Martin Endjala
Namibia celebrated its 32nd independence anniversary yesterday in Swakopmund where President Hage Geingob called on them to be patriotic to their country and to shy away from comparing living conditions in free Namibia to be worse than those in the apartheid era. He pointed out that this mentality is not only unpatriotic but it is insulting to those who made an immense sacrifice for the country’s freedom.
“Our independence is sacred and should be above our personal feelings and politics of the day, and let us learn from unwavering patriots to the struggle of liberation, they have stayed the course, through thick and thin, through ups and downs and have never made shameful claims that there is nothing to celebrate”, said Geingob.
Geingob furthermore pointed out that national unity is the glue that binds any multi cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-racial society. “In Namibia, we pride ourselves on the fact that we are united in diversity and the fact that the nation and its well-being far outweigh our differences,” he emphasized.
”Patriotism is not the problem,” Namibians do turn up when there are
national events”, Ndumba Kamwenyah told the Windhoek Observer when
asked if Namibians are patriotic?
Responding to the president’s remarks, calling on Namibians to be patriotic, Kamwenyah said the economic problems facing the country are perceived as the government is not doing enough to improve the situation.
“The questions asked are legitimate, as well as questions raised to the government, but the government should not turn them into a guilty feeling”, Kamwenyah argued.
He emphasized that the labelling of Namibians as unpatriotic is to an extent undermining the Namibians’ resilience of having to put up with the government’s poor performances and other national related issues.
“The government needs to address the systems, and its governance as well as the institutions that are not working and their processes,” Kamwenyah stressed.
“I believe we will prevail, we will succeed and I believe that as a people united for prosperity, we will take Namibia to greater heights,” Geingob assured Namibians.
