Minister Tweya the diplomatique

Dear sir,
The image which Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Tjekero Tweya is projecting to the world is shameful; an image that this nation as a whole does not deserve.
He joined the ranks of those who are not afraid to make senseless, emotional statements full of plain stupidity – he cannot claim ignorance as minister – and he was not afraid of presenting a picture of an irresponsible, infantile Namibian of disgusting ungratefulness, thereby shaming his party and our president and, yes, shaming all Africa in that process.
We Namibians depended on the European markets in no small way over the past decades; we depended on the friendship of Europe even long before independence. The EU and many of the states in Europe were always good partners, economically and politically; we fared very well with Europe as our ‘best friend’. Yes, sometimes there are quarrels even in the best families, arguments fly high and doors are banged shut.
But that goes away, that does not leave scars or open wounds for long and that does not mean a divorce. The integrity of a partnership, if the partners are intelligent and mature, will be maintained because of the known benefits each partner receives out of it. Anyhow, the matter of dispute almost always, is secondary in importance to the value of the partnership itself. But not so in Namibia it seems, not so if Mr Tweya and his boss are involved. Then Namibia favours a sudden, complete divorce! Yes, that is stupid and more than stupid, it is mad! It may ruin Namibia!
China may well, over time, develop into just another trusted partner, a good partner, as good as Europe was and still is for us. China itself seeks the partnership of Europe because it needs Europe as urgently as we need Europe and China. China and Europe know trading is impossible in isolation or in the manner Mr. Tweya childishly proposed for Namibia. But do we know what the future will bring us if we exclude a trading partner with a high quality market which the whole world sees as most important, and that access to it as most desirable?
Does Mr Tweya know the future; does he have the crystal ball needed for that look-into-the-faraway-times? He – and us – may experience a sudden surprise soon. The same surprise, by the way, we have on our hands now in the case of Wallmart/Massmart and the good minister’s (Dr Hage Geingob) turned-around feelings about them. What made him suddenly so happy [with the deal]? Was it again a facilitation fee his consulting office earned him? And what made his deputy speak up?
We cannot understand why our president tolerates such utterances from his ministers, be it KK or Tweya or whoever, without any reaction and we cannot understand him ignoring the grave dangers these foolish utterances invite. Namibia did not sell a single pound of beef or a pound of fish or any other item to the Chinese mainland yet, there is no proven or even tentative price-structure established yet and his minister is busy insulting the old trading partner EU. Why does the president surround himself with – let us call a spade a spade – such ‘I-do-not-know-how-to-call-them’ ministers, the term ‘idiot’ may be factually right but insulting, such men who make us all look like ‘bimbos’? Please, Mr President, why do you tolerate them? Has the Swapo Party have no better men or women? If it is so, then the writing is on the wall!
Katrina Parmenas-Amutenya
Katutura