Hage growls at traditional leaders

Hage growls at traditional leaders President Hage Geingob yesterday lashed out at growing tribalism in Namibia.

At a press briefing at State House, he took issue with a recent upsurge of “tribal” remarks but added that people “only make noise when they are “hopeful”.

He criticised people who fall out of favour and then “jump on the tribal bandwagon and cry that they are discriminated against on tribal grounds”.

The president also condemned the outspokenness of traditional leaders, who according to him have become too radical.

Traditional leaders recently expressed support for deputy minister Bernadus Swartbooi after he accused lands minister Utoni Nujoma of tribal preference in the land resettlement programme.

Traditional leaders have also publicly complained about the way land is distributed, saying that minority groups are disadvatanged.

“It is a serious development, they also want to become Bantustans again, but Swapo said no to Bantustans. Be careful of traditional leaders, they do not have a constituency, they are only there to advise the president on land matters. The way I see it…unless we stop it, it will become a problem,” said Geingob.

He said people were free to express themselves but they should not create chaos or instigate others.

Political analyst Hoze Riruako agreed with the president and said traditional leaders should focus on making sure that their communities have access to material wealth.

“The chiefs should not get caught up in ethnicity issues or be fighting over who is a bigger chief or who is a king,” he said.



Greed

President Geingob also said that the level of greed in the country was unacceptable.





Responding to questions from the media during the Harambee Review briefing yesterday morning, Geingob said it was unacceptable that only one person wanted to “grab everything”.

“Even tenders must be shared. Why it is only one person who is allowed to have 100 tenders? It is not fair,” he said.

According Riruako, the president''s remarks must not remain rhetoric but must be implemented through vigorous programmes and systems of control.



“There is no way that the government will succeed to reduce poverty if lucrative tenders are going to the same individuals,” he said.



He added that the president must make sure that a strict set of programmes are in place that would ensure the equal redistribution of resources.



Presidential economic advisor John Steytler told the media that efforts to reduce hunger were on track.



He said N$15.4 million was spent between June and October this year on food parcels distributed through the food bank in the Khomas Region. He added that 22 000 households in the region benefitted, representing close to 100 000 people.