Campaigning for regional and local authority elections
The 25th November this year is set for the regional council and local authority elections, which will see close to 19 political parties and associations participating in this dogmatic race. This excludes a sizeable number of independent candidates. What is breath taking is to see such a big number of political parties and associations taking part in such elections with a population of less than three million Namibians.
If you subtract the number of young people who are not legible to cast their votes, the figure will tumble tenfold. This is a democracy of the highest order, but there is something inappropriate with this process, and it needs to be interrogated. What makes people who should be nationalistic form so many political parties of which most of them simply reduplicate their manifestoes? This cannot be interpreted as a democracy anymore but ethnicity clouded if not shrouded into fake nationalism.
Lincoln once retorted that mankind can stand adversity but if you want to see the true character of a person, give him or her power. This is what Namibians are witnessing now, since power has been handed over to the residents of Namibia in March 1990. The true colours of Namibians are there for everyone to see – the love of power and rule at all costs.
Most Namibians want to be presidents of Namibia at once when there is only one vacancy that should be filled by one incumbent. Even where it is obvious that a particular party or person cannot go through an election, steps are sought by all means to force the situation to have the entity registered. The question is, “why can’t individuals with similar objectives come together and forge ahead with their political agendas instead of unnecessarily splitting the votes?” The answer might be that many Namibians forming political parties want to end up in parliament in order for them to have access to raw power and resources.
Another motive for forming political is mere frustration by the affected politicians. This explains itself because when the defector’s political temperature has cooled down, in most cases, the prodigal politician goes back to the Mother political party.
Lack of campaigning strategies is one of the hallmarks of many political parties. It has become an issue of trial and error when embarking upon election strategies. Many politicians fail to articulate their political aspirations and what they intend delivering in the aftermath of the political gimmick. Some parties do not have manifestos and see no need to prepare one because they feel they can simply walk and talk to the masses single-handedly. Many times than not the innocent electorate feel obliged to listen to irrelevant political monotonous indoctrination.
The dictum by J.F. Kennedy the American president in 1961 that, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” never crosses the minds of many politicians. This is crucial for both the politicians and the electorate to consider when engaged in the electioneering process. The politicians have been asking the electorate for their votes, but at the end of it, the masses are taken for granted as very little or sometimes nothing is delivered as per their promises.
The genuine concerns of the masses are never addressed and the politicians become rich at the expense of the poor electorate. Electricity, water bills and other municipal services are hiked at the wink of an eye emanating to a situation where an ordinary people can no longer afford paying those charges. The situation can become surprisingly difficult to comprehend as towns and cities along the river can be without water for days on end. Debris will be collecting for months without being collected for years.
Roads remain untarred and potholed despite the fact that residents are paying their taxes on a regular basis. One may be tempted to ask the whereabouts of the taxes paid by the residents in all towns. It is unfortunate that in some towns water and electricity may be cut due to nonpayment by the town councils. This is not surprising as this can be traced where the taxpayers’ money goes. This is revealed in the expensive cars driven and owned by the employees of the towns and cities. These employees lead a luxurious life at the expense of the people.
Another trademark of our politics is the system of character assassination and personalisation. Instead of addressing pertinent issues affecting the electorate, the in-coming councillor will go an extra mile in nailing the counterpart on the election cross. Yes, politics is said to be dirty, but it has been found out that indeed it is the political officebearers who become dirty after the taste of power. Unfortunately, the trend of buying the electorate is raising an ugly head in the eyes and perhaps the approval of the political leaders. In this process, aspiring politicians are left out and money-mongers are picked.
As Ayi Kwei Armah, the Ghanaian author once titled his book, maybe the beautiful ones are not yet born. This remains to be seen after 25 November.