Look at quality, not tribe – Mbuende

FORMER Namibian Ambassador to the United Nations Kaire Mbuende has urged Namibians to look at the quality of a person to be elected as president, and not where the candidate hails from.

In an interview with Nampa on Monday, Mbuende said people joined the Swapo Party as individuals, and not as representatives of tribes.’If we start electing presidential candidates by looking at tribal issues, then that is a deviation from the norm of the Swapo Party of ‘One Namibia, One Nation’, and it would not be clear where to end,’ he stressed.Mbuende was asked to express his opinion on where the next president of the country should come from.Earlier, Youth, National Service, Sports and Culture Minister Kazenambo Kazenambo came out strongly by calling for a non-Oshiwambo-speaking president to succeed President Hifikepunye Pohamba in 2014.’We have joined the Swapo Party as individuals, not as representatives of a tribe,’ he reiterated, urging people to look at the quality of the person to be elected as president.’We in Swapo believe in ‘One nation, One people’, and we will elect our own to lead this country in its diversity. The president-to-be will lead people from different cultures and languages,’ stated Mbuende, adding that according to the constitutions of the country and the party, every individual is entitled to elect and be elected.He then made it clear that every individual in Namibia is entitled to his or her opinion, and every citizen is also at liberty to express him or herself.- Nampa