Political Perspective

OCTOBER is the start of our annual silly season, so perhaps it’s no surprise that President Hifikepunye Pohamba’s announcement of a Ministry of Veterans’ Affairs happens at this time! To me it represents nothing more than a rather expensive concession to a group of people whose major demands have already been denied by Government.

And on top of this, the Minister Without Portfolio (who had nothing to do anyway) has now been shunted into the post of heading up this latest folly. PRESIDENT Pohamba may have had the good intention of making the war veterans feel wanted again after a series of rejections by Government of their rather outrageous demands made some 16 years after Independence.Perhaps this will help cool tempers for a while, but I’ve got little doubt that the ex-combatants will in the future renew their demands and threaten to march once again, when it becomes evident that the new Ministry really can’t deliver.Unfortunately, all the creation of this so-called Ministry of Veterans’ Affairs does is fuel expectations! The head of the Committee of Ex-Combatants may hail this as a victory, but in essence, what has really been achieved? Veterans may line up with requests and complaints, but in all likelihood, the Minister with Portfolio is not going to be able to help them much.President Pohamba said it himself.He creates the new Ministry with no money to fund its operations.He says that to curb expenditure, personnel will be drawn from existing redundant staff in other Ministries, but a Ministry still needs a budget of some sorts, and before we know it, we’ll be expanding the civil service once again despite the perennial political promises to prune it where possible.The President also said that the Ministry would primarily “co-ordinate” the needs of ex-combatants.And if that’s all they can do, then why bother to create a Ministry in the first place? Why not simply a small directorate in State House for that matter? In return for all of the above, President Pohamba has “abolished” the post of Minister Without Portfolio.Well, it’s about time, but I think it’s early days yet.This non-post will re-appear in future reshuffles especially when heads of state don’t quite know what to do with ruling party stalwarts like Tjiriange who can’t be put out to grass for obvious political reasons.To be frank, it’s a non-post in name only to justify a ministerial salary for politicians Swapo doesn’t otherwise know what to do with.If we are really serious about stated aims to prune bloated bureaucratic Government and minimise expenditure, then truly a new Ministry is the last thing we need.And if the President’s words are anything to go by, the Ministry will not attend to the veterans of the struggle years who were on the wrong side! So that leaves another marginalised group who’ll soon be agitating for their own ministry.I say this because of Pohamba’s introductory remarks, where he pointed out “that our Government regards all those patriotic Namibians who took part in the struggle for national liberation of Namibia, regardless of whether such citizens were in exile or not, as ex-combatants”.That’s a definition that may yet come back to haunt the present political leadership.It gives very wide scope to the definition of ‘ex-combatants’, but appears to exclude those who aligned themselves with the then South African regime.And of course, this would militate against the policy of national reconciliation and could even constitute discrimination in the eyes of many.The Government and President Pohamba himself showed a firm hand when they told former combatants that the country could not accede to their demands, not least of all because there simply isn’t the money to pay them monthly amounts of N$8 000 and agree to additional demands such as fishing quotas and mining rights, and the list goes on.All they could do under the circumstances, or be expected to do in the minds of any Namibian who is realistic about things, was to try to assist where possible with things like housing and perhaps some subsidies.But instead, Government started to wobble all over the place once again, and this has now culminated in the creation of the Ministry of Veterans’ Affairs.So come one and all and let’s see what veteran Minister of Veterans Tjiriange can do for them! There’s bound to be disappointment all round.I’m wondering whether President Pohamba can’t revisit this subject and try and reverse things before a problem area starts to take on even greater magnitude!PRESIDENT Pohamba may have had the good intention of making the war veterans feel wanted again after a series of rejections by Government of their rather outrageous demands made some 16 years after Independence.Perhaps this will help cool tempers for a while, but I’ve got little doubt that the ex-combatants will in the future renew their demands and threaten to march once again, when it becomes evident that the new Ministry really can’t deliver.Unfortunately, all the creation of this so-called Ministry of Veterans’ Affairs does is fuel expectations! The head of the Committee of Ex-Combatants may hail this as a victory, but in essence, what has really been achieved? Veterans may line up with requests and complaints, but in all likelihood, the Minister with Portfolio is not going to be able to help them much.President Pohamba said it himself.He creates the new Ministry with no money to fund its operations.He says that to curb expenditure, personnel will be drawn from existing redundant staff in other Ministries, but a Ministry still needs a budget of some sorts, and before we know it, we’ll be expanding the civil service once again despite the perennial political promises to prune it where possible.The President also said that the Ministry would primarily “co-ordinate” the needs of ex-combatants.And if that’s all they can do, then why bother to create a Ministry in the first place? Why not simply a small directorate in State House for that matter? In return for all of the above, President Pohamba has “abolished” the post of Minister Without Portfolio.Well, it’s about time, but I think it’s early days yet.This non-post will re-appear in future reshuffles especially when heads of state don’t quite know what to do with ruling party stalwarts like Tjiriange who can’t be put out to grass for obvious political reasons.To be frank, it’s a non-post in name only to justify a ministerial salary for politicians Swapo doesn’t otherwise know what to do with.If we are really serious about stated aims to prune bloated bureaucratic Government and minimise expenditure, then truly a new Ministry is the last thing we need.And if the President’s words are anything to go by, the Ministry will not attend to the veterans of the struggle years who were on the wrong side! So that leaves another marginalised group who’ll soon be agitating for their own ministry.I say this because of Pohamba’s introductory remarks, where he pointed out “that our Government regards all those patriotic Namibians who took part in the struggle for national liberation of Namibia, regardless of whether such citizens were in exile or not, as ex-combatants”.That’s a definition that may yet come back to haunt the present political leadership.It gives very wide scope to the definition of ‘ex-combatants’, but appears to exclude those who aligned themselves with the then South African regime.And of course, this would militate against the policy of national reconciliation and could even constitute discrimination in the eyes of many.The Government and President Pohamba himself showed a firm hand when they told former combatants that the country could not accede to their demands, not least of all because there simply isn’t the money to pay them monthly amounts of N$8 000 and agree to additional demands such as fishing quotas and mining rights, and the list goes on.All they could do under the circumstances, or be expected to do in the minds of any Namibian who is realistic about things, was to try to assist where possible with things like housing and perhaps some subsidies.But instead, Government started to wobble all over the place once again, and this has now culminated in the creation of the Ministry of Veterans’ Affairs.So come one and all and let’s see what veteran Minister of Veterans Tjiriange can do for them! There’s bound to be disappointment all round.I’m wondering whether President Pohamba can’t revisit this subject and try and reverse things before a problem area starts to take on even greater magnitude!