Namibia At 22 Is A Weak State Unable To Deliver Better Lives For All

IN his illuminating work ‘The Leviathan’, the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes refers to life as being brutish, nasty and short. Government whose leitmotif is to create a just society where life is no longer nasty, brutish and short is the means through which justice can be achieved through the creation of solid and competent institutions.

Twenty-two years have passed in history since our independence on March 21, 1990, which, as a cataclysmic event implied a huge sense of rights and responsibilities. In order to realise the hopes and aspirations of the majority of Namibians, a competent government is an essential piece in the actualisation of rights and responsibilities. When the leadership is competent, it is likely to be responsible by owning up to failure, while looking at success as a banal expectation in the execution of their duties. However, when you read and hear what many of our leaders in office say in their official capacities, independence loses its soul and meaning. If leaders are not missing in action, they dangerously play a game of hide and seek on the most burning issues facing this country. In particular, under President Pohamba, we have seen a degree of untold deterioration of what is expected from members of his executive, including himself.The men and women who occupy the executive have obliterated leadership of its common sense and aura. Inevitably, this state of nature is now visible throughout the different layers of government. If there is a theme that ought to be the exclusive focus of the last few years of a Pohamba Presidency, it ought to be the deontological aspects of leadership and its relationship with a better life for Namibians. President Pohamba does not seem to have any mastery of many of the things that drive a successful Republic. Nor does he get sound advice on what to do. Perhaps, he may get sound advice, but is unable to act. Still, under him and his Prime Minister, this country has been exposed to a permanent state of improvisation and ad-hockery. Except for the longevity in office of the President, his Prime Minister and certain members of his executive, we have been in a state of nature in which leadership of the Republic appears brutish and nasty. This in itself points towards the absence of an accountable leadership ethic which emphasise comprehensive outcomes. There have been many manifestations of this trend in which outcomes are not properly engineered through sound processes when you look at the scandals which continue to pile up on Pohamba’s government. The Republic under Pohamba, notably government, has become a sorry drama torn between those who take as much as possible from it and those who are just watching while they have the power to make a difference. At times, the combo includes indecision on urgent matters, while the very same individuals are quick to devise means of taking more and more from the state.If President Pohamba has been limited in his personal capacity to take charge of key dossiers, his Prime Minister Nahas Angula has not been helpful and been adding to the confusion around governance. Angula might not be alone in this confusion, but his seniority in government and his education imply that we should scrutinise him closely and with more seriousness. Through his public pronouncements, he contributes to the amateurism of the state. In addition to answering questions in the National Assembly as if he was talking to a nation of idiots, the absence of a deontological approach to leadership was most recently on display when Angula was quoted in several newspapers criticising TIPEEG. This is a document which he, as the second most senior government official, ought to own fully, both its failures and successes. Yet, Angula once again displayed irritatingly his erratic genie by talking about TIPEEG as if he was a powerless spectator, unable to influence its course and implementation. I have always argued that the place of the executive, including the Prime Minister of a Republic, is to find solutions to problems, instead of taking an opinionated armchair approach. After all, some of the members of the executive, including the Prime Minister, have been in office without interruption for the past 22 years. As a result, they ought to know and lead Namibia better, with more confidence and competence. But the contrary is true after two decades. Government looks and sound like a tower of Babel, without any doctrine on leadership and the processes that accompany an effective state. If at all there is an issue that should preoccupy Namibians after 22 years of independence, it is the inability of our leaders to think and to act in a manner that creates a strong and effective state, able to deliver on the promise of a better life for all. * Alfredo Tjiurimo Hengari is a PhD-fellow in political science and researcher at the Center for Political Research at the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, France. He is currently a guest lecturer in European Studies at Rouen Business School, France.

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