest writer you should shun propaganda, particularly since you are claiming to represent a reputable university in France. You are indeed an embarrassment to that prestigious institution.