FIRST Lady Monica Geingos said she was happy and felt good when she heard her husband speaking well about his ex-wife a few days ago.
Speaking at a fundraising gala for the //Karas Swapo Party Women’s Council at Keetmanshoop on Saturday, Geingos said the fact that President Hage Geingob had spoken well about her predecessor means that he would never badmouth her.
“This means he will never badmouth me, in good or bad times,” she said. “We (people) are good at badmouthing. This is one of the things we are quick to do when we are no longer friends, or disagree.”
Although she said marrying Geingob was a surprise to her, Geingos said she overcame that after understanding her purpose on how to become a supportive wife to a politician.
“When I understood that, it did not bother me to resign from my job, hearing people mumbling about me, or gossiping,” she added.
Urging women to drop the “picture on how their future husband will look like,” and what people will say about it, Geingos revealed she did not see the age difference when she realised Geingob is her soulmate.
“Why listen to people? Did they keep me warm at night, and were supportive?” she asked on a lighter note, urging Namibians to stay out of other people’s lives.
She further said Geingob has taught her to forgive genuinely because of his attitude towards his ex-wife.
“I wonder if some things that happened to Geingob had happened to me, whether I would ever really forgive, or truly let go of the pain in my heart. I do not know. I am not in his shoes,” she added.
Geingos also said people assume that when one is married to the President, then they are rich. In her case, she said, she earned the wealth she has today through hard work.
On gender-based violence and alcohol and drug abuse, she said Namibians need to support those around them to address these evils.
“We need to start from those around us, and internalise the messages that we have,” she noted, adding that gender-based violence is not a racial, tribal or gender issue.
“It is directly or indirectly destroying our children,” she asserted.
The President wants the people to understand and internalise the Harambee Prosperity Plan concepts, and not to sloganeer it. For this to happen, according to Geingos, it needs to start at home.
“You are saying we must pull in one direction, but if colleagues work against each other, and if there is conflict in homes among families, it means you are not pulling in the same direction. Only after all of us embrace the concepts of HPP can we sloganise it”, she remarked.
Emphasising the importance of unity and nation-building, Geingos said clinging to some cultural behaviour becomes irrelevant in the “greater scheme of things”.
“We talk about it. But if we are tribal, it means the concepts will not sink in,” she warned. “There is no reason for us not to be united in this country.”
She furthemore urged Namibians to understand the evil of corruption, and embrace Geingob’s call for zero-tolerance on corruption.
“When my husband calls for zero-tolerance against corruption, he means it,” she said, reminding those who believe they are better Swapo cadres although being corrupt, that the fight was to “liberate the country, and not to eat”.
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