The PDM knows why the people are so angry
By Nico Smit MP
Treasurer General PDM.
The HE President Dr. Hage Geingob clearly hoped that his town hall meetings to listen to the people’s grievances would rescue him from the growing negativity he and his government have been receiving over the past three years.
However, this more than obvious election trick (despite his denials in this regard) at the taxpayers’ expense blew up in his face when he chose to make a truly short sighted speech at Omuthiya in Oshikoto Region recently where he arrogantly and condescendingly suggested that Namibians should not talk about things they don’t understand and then put the cherry on the cake by asking why Namibians are so angry with the government.
The people of Namibia now have no choice other than to read these remarks in conjunction with his suggestion to the media last month that what he discusses with official visitors ‘is none of their business.
Such inconsiderate and insensitive remarks must finally convince Namibians that the president is completely out of touch with what is really happening in his country!
Since he needed to ask why the people of Namibia are so angry, the PDM is more than willing to mention a few although there are numerous, to help him to understand.
The people of Namibia are angry because his party have managed in 30 short years to completely destroy the country the people fought so long and hard to liberate. What has become of the promise of a bright future for every Namibian that inspired people to participate in the struggle for independence?
Let’s take stock of a few issues that are making the people angry.
What has become of the free education for all Swapo promised the people 30 years ago? Education in this country has become a total disaster – there is no purpose in giving the people the inferior education now being offered in government schools instead of the quality education they want and deserve.
The Swapo government has changed the school curricula at least three times since Independence, with each change weakening the system and leaving our children less educated and prepared for the prosperous future they were promised. And Geingob wonders why the people are so angry!
The people were promised better health services throughout the country – yet not one new hospital has been built by the Swapo lead government since Independence and the service has deteriorated to such an extent that hospitals have become the place where you go to die, even when you are just going to give birth. There is constantly a shortage of essential medicines and other necessities in clinics as well as hospitals. And Geingob wonders why the people are so angry!
Swapo promised houses for everyone – and instead hundreds of thousands of Namibians now live in shanty towns on the outskirts of cities and towns with no running water, no electricity, no rubbish and sewage removal. Can this be what they fought for?
Three years ago Geingob promised the people 20,0000 serviced erven throughout the country. The result to date has been negligible but in the meantime the Swapo elite have received vast tracts of land to build flats. So the people are saying the government doesn’t want to give them erven to own because the Swapo elite want to rent out their flats to the people. And Geingob wonders why the people are so angry!
Swapo promised the people of Namibia jobs for everybody – and instead unemployment has skyrocketed to nearly 50%, with especially the young people failing to find work. This does not even address the problem of the thousands of graduates who cannot find employment and the inability of the government service to determine in which fields trained people are required. Is the president aware of the growing frustration among these young unemployed graduates that has become a ticking time-bomb? And Geingob wonders why the people are so angry!
According to SWAPO, the Liberation struggle’s main aim was to take back the land – it was such a high priority that one of the first things the new government did after Independence was to hold a land conference. Now, 30 years later, the land issue remains unresolved and threatens to tear our nation apart. It is clear that this government has no solution for this burning issue and no clear intention to solve the land question. This is a powder keg and Geingob talks about civil war and Geingob wonders why the people are so angry!
The collapse of the Namibian economy which has caused unbelievable suffering and hardship for especially the poorer people of this country is man-made through incompetent and corrupt leadership and must be laid squarely at the door of the ruling Swapo party and the blatant corruption it has fostered and encouraged ever since it came to power in 1990. The only people who have clearly not been touched by the economic collapse and have in fact continued to grow richer by the day, are the Swapo elite.
The ordinary people are today questioning where all the millionaires have come from overnight, including Geingob who owns up to possessing a cool N$50 million. This is serious money in anybody’s language. And Geingob wonders why the people are so angry!
Businesses are closing down daily and people are losing their jobs by the thousands, but still nothing is done about the corruption, inability and mismanagement by the Swapo elite. Another Swapo policy that has contributed to the collapse of the economy as well as the governance of this country has been so-called cadre deployment, where the only qualification required for appointment to top jobs has been your political affiliation. And Geingob wonders why the people are so angry!
Without spending millions of the tax payers’ money on town hall meetings the PDM could have told Geingob why the people are so angry. If only our president would learn to be less arrogant and listen to the people who know what is being said by the communities.
