Featured – Page 3 – Windhoek Observer

09 Feb

TURNING POINT | Namibia’s youth debate is asking the wrong question

Featured, Opinions

If Namibia’s challenges could be solved by replacing older leaders with younger ones, the country would already be on a dramatically different trajectory. Youth unemployment would be falling, institutions would be stronger, and public trust would be rising. Instead, the opposite is true. Yet our public discourse increasingly insists that the central problem is generational: that young people are deliberately held back by an older generation unwilling to let go. It is a convenient narrative, simple, emotive, and politically useful. It is also largely misleading. Namibia is a young country by any measure. Roughly 70% of the population is under…

06 Feb

YOUNG OBSERVER | #UNMUTED

Featured, Opinions

In the quiet symmetry of history, February has once again become a month of memory for Namibia. Within days of one another, the nation marked the passing of two towering figures whose lives shaped the moral, political and institutional imagination of our republic: founding president Sam Nujoma and president Hage Geingob. Their departures do not merely signal the end of personal journeys; they summon the nation into reflection about legacy, responsibility, and the unfinished work of freedom. These were not ordinary leaders. They belonged to a generation that carried conviction through exile, negotiation, reconciliation, institution-building, and the long discipline of…

06 Feb

Does anyone actually live here? Discovering Namibia from a lens of prospect.

Featured, National News

Written by “The Mengelas” “Does anybody actually live here?” asked our most recent friends from Germany who were absolutely stunned by the very majestic and memorizing landscapes our Country gets to subtly boast about. A desert stretched out by 2000km, along a coastline which is home to plus 500 fish species and more than 300 other marine species is definitely not child’s play. Sometimes it appears to be evident that as Namibians, we probably do not even understand the beauty that surrounds us. Is it perhaps because the best tourist destinations come with an apparent financial trade-off which the every-…

05 Feb

Petroleum Amendment Bill: dead on arrival?

Editorial, Featured, Opinions

The Petroleum Amendment Bill is back before the National Assembly, retabled on Wednesday by the Minister of Industries, Mines and Energy, Modestus Amutse. On paper, it is presented as a technical adjustment to Namibia’s petroleum governance framework. In substance, however, it represents a profound shift of power, one that would allow the President of the Republic to grant and revoke oil and gas rights. From the very onset, it is clear that this bill will be vehemently opposed. Not because Namibians are anti-development, nor because they are hostile to investment in oil and gas, but because the bill raises serious…

05 Feb

Beyond ritual: Reconnecting Namibia’s state with its people

Featured, Opinions

A public reflection on Namibia’s governance week PAUL T. SHIPALE (with inputs by Folito Nghitongovali Diawara Gaspar) Every system of governance that is born without clarity about the role of each actor creates a silent war within the state. That war makes no noise, but it paralyses the country. As Namibia formally opens the three arms of the state, namely the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary, for the 2026 working year, the moment calls for more than constitutional observance. It calls for reflection. Not only by leaders, but by citizens as well. A fundamental question must be asked: how…

04 Feb

Parliament at a crossroads: choose law-making over theatre

Editorial, Featured

The official opening of the third session of the eighth Parliament by President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah signals more than the start of a new legislative calendar. It represents a moment of reckoning for Namibia’s Legislature, a chance to reset, to refocus, and to recommit itself to the serious business of governance. The President’s address was firm but measured, and its underlying message was unmistakable: Namibians are watching Parliament closely, and they expect results, not spectacle. Her call for members of Parliament to strengthen their role in advancing inclusive development and participatory democracy was timely. Across the country, citizens are grappling with…

04 Feb

Namibia: Reimagining national identity beyond structural dependencies

Featured

PAUL T. SHIPALE (with inputs by Folito Nghitongovali Diawara Gaspar) “If tomorrow South Africa were to close its commercial borders, how many days would Namibia last?” The question is uncomfortable but necessary. It starkly exposes the structural fragility of an economy that, despite political and institutional stability, remains deeply dependent on external factors to ensure its basic functioning. Namibia is often presented as an African success story in terms of governance. However, this narrative overlooks an essential reality: the national economy remains poorly diversified, vulnerable to external shocks, and excessively anchored in asymmetric relationships inherited from the colonial past. A…

04 Feb

Customer-centric with insurance in the revolutionised digital era

Featured, Opinions

Martin Shaanika The winds of change are not coming; they are here. Across our nation, from the bustling streets of Windhoek to the tranquil vistas of the Zambezi, a digital revolution is reshaping how we live, connect and do business. For the insurance industry, this presents not just a challenge of technology but a profound imperative to re-centre on our core purpose: the customer. At Namforce, as a proudly 100% Namibian-owned company, we see this era not as a disruption to be feared but as an unparalleled opportunity to deepen trust, enhance value, and truly serve the people whose aspirations…

03 Feb

Vision without specifics risks losing public confidence

Editorial, Featured, Opinions

President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s address at the official opening of Cabinet for the 2026 calendar year was, by all accounts, polished, optimistic, and rhetorically disciplined. It emphasised commitment, unity, and the high expectations Namibians have for their leaders. It recognised achievements, highlighted ongoing initiatives, and called for renewed focus as the administration advances toward Vision 2030. Yet, for all its lofty language and moral gravitas, the speech reveals a recurring challenge in Namibian political communication: ambition that is often unaccompanied by concrete operational clarity. In short, while the words inspire, they leave many questions unanswered. The President began appropriately, welcoming cabinet…

02 Feb

Bold promise, a delicate test: welcoming the national pension and medical funds with caution

Editorial, Featured

President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s directive to the Social Security Commission (SSC) to implement a National Pension Fund (NPF) and a National Medical Benefit Fund (NMBF) by 1 April marks one of the most ambitious social policy announcements in recent years. On paper, the move is progressive, humane and long overdue. It speaks directly to the anxieties of ordinary Namibians who worry about life after retirement and the ever-rising cost of healthcare. For that alone, the initiative deserves to be welcomed. Yet, ambition without execution has been the undoing of many well-intentioned reforms in Namibia. As the country cautiously applauds this announcement,…