Political Perspective

IF the former President can get a hefty severance package, why shouldn’t the former Prime Minister and-or Deputy Prime Minister for that matter get something similar? This, at least, is how the argument goes – not that I’m necessarily in agreement with it.

And apparently it is something that is being debated because some feel slightly aggrieved that these former top officials have been dispatched into the political wilderness without so much as an even slightly gilded handshake! IT was in fact mentioned in Parliament this week by former Prime Minister Hage Geingob, in what might have been a pointed remark about his own status (or lack thereof), when he bemoaned the fact that Hendrik Witbooi, previous Deputy Prime Minister, had been without a vehicle since his retirement. It is true to say that they’ve left power with little or no status compared to the former President, who, perhaps simply because he is Sam Nujoma, received a package so generous that it borders on the ludicrous! Cars, staff, security, offices – you name it, Nujoma got it.That in addition to monthly remuneration at the same rate he was paid while head of state.In my view Government went overboard, conscious of the fact that Nujoma had ‘graciously’ agreed to vacate office and because they didn’t want him to feel he’d been abandoned or forgotten as past President and founding father and struggle leader and everything else he represented to this country.So be it, they did it because he was Nujoma, which is well and good.They wanted to reward him as the leading ‘hero’.But Nujoma wasn’t the only one in the struggle, and it seems Geingob was asking for the same or similar recognition when he said in Parliament that Government had to ‘take care of the country’s heroes while they were still alive’ (an obvious reference to Witbooi and possibly to himself).Now I’m not a ‘package’ person, and I totally disagree with Nujoma’s golden handshake.I don’t believe that ‘heroes’, if they are truly such, should measure their commitment to a country and its people by financial reward.Particularly in a country such as ours, which can ill-afford magnanimous gestures of this nature.And the problem with Nujoma’s package ultimately is that we will have to give the same to future presidents and we have thereby set a precedent for the future.But while both the former Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister must have received not insignificant pensions when they left office, it is probably true to say that they have salvaged little, even in terms of status, and are both now ordinary ‘Joe Citizens’.Granted, they (or at least Geingob as far as I know) get to keep their diplomatic passports and possibly a driver and perhaps minimal security, but they’ve not been given vehicles, offices, and the many other perks that the President himself got.It is my understanding that Government is appraised of this, and is giving its attention to some kind of status, at least, for the former incumbents of these high offices.Better some kind of prestige than further financial benefits, in my view.Former Prime Minister Witbooi surely had his own car, or did he go everywhere in his State vehicle? If so, he was not entitled to do this.And his pension is more than adequate for him to buy one if he hasn’t got one already.We have to bear in mind that the costs will mount in the future, and our children will have to pay the price to a line of former presidents and prime ministers.And we have to take cognisance of this.I just wish Government hadn’t been quite so generous with Nujoma.Unfortunately, when one looks at this package in purely financial terms, it will make anyone else from the struggle era feel inferior by comparison.And they’ll draw parallels between what Nujoma got and what they themselves didn’t.We are hopefully entering an era that will be without a lot of the pomp and ceremony that characterised that of our founding President.It may have had its place then, but not now.Already the President has cut back on his motorcade; so too has the Prime Minister; and this should just be the start of what should be a far more modest dispensation which is in keeping with the country’s coffers.It is true to say that they’ve left power with little or no status compared to the former President, who, perhaps simply because he is Sam Nujoma, received a package so generous that it borders on the ludicrous! Cars, staff, security, offices – you name it, Nujoma got it.That in addition to monthly remuneration at the same rate he was paid while head of state.In my view Government went overboard, conscious of the fact that Nujoma had ‘graciously’ agreed to vacate office and because they didn’t want him to feel he’d been abandoned or forgotten as past President and founding father and struggle leader and everything else he represented to this country.So be it, they did it because he was Nujoma, which is well and good.They wanted to reward him as the leading ‘hero’.But Nujoma wasn’t the only one in the struggle, and it seems Geingob was asking for the same or similar recognition when he said in Parliament that Government had to ‘take care of the country’s heroes while they were still alive’ (an obvious reference to Witbooi and possibly to himself).Now I’m not a ‘package’ person, and I totally disagree with Nujoma’s golden handshake.I don’t believe that ‘heroes’, if they are truly such, should measure their commitment to a country and its people by financial reward.Particularly in a country such as ours, which can ill-afford magnanimous gestures of this nature.And the problem with Nujoma’s package ultimately is that we will have to give the same to future presidents and we have thereby set a precedent for the future.But while both the former Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister must have received not insignificant pensions when they left office, it is probably true to say that they have salvaged little, even in terms of status, and are both now ordinary ‘Joe Citizens’.Granted, they (or at least Geingob as far as I know) get to keep their diplomatic passports and possibly a driver and perhaps minimal security, but they’ve not been given vehicles, offices, and the many other perks that the President himself got.It is my understanding that Government is appraised of this, and is giving its attention to some kind of status, at least, for the former incumbents of these high offices.Better some kind of prestige than further financial benefits, in my view.Former Prime Minister Witbooi surely had his own car, or did he go everywhere in his State vehicle? If so, he was not entitled to do this.And his pension is more than adequate for him to buy one if he hasn’t got one already.We have to bear in mind that the costs will mount in the future, and our children will have to pay the price to a line of former presidents and prime ministers.And we have to take cognisance of this.I just wish Government hadn’t been quite so generous with Nujoma.Unfortunately, when one looks at this package in purely financial terms, it will make anyone else from the struggle era feel inferior by comparison.And they’ll draw parallels between what Nujoma got and what they themselves didn’t.We are hopefully entering an era that will be without a lot of the pomp and ceremony that characterised that of our founding President.It may have had its place then, but not now.Already the President has cut back on his motorcade; so too has the Prime Minister; and this should just be the start of what should be a far more modest dispensation which is in keeping with the country’s coffers.