Rally for Democracy and Progress: old wine in new bottle?

The newly formed Namibian political party, Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), might be a faint hint of excitement for politics in Namibia. The ‘old stalwarts’ that is at the helm of the RDP, is comparable to the formation of Kenya’s National Rainbow Coalition, which won the Kenyan election in December 2002 with 61%, and saw an ‘old stalwart’, Mwai Kibaki, become President. Back then in 2002, Kenyans who were frustrated with the dominant liberation party leadership of the Kenya African National Union (KANU) - that saw Presidents Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Arab Moi run the country in absolute chaos for 38 years- had high hopes for the newly formed political party. However, there were also those who were concerned, because Kibaki was one of the heavy guns of KANU, serving as Member of Parliament since Kenya’s Independence in 1964, which include several prominent ministerial profiles, including the Vice Presidency under Moi. In other words, Kibaki was part of the leadership that saw many ordinary Kenyans slip into adverse poverty since their Independence. He fell out of favour with Moi, amidst rumours of power plays, and eventually left KANU to form his own party in 1991. Did Kibaki fall out of favour because of a clash over disagreements of failed policies or unanswered political ambition? His current reign, which is dominated by allegations of corruption and continuing lack of real progress, provides an easy answer to that question.

Why the analogy? For one, Jesaya Nyamu and Hidipo Hamutenya’s protest walk out from SWAPO strike me as comparable to Kibaki’s departure from KANU. In the case of Nyamu, I refer to his notes as a protest walk out. Here, I am not analysing the controversy of how his notes were found and eventually led to his expulsion from SWAPO, but the fact that his dispute with SWAPO had compelled him to think of strategies to break off. In addition, if the RDP is determined to take on SWAPO in the upcoming election, then we can safely assume that the formation of this new party has been in the pipeline for some time, and that Hamutenya’s resignation from SWAPO is well timed. Thus, I hypothesize that Hamutenya has been involved in the structural design and organisation of the RDP. In this regard, I am left wondering if the RDP has been formed as a result of disagreements over failed policies, thus a principled decision, or merely as a result of unanswered political ambition.

In a press conference last week to announce his resignation from SWAPO, Hamutenya said that “the people are crying out for delivery of the promises made at Independence and upon which we [SWAPO] were elected”. The reference of “we” is not just indicative of his unconscious link to SWAPO, but also serves as a solid reminder that the same SWAPO mindset will be running the RDP. Furthermore, their emphasis on the ills of Namibian society is similar to that of SWAPO: “We all know that the dominant features in Namibia’s landscape today is poverty, inequality, the sorry state of education, declining health services and unemployment”; an ill that SWAPO – with both Hamutenya and Nyamu as part of the top SWAPO leadership until recently- has failed to deliver to the masses. It is also interesting to note, that no mention was made to corruption, perhaps one of the biggest ills in Namibian society today. Additionally, Hamutenya’s lack of outspokenness upon his return to parliament in 2005 does not ease conspiracy theories and the main question that everybody is asking: Is the RDP only a protest party against the dominant “liberation” party, similar to that of Kibaki’s National Rainbow Coalition, or does it have factual ideological and policy differences?

Second, with the same old stalwarts still wanting to run Namibian politics, I am taken aback with the lack of young vibrant blood in Namibian politics and African politics in general. The old stalwarts of KANU, which in my opinion includes Kibaki, is still running Kenya since their Independence, that is, 43 years later! Am I wrong for presupposing that perhaps there is a possible correlation between the old stalwarts and the increasing despair and corruption cases in Kenya? In the TED Theme Talk on Rethinking Poverty, author of Africa Unchained and well-renowned economist, George Ayittey, call this vibrant young blood, the “cheetah generation”, a “new breed of Africans” that he equates with a “no nonsense” attitude towards corruption and that grasps the implications of accountability and democracy. This breed is also highly educated with technological and entrepreneurial ability, often global citizens and feels decidedly comfortable in the geopolitical and economic climate; consequently they understand how to situate themselves within the global social, economic and political game. Only, most have left Africa as part of the brain drain that has become an African pest. Ayittey calls the old stalwarts the “ruling elite” of African politics and term them as the “hippo generation”, a generation that is “stuck in their intellectual patch, complaining about colonialism and imperialism”; a generation that tries to hold on to political power as long as possible. To him, these leaders often fail to reform the economies because they “benefit from the rotten status quo”. Furthermore, Ayittey argues that in today’s global political sphere, Africa’s “salvation rests on the back of these cheetahs” because their ‘yes, we have been done wrong, but how do we get out of this mess’ attitudes, provide the necessary drive to change the current status quo.

Although Namibia is still immature, best classified as an infant, a similar trend exists, where the old stalwarts, found in COD, DTA, SWAPO, UDF, and now RDP, are likely to continue to dominate the political sphere. With the exception of a few of the relatively ‘young’ and vibrant stalwarts (Rebecca Ndjoze- Ojo, Abraham Iyambo, Tjekero Tweya and McHenry Venaani comes to mind), most of the old stalwarts continues with the rhetoric that is symptomatic of cold war politics. It is a politics that is stuck in the past, and fails to attract the cheetah generation. For instance, with the fiasco of the request to the ICC to investigate Sam Nujoma, Jerry Ekandjo threatened to take lands away from whites, as tit-for-tat.

As a group breaks away to establish their own political party, other questions to ask are: Will it attract a young vibrant blood with new interpretations of social, economic and political pressures? Will this result in new ideas to rid Namibia of its ills? Sadly, I think not. The politics is of such that it alienates Namibia’s cheetah generation. Being educated, you are trained to be critical, to question in order to find answers, but in Namibian politics that freedom to critique the status quo is not independent of estrangement. Being part of the old stalwarts, the RDP political rhetoric is thus likely not to be dissimilar than that of either SWAPO at best or the COD at worse. That, and the infightings such as the recent one that infiltrated the COD, which again was not about ideological differences, but power, is what leaves the cheetah generation (both black and white) apolitical and indifferent.

Namibia’s current cheetah generation is made up of a small percentage of Namibians that appears at best to be apolitical and at worse only interested in wealth. For the latter, politics become a by-product; seen only as useful if it can provide a black economic empowerment deal. But in reality, a large group of this cheetah generation in Namibia will only be highly visible in another decade or two. They are the current group in college, the generation that has the opportunity to attend tertiary education, especially the children of the “elite” that has the ability to do so outside of Namibia. It is a generation, which by glimpsing at their list of friends on Facebook is global, technology savvy, career driven and all about reconciliation. But, this is also the generation that will partake in a mass exodus, if Namibia happens to follow the same path as so many other decolonised countries such as Kenya, Ghana, Zimbabwe, among many others. Those that will be left behind would most likely be made up of the political connected, those with solid businesses and work, stable high income jobs, and the poor. In this regard, it becomes imperative for the political sphere to become open to new ideas, thus critiquing, and creating a stimulating environment for the current cheetahs to engage in politics. It also becomes essential for political parties to strategically think about structural reorganisation in order to introduce politics to this upcoming cheetah generation. This will essentially mean moving away from surrounding one with yes-men and yes-women, which provide an illusion of progress, to people that can actively debate about pertinent issues.

Mind, body and soul

The reality of life is that you have to work to earn your bread and butter or waste away. In this modern society of us, earning our daily bread is costing us more then it used to in the past. More people are no longer dealing with physical work and the mental and emotional exertion of our work is surely draining us, especially for the executives and professionals. Diseases have changed to what my grandmother would term “the white man’s diseases”. Back in the days, people fell sick from diseases such as tuberculosis, polio, small pox, among many others. In today’s corporate culture, people fall sick from work related stress and burnout diseases, such depression, high blood pressure, arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, colon cancer, to name but a few. When illness enters, you go to a conventional doctor and get prescribed “happy pills” for depression, or an energy booster. Other conventional doctors fail to diagnose your illness and one can easily spend the following months meeting one specialist after the other to be told you have lung rheumatoid then perhaps cancer.

Some professions are notorious for these diseases. A few that sprung to mind are teachers, nurses and even doctors. Several professionals thrive in the pressure cooker, but for most of us, the toll is taken out in our health and our personal lives- the very things that should keep us going and that should rejuvenate us to restart the following day.

As a researcher trying to be an artist and multimedia designer, I tend to go overboard with work. To some it is a surprise especially since I work for Government. Working hours could be easily from 7am to 11pm. At times I would be so busy and forget to eat or else have a bite while on the run. Before realizing, I had constant bloatedness, headaches, back pain and severe acne. On top of it all, I was sensitive to wheat and had no clue. Doctors gave energy boosters and Roaccutane for acne but symptoms would return after the prescriptions ran out. While living and studying in the UK, a friend suggested Chinese medicine, which have become a popular alternative medicine in the UK and have patients as notorious as the Prince of Wales. Pure frustration thus turned me to Chinese medicine that looked and tasted malicious. Though I did not want to think about it then, I can now admit that that Chinese tea concoction included some animal dung. But hey, I was desperate. When that failed, I decided to put my research skills to work, got on the internet and decided to find some explanation for my constant bloatedness, fatigue and acne.

My research led me to alternative medicine to combating stress and burnout. It led me to a colon hydro-therapist, which is a specialist in the interconnectedness of mind (emotions and thoughts), body and soul. When one is in a poor state, the other will be affected. In one visit, I was taught more about my health than the tens of doctors I visited. My wheat insensitivity was diagnosed by giving a simple but full description on the type of foods I eat in general. Turns out that my wheat threshold level were being surpass, which led to the bloatedness, which in turn led to the acne, which in turn led to the fatigue and headaches. In other words, I was busy poisoning myself from the inside. A difference could be felt and seen within one week of cutting out wheat and from ‘washing’ the colon from all toxins.

On advice from my hydro-therapist, which if I may add is a 2500 million years ancient profession, I took on meditation as a way of relieving stress. Meditation is a way of becoming more alive and aware of our moment-to-moment experience and it its effects, from simple relaxation to spiritual insight, follow from this. In the short term, I found an antidote to stress and became calmer and more self-possessed. Others tried yoga, which means “to unite” or “to come together”. This practice teaches an understanding of the intimate connection between our body, mind, energy and breath that promotes a general sense of well being and relaxed vitality.

The time in the UK taught me more about myself because I learned how to tune into my mind and body. It taught me that new is not always better and that a healthy body needs healthy thoughts. Stress has many detrimental effects on health. Had I not had an early diagnose, I would have turn 40 and felt like an 80 year old. A favorite aunt of mine has been informed she suffers from various illnesses, which started off as stress. I now believe that had she learned to deal with her stress in a proper way, she would not be the sick-ling she is today.

Many do not realize how important a healthy diet and state of mind is to the body. You might not feel all the effects now, but might at a time you really should slow down and enjoy life.

So my advice to all those young dynamic professionals in a demanding environment is to try and set aside 5 to 10 minutes each day to sit still and do nothing and see the difference it makes to your mind. Watch what you eat and experience the rejuvenated energy levels. Lastly, observes how that brings contentment in your life.