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What Harambee?
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![By Mandisa Rasmeni mandisa@economist.com.na](https://economist.com.na/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/MR-khuta.jpg)
By Mandisa Rasmeni
[email protected]
Let me start with quoting the sms of the day in the Namibian, 31 March 2016 that says, “Thank you Namibian government for coming up with the proposal to build a new parliament. I hope that the landless Namibians, and those who have been staying in shacks for 26 years in unhealthy conditions, will occupy the old parliament as their place to call home. Thank you and keep up the good work”.
This sms states exactly how I feel and hopefully how most Namibians feel about the state of affairs in this country. How long are we going to let this government of ours carry on like this? We thought that Hage was going to make a difference, at least take it step by step but it is apparent that he is just carrying on with the unfair and preposterous norms that this government, that has liberated us is used to.
People are getting evicted from their homes, (recently this week in Walvis Bay), because they have put up illegal shacks. What do you expect? Where should they live? They have no where else to go. Then you decide to build a new parliament, a new airport, increase the salaries of ministers and increase the VIP protection budget to almost N$100million, for what? Who wants to kill you? If someone wanted to kill you, you would be dead already, with or without your VIP protection.
This is getting way out of hand and it should not be ignored. Are Namibians so used to suffering that we accept anything that the government does even if it is so very wrong and unnecessary. I hear statements like, “at least we should be happy we are not at war, Namibians like to complain a lot”. What? Just because we are not at war does not mean we should be quiet and turn our heads the other way when we see injustice being done.
I see civil servants walking from Katutura to town and back, every day because they cannot afford taxi fare. How is that possible? Then they want new and more expensive cars. I cannot comprehend. We are a ticking bomb waiting to explode, this government is pushing us too far.
And what is the Anti-Corruption Commission doing? Let me tell you, nothing, nada, zilch. They are just another institution that is a waste of money, they are busy investigating small corruption crimes, which is all good and well, but they turn their heads the other way when a high ranking official is involved in corruption. We are not stupid we see and hear things. These high officials do not even have the decency to cover or hide their devious deeds, it has become a norm, and we accept.
We should follow South Africa’s example and make them payback the money, like they are doing to Jacob Zuma, where the Constitutional Court has ruled that he should pay back a portion of the taxpayer’s money used for non-security upgrades at his Nkandla homestead and declared his conduct to be unconstitutional. Yes that is what I am talking about, they should pay back, they should not go to jail, where they will be another expense, but rather suffer like we are in poverty with no money, so that they can feel, what it feels like.
A change has to come, I feel like a step child in this Namibia House. There’s no Harambee at all.