Potential Namibian leaders need to start debating

Internationally, amongst talks from France’s President Sarkozy about a possible “economic war”, there are those that speculate that the United States would turn to protectionism because of a continued economic downward spiral and a devalued currency that has sparked a debate when a Chinese government official suggested dealing more in the euro then the US dollar. This in itself will create a global economic crisis, which will be felt as far as Namibia. How will this affect trade relations with Africa? What possible benefits are to be found in a protectionist US? These are but a fraction of the long-term planning that needs to be debated by potential leaders about Namibia’s role in global politics. Locally, questions I would want potential leaders to discuss and shed some light on are their long-term policy towards development aid, their strategies towards fighting poverty, reducing inequality, ensuring an international standard for education, improving the health sector, and reducing unemployment.

Merely verbalising the ills of society is no longer good enough. We know what the ills are, thanks to the THIRD National Development Plan. We seem not to know how to implement the National Development Plan. Voting for SWAPO just because it liberated you from oppression, or voting for COD or the RDP just because it is an alternative to SWAPO, is no longer good enough. We know they each have strategies, at least on paper, to bring about social change. We seem not to know how they differ in their intent to implement and institute social change. Thus, if Namibia needs to transform itself into a progressive society where a smaller percentage of citizens are the underdogs, it will not only require long-term plans like the National Development Plan nor Vision 2030, but concrete identification of the bottlenecks of development, the poverty traps, the best solutions to overcome the traps and most importantly implementing the solutions.

Actions, after all, speak louder than words.