Life Is Worthless In Namibia
PLEASE allow me space in your publication to share my observations and views. I want to specifically focus on the countless murders being committed in this country. Such violent actions have clearly turned into disturbing trends.
Women and children continue to be raped and killed in cold blood while various forms of violence have also escalated over the years. Although the most repulsive and barbaric forms of violent acts are committed against children and women because they are considered more vulnerable in society, the general aspect of violence among all people (young, old, women, men) has also increased and more and more people are being killed like dogs nowadays by other fellow human beings. Now the question is why has human life in Namibia become so worthless? I am not really interested in speculating what the reasons or root causes might be that contribute to people being prepared to take another person’s life. What I am concerned about and interested in, is finding out what is being done to harshly punish those who are committing these horrendous crimes?
As far as I know, the legislature, which is responsible for passing laws, has not come up with or passed any new laws that can ensure maximum punishment to convicted killers and to at least ensure some kind of closure for the victim’s family. I am saying some kind of closure because in all honesty no family can ever make peace with having lost their loved ones in such a barbaric manner. Why are those convicted of having committed cold-blooded murders not sent to prison for life as a maximum sentence? The Constitution creates a safe haven for them not to be executed and pay with their own lives for the life they intentionally took and neither can they be handed over to the communities to harshly deal with them. The government must also realise that upon gaining independence, they did not even ask us (citizens) through a referendum if we wanted to keep the death penalty for murderers and other dangerous criminals, they simply decided and scrapped it without our input on this issue. It seems our leaders in Parliament have not been concerned with the widespread violent behaviour that has and still continues to spread across this country.
Until recently the only public figure in Parliament who seems to have had enough is the Speaker of the National Assembly, Theo-Ben Gurirab, who has tabled a bill in this regard, which could be deemed as a response to the violent acts against women and children. I would like to tell those responsible for dealing with the law, be it the judiciary or legislature, that for as long as we as a nation continue to see and accept these violent acts as part of life in Namibia, they will continue, more gruesome, each hour, each day, each month, each year. For as long as the law cannot make “good examples” of those perpetrators of violent crimes and bloody murderers, people will not fear the law and will certainly not fear taking a life in the blink of an eye.
Eliezser Vante-Kavela
By email