Let’s Help the NYC Improve Its Functionality

What Conclusion Should one draw when an institution’s leadership structure cannot finish its term of office?

The case of the National Youth Council (NYC) of Namibia is becoming a textbook example of fleeting leadership.

The chairperson of the board has resigned, once again leaving a vacuum and an urgent scramble to fill the position.

As fleeting leadership appears to be becoming a norm for the NYC, concerns are growing that the youth are being denied benefits the institution should be giving them – if its leadership functioned better, longer and frankly with less “drama”.

Last year, the NYC experienced board changes at least three times.

The frequent turnover in leadership raises a deeper question.

Does swift and constant change improve the functionality of an institution whose mandate is to be the custodian of youth matters in Namibia or does it cripple it?

STABILITY

There is fruit in the longevity of leadership. Institutions grow when leaders are given the space to execute a full term, to fail, to learn, to correct and to deliver.

Stability allows for continuity of programmes, accountability to objectives and proper handover between outgoing and incoming leaders.

One wishes that the NYC’s leadership would serve out its intended term and meet objectives by the end of that term, instead of leaving unfinished business.

Frequent transitions where leaders leave without finishing their terms do not only bring division, they taint institutions.

Fired or departing boards often end up involved in court cases, draining energy, time and resources that should be serving young people.

More worrying is that these leaders will one day lead bigger institutions, for example those of the state, and if they cannot do better as youth leaders, there is little assurance that they will change when they advance to higher leadership.

Namibia itself offers the best lesson.

Our country is known for smooth transitions of power.

From founding president Sam Nujoma, to former presidents Hifikepunye Pohamba, Hage Geingob, Nangolo Mbumba and most recently to president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, we have witnessed leadership changes that are orderly, respectful, and grounded in institutions rather than personalities.

We can contrast that with the United Kingdom’s (UK) abrupt leadership change which nurtured less policy consistency, inconsistent long-term direction and a democratic legitimacy in decline.

LEARNING CURVE

Institutions in Namibia, including the NYC, should learn from the mistakes of the UK and learn from smooth transitions of our heads of state.
My observation is that NYC exists for Namibian youth in all their diversity.
Women and men.

Students and the working class. Youth from different tribes, regions, and political parties.

The blessing of NYC is that it is not a private club of one ideology or interest group. It is a public institution created to represent the collective voice of young people.

These fundamental differences should not paralyse leadership, but glue it together.

The fact that the NYC brings together people from different political backgrounds and ambitions is not a weakness. It is the very reason the institution exists.

Diversity is not the enemy of functionality. Intolerance of diversity is.

Yet what we see all too often is that these differences are allowed to grow bigger than the mandate of the institution itself.

Boardrooms become battlegrounds. Internal politics overshadow youth programmes.
Personal agendas defeat institutional memory.

The result is a council that spends more time changing leaders than delivering what it was established to serve.

The youth tend to be the most energetic segment of our population. Energy, however, can build or destroy.

The same passion used to fight internally can be redirected into progressive input, policy advocacy, youth economic empowerment and accountability to government.

But when that energy is channelled into endless leadership wars, the institution becomes an enemy of its own progress.

CORE MANDATE

A leader is not perfect, nor is leadership as smooth as marching and chanting choruses.

The NYC needs leaders who can stay the course, tolerate differences, and prioritise mandate over ego.

The solution lies in youth unity, in having a common purpose and a shared agenda that places the institution above personal interests.

Until leaders see themselves first as servants of the Namibian youth, not as custodians of personal ambitions, the cycle of instability will continue.

Unless fundamental differences can begin to glue the leadership together, the council will remain trapped in a cycle of resignations, replacements and excuses.

And the Namibian youth will continue to pay a price for a leadership that cannot finish what it starts.

• Andreas Marungu is a youth leader; a Swapo Party Youth League central committee member, United Nations Namibia Youth Advisory Group member, and a postgraduate public policy and management candidate at the International University of Management.

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