By Wonder Guchu

*First published in The Villager on Sunday, 3 February 2013.

There are some mirrors that shatter, and people will just walk away but there are other mirrors that shatter, and everybody with a face worth looking at cries.

This is what the late Namibian Minister of Education, Dr Abraham Iyambo was like – a national mirror on whom the nation had put so much trust and faith in for the development of better national faces.

Namibia’s hopes today are in education. As such, when Iyambo was moved from fisheries to education, the nation sighed in relief.

And when news about his death started to spread during the weekend, the nation groaned in pain and disbelief.

Most asked what the future of education in the country would be.

Of course, Iyambo had not been minister of education for long but there were signs of slight changes during the short period he headed the ministry.

Heading the Education ministry is like leading the way across a swamp infested with creatures of all sorts. It’s like embarking on a journey during the night. This is why Namibia has been groping in the dark for the right direction education should take. This is why today, more than 22 years after independence, the ministry is fraught with various challenges.

This is why when Iyambo came on, his first call was for an all-stakeholders’ conference to dissect and assess what exactly Namibian education wants.

Such engagement unearthed problems and laid down wishes from the people and this is what Iyambo was working on when like a mirror, the ill-wind blew, and the mirror shattered.

He fell sick less than three months after the National Conference on Education had passed its resolutions and never had time to work on them.

At that conference, he declared a revolution against a lack of commitment to duty and accountability.

“There is a consensus that it is time to own up. We have agreed to chart a new course forward. I have no doubt that we will be able to come to grips with many issues and move forward. The conference has allowed the Nation to buy in and take ownership of education. We have reaffirmed that this is our education; this is my children’s education. I call for a change of attitude from pessimism to positive. We must be implementers!

But he never got to implement those resolutions as his body began crumbling from within.

There will be talk about results this year going down, but the fact will always be that the class of 2012 did not benefit from the long term plans on Iyambo’s mind.

It’s a pity that Iyambo will not be around to enjoy seeing the fruits of the free education his ministry has just announced. There is no doubt that had he been alive today, there are things that would have been done differently.

Iyambo was a hands-on man or a foot-on leader. He enjoyed being there and doing things himself rather than delegating to others.

This is what education will miss most and this is why it can be assumed that if he had been here to see through the implementation of free education, some things would have been done differently.

There will also be talk that Iyambo took teachers to court to end an illegal strike but again any responsible minister with the concerns of the innocent learner at heart could have done that.

Notwithstanding the fact that the teachers’ strike had some genuine complaints, the timing was bad for the future of the learners.

Although no one can safely say the poor results are a reflection of the strike, one can conclude that learners being children, the fight between the teachers who act in loco parentis and the Ministry affected some of them negatively.

In addition, Iyambo inherited a dead ministry whose results stay to be seen and affect the country. It’s a ministry that needs long term plans if real change can be realised. He was the man on whose mind the future of Namibian children’s wishes reflected.

But above all, dying at 52, Iyambo is like a very important bridge burnt down. Iyambo’s passing on affects not only Swapo Party’s transition but that of Namibia. Many young people drew their inspiration from the likes of Iyambo who made it to parliament at 40.

Being Namibia’s first youngest Minister at 34 in 1997, he became the mirror onto which most of the youth saw reflections of themselves.

Considered one of the most likely future top leaders who would succeed the ageing cadres, Iyambo’s death at such an age is more painful.

Alongside Finance Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, Foreign Affairs Minister, Utoni Nujoma; Environment and Tourism deputy minister, Pohamba Shifeta; National Planning Commission, Tom Alweendo; Swapo Party Youth leader, Elijah Ngurare; and Khomas Region Governor, Laura McLeod-Katjirua among many others, Iyambo was key to Swapo’s transition into Vision 2030.

He was, indeed, senior to most of those within his age group and as such, he was a very important pillar onto which the party’s transition depended on.

He easily won the heart of the President, Sam Nujoma who picked him to fill one of the six places the party president is allowed to fill on the Swapo Central Committee.

To show how reliable to the party and Government he was, Iyambo served as President Hifikepunye Pohamba’s deputy at the Fisheries and Marine Resources from 1995 to 1997.

In 1997, he succeeded Pohamba and then stayed on until 2010 to assume the position of Education Minister, a huge sign of how Pohamba trusted him from their days at Fisheries.

During his time at Fisheries and Marine Resources, Iyambo made changes which benefited the previously disadvantaged Namibians while keeping on the rest in the net to push the industry ahead.  As a result, Namibia became the world’s fourth-largest fish exporter. Thanks to his ability to speak Spanish, having spent his youth in Cuba, Namibia’s fishing and aquarium sector benefited immensely from Hispanics.

Even today, his 13-year legacy at Fisheries and Marine Resources – the longest no other Minister has served at one ministry- is still paying off.

He received the first single individual recipient of the prestigious Margarita Lizarraga Medal (2008/9), presented to him by the Director-General of FAO during the thirty-sixth session of FAO Conference in Rome, as the value of Namibian fish reached N$4.6b, that year.

“I do not follow my own objectives, but those of the Swapo Party. Mine is to drive them,” he said.

One would only wonder how much change and success Education would have undergone had he stayed on just like he did at Fisheries.

First, Iyambo was approachable. Second, he was visible. Third, he was accountable. Fourth, he confronted problems. Fifth, he never pretended to know what he did not know. Sixth, he was composed. Seventh, he was open even with his health to an extent that some people abused him.