Chief Riruako pins hopes on four-pronged strategy

PARAMOUNT chief, politician, farmer and controversial legislator – National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) leader and presidential candidate Kuaima Riruako has many titles.

This year he has had his hands full with his bid for the presidency, as well as the protracted “battle” for compensation from Germany for the 1904-1907 genocide against his people, the Ovaherero. Riruako’s campaign trail has been running on a four-point programme:a government of national unity, education, health and welfare, as well as land reform.”Let us share this government, let us distribute the resources of this country to all citizens equally, let us sit and decide the future of this country together after the election,” he said at his star rally at Opuwo in the Kunene Region.Though current Namibian land reform laws do not accommodate it, Riruako strongly believes in the restitution of ancestral land rights.”We have some of our people who physically lost their land to the colonialists …these people should be seriously considered in the redistribution of land,” he emphasised.The outspoken Nudo leader once declared that:”There are Namibians who need land because they lost their land, and there those who need land simply because they are overcrowded where they are.”He is seen in some quarters as a tribalist, while in others he is regarded a saviour who does not shy away from speaking his mind.Riruako surprised many when in August he invited Ndonga King Elifas Kauluma to the centenary commemoration at Omahakari, events which Government leaders shunned.A few weeks later, he paid a high-profile visit to his Ndonga counterpart.”Chief Riruako is a man of the people.I believe in oneness, I believe in the truth and honesty, I believe in the true unity of our people, not just lip service [to the notion],” the Chief recently told The Namibian.Riruako has a reputation for controversial outbursts, and lived up to this reputation when, in September 2003, he surprisingly resigned as DTA parliamentarian and announced plans to pull Nudo out of the alliance to which it had been affiliated since 1978.BORN:April 24 1935 at Aminuis, Omaheke Region.EDUCATION:Associate BA (Political Science and Philosophy), New York University, USA.PROFESSION:Paramount Chief of the Herero people and politician.POLITICS:Entered politics with the founding of Nudo in 1964, after having been regularly sent across the then Bechuanaland (Botswana) borders illegally at night to negotiate with Hereros there on behalf of Nudo founding leader Hosea Kutako’s Chief’s Council.Went into exile in 1964 with about 154 others.In 1965 Riruako travelled first to Ethiopia and then to Accra, Ghana, where he attended the first All African Conference in the hall of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).While there he was introduced to Emperor Haile Selassie.With the help of an American development officer and the UN mission in Accra, he received a visa for the USA in 1969.In 1977 he became the first exile to return to Namibia (then South West Africa) on a South African passport.A year later he was elected Paramount Chief of the Herero people.From 1986 to 1987 he served as a member of the South African-instituted Constitutional Council.He served as Member of Parliament from 1994 until he resigned in 2003, and registered it as an independent party.Riruako’s campaign trail has been running on a four-point programme:a government of national unity, education, health and welfare, as well as land reform.”Let us share this government, let us distribute the resources of this country to all citizens equally, let us sit and decide the future of this country together after the election,” he said at his star rally at Opuwo in the Kunene Region.Though current Namibian land reform laws do not accommodate it, Riruako strongly believes in the restitution of ancestral land rights.”We have some of our people who physically lost their land to the colonialists …these people should be seriously considered in the redistribution of land,” he emphasised.The outspoken Nudo leader once declared that:”There are Namibians who need land because they lost their land, and there those who need land simply because they are overcrowded where they are.”He is seen in some quarters as a tribalist, while in others he is regarded a saviour who does not shy away from speaking his mind.Riruako surprised many when in August he invited Ndonga King Elifas Kauluma to the centenary commemoration at Omahakari, events which Government leaders shunned.A few weeks later, he paid a high-profile visit to his Ndonga counterpart.”Chief Riruako is a man of the people.I believe in oneness, I believe in the truth and honesty, I believe in the true unity of our people, not just lip service [to the notion],” the Chief recently told The Namibian.Riruako has a reputation for controversial outbursts, and lived up to this reputation when, in September 2003, he surprisingly resigned as DTA parliamentarian and announced plans to pull Nudo out of the alliance to which it had been affiliated since 1978.BORN:April 24 1935 at Aminuis, Omaheke Region.EDUCATION:Associate BA (Political Science and Philosophy), New York University, USA.PROFESSION:Paramount Chief of the Herero people and politician.POLITICS:Entered politics with the founding of Nudo in 1964, after having been regularly sent across the then Bechuanaland (Botswana) borders illegally at night to negotiate with Hereros there on behalf of Nudo founding leader Hosea Kutako’s Chief’s Council.Went into exile in 1964 with about 154 others.In 1965 Riruako travelled first to Ethiopia and then to Accra, Ghana, where he attended the first All African Conference in the hall of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).While there he was introduced to Emperor Haile Selassie.With the help of an American development officer and the UN mission in Accra, he received a visa for the USA in 1969.In 1977 he became the first exile to return to Namibia (then South West Africa) on a South African passport.A year later he was elected Paramount Chief of the Herero people.From 1986 to 1987 he served as a member of the South African-instituted Constitutional Council.He served as Member of Parliament from 1994 until he resigned in 2003, and registered it as an independent party.