Editorial – Page 2 – Windhoek Observer

31 Mar

Weaponizing the police to silence Comalie

ObserverEditorial

The suggestion that the police were weaponized to scare or distract National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (NAMCOR) board Chairperson Jennifer Comalie away from taking action to address a disputed N$100 million payment to Sonangol, the Angolan national oil company, forces all of us to sit up and take notice. If N$57,000 in illegal narcotics were planted in Chairperson Comalie’s car and the police were anonymously tipped off as a part of a frame game, Namibian infighting and backstabbing in the halls of power have reached a new low.This entire saga is unfolding in the news daily, and background information fueling…

24 Mar

There is no miracle of loaves and fishes at events

ObserverEditorialThere is no miracle of loaves and fishes at events

This year’s embarrassment of an insufficient Independence Day budget was evident when the annual post-speech and program food handouts went sideways in Outapi. Who wouldn’t want something like a biblical miracle to provide more loaves and fish for the masses to eat at such a festive event? Reality check: in our secular world, there is no such thing as a free lunch. The loaves and fish—or brötchen and boerewors—for the masses have a price tag that the government can no longer afford. What happened with food chaos at underfunded Independence Day celebrations must serve as a wake-up call. Please note…

17 Mar

At 33, it is time to grow up

ObserverEditorialAt 33, it is time to grow up

Consider this situation: your 33-year-old underperforming offspring is sleeping each night on your sofa, usurping the remote control, not delivering on promises and obligations, demanding that you feed and clothe him, borrowing money from everyone, occasionally doing good things while having braai and beer parties with his circle of friends at your expense; it’s time for tough love.Your man-child needs to grow up and deliver on his promises. It’s time to put his bags in the street, block his calls, end the free meals, stop making excuses for him, give him a final loving hug, and change the locks on…

10 Mar

All that Glitters Is Not Gold

ObserverEditorialAll that Glitters Is Not Gold, Jonker-1X, president Hage Geingob

Oil is black gold, and its recent discovery in potentially commercial quantities in Namibia is a mixed blessing. QatarEnergy discovered light oil in their Jonker-1X deepwater well located 270 km off Namibia’s shores. We write this editorial knowing that years will pass before champagne corks are popped, and Namibia begins to rival the barrels of daily crude oil production of Nigeria, Angola, or Gabon. Nevertheless, the discussion about Namibia as an oil producer must start in earnest. Understandably, there must be a joyous gleam in the eye of those struggling to manage the debt-laden national budget while waiting for more…

04 Mar

FISHROT: Justice delayed is Justice Denied

ObserverEditorialFISHROT: Justice delayed is Justice Denied

We embrace the timeless words spoken by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who quoted a 19th-century British Prime Minister, “…justice too long delayed is justice denied.” Currently, the Namibian judiciary has a limitless time clock that denies justice. The amount of time between arrest and trial and judgment is appalling. Is the Namibian judiciary held back by insufficient investigatory skills such that it takes years to collect credible, usable evidence? Is there such an overload on the court dockets and too few trained staff that being arrested in Namibia is tantamount to an extra-judicial prison sentence? Has the judiciary process…

25 Feb

Old Age Grants must be based on the cost of living

ObserverEditoriale Disability Grant in Namibia, Iipumbu Shiimi, Old Age Grants must be based on the cost of living

Adding N$100 to the monthly Old Age Grant and the Disability Grant in Namibia, making the amount received N$1,400, does not make this year’s budget, as recently announced by Iipumbu Shiimi, Minister of Finance and Public Enterprises, a pro-poor budget. Instead, it is a ‘fit-it-in-so-we-can-claim-we-are-doing-something’ budget when it comes to having social grants that fit the actual cost of living in Namibia. With the Parliament’s public viewing gallery full of pensioners and a warm-hearted story about Minister Shiimi’s conversation with a village pensioner in his opening statement, he set the mood for the presentation of a caring, sensitive, effective social…

18 Feb

Uutoni must fill the CoW vacuum

ObserverEditorialErastus Uutoni, Uutoni must fill the CoW vacuum

As in nature, politics abhors a vacuum. This is a well-known saying derived from one of Aristotle’s teachings. When considering the mess at the City of Windhoek (CoW), ironically expressed in the garbage recently thrown in the streets of our reasonably clean capitol city center, the persistent political vacuum at the City Municipal Building is roiling. Erastus Uutoni, Minister of Urban and Rural Development since March 2020, is the man in the political hot seat responsible for helping to craft and then manage a solution for the unfocused restlessness of the Windhoek City Council. However, it seems that instead of…