Ally Angula’s presidential bid hampered by finances

Former finance ministry deputy executive director Ally Angula, who is running for the presidency in 2024, says her presidential campaign is yet to face any challenges related to her being a woman, black and the youngest contender in the race, but is hampered by financial constraints.

“What I am praying for is that after the polls, on inauguration day 2025, we will put aside trying to identify what the gender of the person is and look at the skills the person has to offer. The question we need to have at the back of our minds as Namibians is whether this person will deliver for them economic success, which is what is required by the country at this moment,” Angula said in an interview with Desert Radio on Thursday.

She acknowledged that she is not counting out challenges lying ahead in the presidential race, since it is the first time Namibia will have woman candidates vying to be elected to the highest office in the country.

“I am yet to come up against a real challenge in terms of my gender or the fact that I am black and the youngest candidate in the race. In fact, being black should be able to resonate with the rest of Namibians, as such it is not something I am worried about. The average age of Namibians is 21,4 years and the Namibian population is predominantly female,” she said, adding that her team is prayerful that these factors would work in their favour.

She stressed that the onus is now on her team to craft policies that would work for all Namibains and not for black, female and young Namibians only.
Angula, who is a chartered accountant and former board member of several corporate entities, further said her campaign is facing challenges to do with her independent candidacy.

“The challenges that we are experiencing at the moment are linked to the fact that I am an independent candidate and not coming from an established party structure that is getting funding from the government, as you would have with the parties that are running,” she said.

“We are a new formation in terms of a working group that is pushing for and supporting me as an independent candidate, and going up against established political parties that are very well funded. We are talking about addressing economic hardship, and when you are a populist that are economically pressed on all sides, funding for a political campaign like ours becomes a bit of a challenge,” Angula said.

She maintained that her campaign’s message of “we are in this together” is resonating well with the electorate.

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