By:Justicia Shipena
President Hage Geingob says in his years of travelling through Namibia, he has not seen children being taught under trees and that this is now a prominent issue.
Geingob uttered these remarks at the opening of cabinet for the year 2023 on Tuesday in Windhoek.
According to him, the issue of education must be a problem for all and a worry for all.
“The other thing I saw that is prominent is children being taught under the trees. As I said I was travelling in this country, and I did not see that before,” he pointed out.
The head of state shifted the blame onto teachers, saying they are not doing enough with their hands. He suggested that teachers come up with school structures while awaiting government to come to the rescue.
“And teachers don’t do their best with their hands. We do not have a kitchen, and when it rains we get wet. I looked at this person and I said yes while you are waiting for the government, why don’t you pull one pole here, one pole there, one pole there, and put blikkies(iron sheet) on top. At least you will be cooking and not get wet while you are waiting for government,” Geingob lamented.
He also expressed that the re-naming of grade levels complicated the issue of education.
“You even complicate issues, just the name. We used to say matric, and now this senior, senior that in itself already complicates the matter. Senior higher what, what…Matric standard ten was very simple. We must revisit that and see,” he said.
Geingob said people call on the government but there are no initiatives to mobilise children to clean up.
“When we were children in this country we were cleaning up our schoolyards and so on, what happened?” he wanted to know.
He accused some people, without naming them, of painting a negative picture of Namibia.
“Painting negative about their own country trying to look out for worse case examples. Everywhere there are ghettos. In Namibia, taxi drivers will first take you to the squatters that is how it is, that is how the mindset is here but in other countries, they will take you through the nice routes.”
He added that there is a lack of patriotism among Namibians.
“It does not mean you must accept everything. No, criticise, point out the weakness, but is everything wrong? Is everything wrong in this country? Really?” Geingob questioned.
“The people are right to talk, that is their freedom. But your freedom also ends where mine starts, where the other person’s starts, where patriotism starts.”
He then told cabinet members that being in cabinet should never be about advancing personal interests or those of family, friends, or associates.
“It is not about advancing your agenda and therefore, as I have stated before, if you disagree with a collective decision taken and agreed upon by cabinet, you are free to resign,” Geingob stressed.
As ministers, Geingob said, they should not shy away from communicating achievements and successes and that they should use every opportunity to inform the nation and the world of the great strides Namibia has made over the past 32 years.
However, he admitted that there is much more work that remains to be done, adding that this year government wants an accelerated pace of implementation.
Geingob instructed prime minister SaaraKuugongelwa-Amadhila to regularly follow up with the ministers’ progress and report any inactivity or lack of progress directly to him.