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05:16Last update on: 12 Aug 2013
The Namibian
Mon 12 Aug 2013
SMS Of The Day * MINISTRY of Gender and Child Welfare, TEARS are rolling down as I write this SMS. The killing of women in Namibia is now like reciting a poem. Are we really getting the protection we deserve while women not being treated as part of this c Food For Thought * SO the Zimbabwe elections were free and peaceful and not free and fair? Bouquets And Brickbats * NURSES at Katutura Hospital must stop wearing those big plastic sandals at work because they are not the official working shoes. We want to see you looking smart and beautiful with your full uniform. SMS Of The Day * THIS nation is in dire need of a massive conference on housing. When we experienced a crisis in the education sector a crisis-control brain-storming conference was organised which resulted in the best deal ever for the Namibian child, nam Food For Thought * BOURGEOISIE has become a daily occupation if not the order of the day of the upper-echelons, President Hifikepunye Pohamba we urge you to revisit this unpatriotic geocentricism among your staff and the well-connected, for everybody to r Bouquets And Brickbats * COMMISSIONER of Prisons, can you please explain the strategies you use to appoint officers to certain positions? It is my observation that you are being fed with wrong information then you just promote individuals without making p SMS Of The Day * I THINK Paulus ‘The Rock’ Ambunda lost his belt because of this promoter and trainer. How can a world champion still be training at the Katutura Youth Complex where there is not enough equipment. I think they must follow the example of Ha Food For Thought * NAMIBIA Dairies are unable to match low prices of imported milk and this ultimately means the consumer will have to pay more for local milk. Look at the prices of the local chicken. All these profits are going in the pockets of a few in Bouquets And Brickbats * I AM pleased to hear that Cabinet has responded positively to the proposal of Namibia Dairies to support the industry. The restrictions which support the industry by reducing competition to ensure the survival of the industry is a SMS Of The Day * CEO’s golden handshakes. Somewhere on our statute books there must be a provision that if a board of directors suspends/dismisses a CEO without due regard to legal provision (substantive/procedural law) such board must carry the costs for Food For Thought * JACKY Asheeke was so right with her last column- why are the fathers of the dead children not being prosecuted? (Reference to the children who died in shack fires last week) Our justice system still protects men over women. In this cont Bouquets And Brickbats * ALEXACTUS Kaure, your column in Friday’s newspaper opened my eyes. One hardly finds impartial case study analysers in Namibia. Let’s not destroy the Polytechnic’s strong foundation (Tjivikua) as yet. At least wait until the transf
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LETTERS -
| 2013-08-09
National Security At Risk
ALLOW me a space in your poor man’s friend newspaper to inform and educate my fellow Namibians as well as our security agents of the beloved land. It’s a pity that whoever advises the head of the state on security issues lacks a comprehensive understanding of what security entails and the thin line between that and the promotion of personal interests.
It was worrying to read a newspaper article in which the Minister of Defence was quoted as saying that he had no problem with his senior officials [including military generals] doing business with the Namibia Defence Force. But the danger here is the term ‘business’ – understanding how the business work is the most important issue; business is undertaken as a “barter system”.
An official will be tempted to compromise or sell out this country outright to get favours; buying fake weapons to get kickbacks because of business or buying poor quality security equipment to get maximise profit or create companies in which they have shares and get the ministry’s food tenders.
My suggestion to the minister is to relook at this issue again and to see it as a problem having generals who are businessmen; that this is a way of allowing your enemy to weaken your security agents in a form of trading with generals (senior officials).
Those generals must be given a chance to choose whether they want to be security agents or businessmen, period! No negotiations.
When the generals act as the NDF’s middlemen, the danger is real when the same officials who are tasked by the head of the state to secure his well-being are creating ways of milking his government and thus weaken his administration. Who will screen the quality of materials supplied through the [government-owned] 26 August company when the officials/generals are the middlemen?
Finally, I wish to reiterate that security means the presence of peace but peace alone does not ensure security. In today’s world, the enemies have changed their form of attacking.
Back in the day, they came with guns blazing, but in modern days they share with you a cup of tea, calling you ‘honourable’ and all the flattering words that you want to hear as a previously disadvantaged person so that you can feel honoured and bold to do business with them. They tell you the strategies that will enable their mission as your option and obstruct you from understanding the strategies that will strengthen your security.
The heads of security agents must stop doing business at work. If they are truly business people, they must step down and concentrate on what they do best and if they are tasked to secure this country they must do so 24/7. It’s a worrying factor that almost every corruption deal exposed in this country is never far from security agents.
Perhaps it’s time for our national security leaders to declare their interest in public and should they fail to do so they must be fired.
Jacky
By email
It was worrying to read a newspaper article in which the Minister of Defence was quoted as saying that he had no problem with his senior officials [including military generals] doing business with the Namibia Defence Force. But the danger here is the term ‘business’ – understanding how the business work is the most important issue; business is undertaken as a “barter system”.
An official will be tempted to compromise or sell out this country outright to get favours; buying fake weapons to get kickbacks because of business or buying poor quality security equipment to get maximise profit or create companies in which they have shares and get the ministry’s food tenders.
My suggestion to the minister is to relook at this issue again and to see it as a problem having generals who are businessmen; that this is a way of allowing your enemy to weaken your security agents in a form of trading with generals (senior officials).
Those generals must be given a chance to choose whether they want to be security agents or businessmen, period! No negotiations.
When the generals act as the NDF’s middlemen, the danger is real when the same officials who are tasked by the head of the state to secure his well-being are creating ways of milking his government and thus weaken his administration. Who will screen the quality of materials supplied through the [government-owned] 26 August company when the officials/generals are the middlemen?
Finally, I wish to reiterate that security means the presence of peace but peace alone does not ensure security. In today’s world, the enemies have changed their form of attacking.
Back in the day, they came with guns blazing, but in modern days they share with you a cup of tea, calling you ‘honourable’ and all the flattering words that you want to hear as a previously disadvantaged person so that you can feel honoured and bold to do business with them. They tell you the strategies that will enable their mission as your option and obstruct you from understanding the strategies that will strengthen your security.
The heads of security agents must stop doing business at work. If they are truly business people, they must step down and concentrate on what they do best and if they are tasked to secure this country they must do so 24/7. It’s a worrying factor that almost every corruption deal exposed in this country is never far from security agents.
Perhaps it’s time for our national security leaders to declare their interest in public and should they fail to do so they must be fired.
Jacky
By email
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