DPN promises inclusive government

THE Democratic Party of Namibia (DPN) interim president, Salmon Isaack, has promised an inclusive style of government if his party gets enough votes during the upcoming national and presidential elections to govern the country.

‘You’ll never have peace and stability in a country if there is exclusion. There is a proven track record in some African countries of ethnic clashes rooted by exclusion,’ Isaack said. Addressing a public meeting at Keetmanshoop on Saturday, Isaack claimed minority groups, especially Namas, are being discriminated against and have been excluded from the mainstream economy and administration.’Does anybody expect from the Namas or any other minority group to sit down and perish while they are discriminated against and while all national assets are depleted by those in power?’ he asked. ‘We (minorities) did not sell our rights to anybody,’ he added.Isaack maintained that southerners were languishing in ‘abject poverty’ while members of the majority ethic group had been allocated shares by mining giants operating in the South. Isaack pledged that all citizens under a DPN-led government would have equal employment opportunities.He claimed that only dominant ethnic groups currently held meaningful and instrumental positions, while the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) programme only benefited a few in some areas. In contrast to the principle of a unitary state the Namibian Government had adopted when it accepted UN Resolution 435, only Oshivambo-speaking nationals held senior positions in the military service, according to Isaack.’Is there still nation building and an element of national reconciliation?’ he asked.Isaack further claimed that only former Plan fighters had benefited from the N$36 million Government had received from the South African government, although the money was supposed to have been distributed among former Plan fighters and former SWATF members. He claimed that since Independence, minorities had become victims of oppression at the hands of the ruling ethnic majority, ‘who had lost sight of the oppression, suffering and intimidation we all endured during the colonial era’.The oppression of minorities had led to the formation of the DPN a year ago, Isaack said. However, he denied that the party is based on ethnicity, saying it was a democratic, multi-racial party based on participatory democratic principles although the party’s founding members were Namas. ‘We’re proud to be Namas, who are one of the indigenous races of Namibia and southern Africa,’ he said. luqman@namibian.com.na