Inconsistency Breeds ‘Whataboutism’

Sara KasimI drove past a roadblock meant for controlling movement with regard to the Covid-19 lockdown on the Okahandja-Karibib road on 21 July at 06h45, and the officer on duty sat in his chair on the roadside and waved me through like it’s nothing.

I have waited in lines and have had to convince an officer to give me a permit just to be ushered through a roadblock without checking or asking any question at all.

Please fire the officer who was manning that roadblock!

Fire that officer for undermining the efforts to contain the pandemic and making it all look like a bloody joke.

We are either serious or we are not.

The problem with this call is that instead of reprimanding the officer, the police will only want to find out who travelled through that roadblock that morning.

LOL.

You see, I am not anti-establishment or anti-government, I am anti-nonsense. Somehow in Namibia, nobody follows through on anything at all.

I know I am repeating myself, but that’s what happens when you’re potty training a baby or a puppy.

Our authorities are just like two-year-olds who go sit in the backyard to poo, but won’t take off their underwear – even after showing them how a hundred times.

It leaves a big mess.

It starts with the top leaders who do not exert pressure on those below and let the pressure yield effective governance and service delivery at the bottom.

That is exactly why the citizens do not take many things seriously. It is so because it either matters in all respects or it does not matter at all.

Let me ask you this: Why are the police even crying about mourners violating crowd regulations when it started with state funerals attended by the highest-ranking authority figures?

Why cry when people cross regional boundaries via farm trunk roads without permits when nobody checks – even if they come and stop at a proper roadblock?

Oh, here is a good example: This whole week, everybody was labelling the mourning Hereros as irresponsible creatures who must rot in hell for apparently breaking Covid-19 protocol, but I say go ask the police where they were, and why they are playing politics at press conferences instead of enforcing the regulations before they are ever violated.

Almost one thousand cars travelled that morning from Windhoek to Okahandja.

What the hell did the police think that was all about? Come to think of it, how did the entire convoy proceed from Windhoek to Okakarara with people without permits?

The problem of inconsistency is not only now during the pandemic.

It is a culture we have grown into and from which we need to be liberated.

The solution is very simple: When you are given a task, please do it the way it is prescribed, over and over again without question, and earn your living.

You are allowed to think, but do not act on your thoughts, because you don’t even get paid to think.

So please, just don’t think!

Don’t think about who is in front of you, think only about what you have to do, and do it well.

Do not do a little more for one and just the basics for another.

Now, you, the so-called boss or chief, must allocate the tasks the way they are handed down to you. However, you cannot just draw up the schedule and go sleep, you lazy bum!

Get it? Shem!

Your job is to assign, monitor and evaluate to make the right recommendations to your bosses at the appropriate intervals and platforms.

You are allowed to think a little, like counting the number of hours a day and checking how many toilet paper rolls are in the storeroom. Please make an effort and visit the site and have your presence felt.

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