Pohamba Is Wrong On Succession Debate

PRESIDENT Hifikepunye Pohamba’s decision, endorsed by Swapo leaders, to put a lid on the succession debate outside party meetings is backward, to say the least.
In the absence of a vibrant opposition, the wider community need to have a say in the type of leader they would like Swapo, as the ruling party, to have.
The call for debate should be about what Namibia needs after Pohamba, rather than who should replace him and this should be encouraged and echoed both inside and outside the ruling party.
In any case the footsoldiers of Swapo politics will talk while toiling the mahangu fields, over lunch hour on a corner of Independence Avenue or in Eveline Street’s shebeens, about who they would like to see in power and how to help him or her to get there.
In other words, the debate will not be limited to Facebook sites or to be re-opened when Kazenambo Kazenambo loses it again while addressing a bunch of school pupils on a courtesy call before touring South Africa.
I am not for public bickering among party leaders and the trading of insults between members of the ruling party. But we need a robust debate that is characteristic of a democratic society.
Such a debate should centre around the qualities of those available and not about their tribe, sexual status or in which camp or from which clique such a person hails.
When President Pohamba and Swapo’s Central Committee put a lid on the debate the President spoke about “reactionary tendencies that wish to portray” the party as divided and plagued by factions.
“We should not wash dirty laundry in public for all to see,” he said.
I would like to rewind to 2004 when Pohamba was elected as presidential candidate for Swapo. The race started in May for a congress which took place in November.
The campaign was on at several levels from unions to party wings.
What was wrong then was the mudslinging and character assassination which bordered on defamation and not the actual debate on the question of a successor to former President Sam Nujoma.
I am aware that during that time Pohamba tried very hard to keep out of limelight.
In fact, when The Namibian wanted to run a story on alleged conflict of interest related to the presidential race, Pohamba refused to answer questions and instead threatened to sue if a story was written about him. The conflict of interest related to allegations that he was in charge of a committee that was preparing the 2004 extraordinary congress to boost his candidacy.
The 2004 race was the first of its kind for Swapo in an independent Namibia and there were bound to be mistakes made in what was a learning process but at the end Swapo had one candidate who won by more than 70 per cent in the national elections.
In addition, while for much of his time as Swapo leader Nujoma was criticised for stifling debate within the party and the country at large, by attaching negative labels to those with whose views he differed, Pohamba was seen as being open to constructive criticism as well as promoting debate.
His ascendency to power was therefore hailed by commentators and political players alike as having brought about a more open and tolerant climate for debate, not only within the ruling party, but also in Government and the society as a whole.
Just as he hit the ground running by promoting a free-market over a command economy as the route to growth, commentators saw him as promoting a free market of ideas as the path to the party’s stability.
Ultimately, stability in Swapo can lead to a good environment for investment in Namibia. Meet any foreign diplomat and among the first things they ask is about the succession debate in Swapo! They want to know where the country is heading for and, for now, the character of the person who will take over from Pohamba is central in that destiny.
As such, any succession debate in Swapo, as long as they are the ruling party, cannot be limited only to those sporting the colours of blue, red and green.
It is therefore a real sea change to see Pohamba putting a lid on the debate after the progress the party made to open such debates from within.
We should all be talking constantly and loudly, about the kind of person we would like to see in charge of the party (and in all likelihood, the country) come the time for Pohamba to exit.