Opinions – Page 2 – Windhoek Observer

13 Jan

Diplomacy is not a training ground for rookie errors

Editorial, Featured, Opinions

Diplomacy is often described as the quiet engine of international relations. It runs on protocol, trust, discretion and mutual respect between sovereign states. When it functions well, citizens rarely notice it. When it falters, however, the consequences can be swift and embarrassing, not only for the officials involved but also for the national image they represent. Recent developments in relations between Namibia and Ghana have raised legitimate concern. Ghana has sought clarification from Namibia over the appointment and public commissioning of former agriculture ministry executive director Ndiyakupi Nghituwamata as high commissioner-designate to Accra, despite the fact that formal consent from…

12 Jan

TURNING POINT | A renewed vision for Namibian education: The urgent case for schools of excellence

Featured, Opinions

For many Namibians who passed through the school system in the 1980s, the mention of Concordia Secondary School still evokes a particular sense of pride. It was not simply a school; it was a destination for academic promise. In an era defined by segregation and profound injustice, Concordia became a place where academically gifted Black students from across the country were gathered, challenged, and nurtured. Ironically, while the system that created it was unjust, the principle behind it was sound: exceptional academic ability requires intentional cultivation. Today, more than three decades after independence, Namibia no longer has a national institution…

12 Jan

Clarity is the currency of trust in public policy

Editorial, Featured, Opinions

Namibia’s announcement that the state will begin covering tuition and registration fees at public tertiary institutions from the 2026 academic year is, without question, one of the most ambitious and potentially transformative policy decisions in recent years. It is a policy rooted in the noble objective of expanding access to higher education and vocational training, particularly for students from low-income households. Yet, as President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s clarification during the 2025 state of the nation address demonstrated, the public conversation around this initiative has been muddied by confusion over what “free education” means. This confusion underscores a deeper and recurring challenge:…

12 Jan

A transformative agenda for Namibia’s invisible workforce: from informal to formal

Featured, Opinions

PAUL T. SHIPALE (with inputs by Folito Nghitongovali Diawara Gaspar) The silent backbone of the nation Over half of Namibia’s workforce is engaged in the informal economy. These workers wake up early, toil hard, and provide for their families, fuelling the nation’s economy, yet they largely remain invisible in official statistics, social protection schemes, and public policy. Yet, this is not a peripheral sector but the quiet backbone of the country’s survival. Considering that more than half of Namibia’s workforce is informal and excluded from tax and social protection systems, how much potential revenue does the government lose each year…

08 Jan

Namibia’s strategic imperative: sovereignty in an age of structural power

Featured, Opinions

PAUL T. SHIPALE (with inputs by Folito Nghitongovali Diawara Gaspar) Venezuela, the New Diplomacy of Force, and the Quiet Geometry of Global Control To call this America’s first invasion or its first violation of international law is hypocrisy. The real question is more unsettling: why does a single power remain so persistently driven to control the world, even at the expense of the order it claims to uphold? The answer is rarely found in speeches or official declarations. As history repeatedly shows, the true nature of political power lies not in what is promised aloud, but in what is done…

07 Jan

Why IShowSpeed matters and why the rule of law matters more

Editorial, Featured, Opinions

The reaction to American YouTuber Darren Watkins Jr, better known as IShowSpeed, failing to land in Namibia has exposed a generational and philosophical divide in how we understand influence, opportunity and governance in the digital age. For many older Namibians, the question has been simple and sincere: What is the big deal about a young man shouting into a camera while playing games or reacting to football clips? For others, particularly the youth and those working in tourism, branding and the creative economy, the disappointment has been equally real. Both perspectives deserve to be heard. And both can be reconciled.…

07 Jan

Why the article “When inefficiency becomes a culture: Namibia’s public sector” became the opinion piece of the year

Featured, Opinions

PAUL T. SHIPALE (with inputs by Folito Nghitongovali Diawara Gaspar) By year’s end, SPOTLIGHTING NAMIBIA named “When Inefficiency Becomes a Culture: Namibia’s Public Sector” its Opinion Piece of the Year. The recognition was not an act of praise but of relevance. The criteria were exacting: • Did the article give language to what many citizens felt but struggled to articulate? • Did it move beyond complaint to diagnose a systemic condition? • Did it hold institutions accountable without personal attack? • Did it provoke reflection and reform rather than cynicism or despair? The article met each test because it named…

06 Jan

When land disputes turn deadly: a test of law, leadership and restraint

Editorial, Featured, Opinions

The fatal shooting of traditional headman Sam Nepando and the serious injury of I-Ben Nashandi, who is reportedly recovering in hospital, have sent a deep and unsettling shock through Namibia. It is not only the loss of life and the violence itself that has disturbed the nation, but the nature of the dispute from which this tragedy reportedly arose. Incidents of this kind are almost unheard of in our recent history, particularly within the context of traditional leadership and land administration. For many Namibians, this moment has forced a painful reckoning with questions we have long debated in theory but…

05 Jan

What do we own? Namibia’s unwritten national balance sheet

Editorial, Featured, Opinions

President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s New Year message strikes a hopeful and unifying chord. Her call for unity, compassion, hard work and integrity is timely and necessary as Namibia steps into 2026 facing familiar socio-economic challenges: unemployment, inequality, fiscal pressure and uneven service delivery. The President is right; when Namibians stand together, no challenge is too great. But unity and determination alone are not enough. To truly translate this vision into inclusive growth and national renewal, we must confront a fundamental and largely unanswered question: what do we own as a nation? In households and businesses, progress begins with knowing what is…

05 Jan

Executive directors, technocracy and the developmental state

Opinions

The recent reshuffling of executive directors across several Namibian ministries, as announced by the secretary to the cabinet, has once again brought to the surface a structural ambiguity that has lingered within Namibia’s public administration since independence. While ministerial reshuffles are an accepted and indeed necessary feature of democratic governance, the frequent movement of executive directors raises a more profound institutional question: are executive directors political functionaries, or are they senior technocrats entrusted with the long-term administrative and developmental health of the state? After almost thirty-six years of independence, this question should no longer be unresolved. From both an academic…